Wondering how to Connect Amazon EC2 using putty? We can help you.

At Bobcares we assist our customers with several AWS queries as part of our AWS Support Services for AWS users, and online service providers.

Today, let us discuss how to Connect Amazon EC2.

Connect Amazon EC2 using putty

Let us see the steps followed by our Support Techs.

1.Check whether instance is ready.

Firstly, make sure that EC2 instance setup is ready. After launching an instance, it can take a few minutes for the instance to be ready so that you can connect to it.

Check whether your instance has passed its status checks.

You may view this  from Status check column on the Instances page.

2. Install putty on the local computer.

Download and install PuTTY from the PuTTY download page.

Next, click on “click to install” option to install the software.

Then, the installer asks for the Destination folder in which to install the software. It is best to use the default value. Just click Next.

When the installation has completed successfully, it should show a “Completed” screen.

Click Finish to exit the installer.

3.Convert your private key using PuTTYgen

Locate the private key (.pem file) for the key pair that you specified when you launched the instance.

Then, convert the .pem file to a .ppk file in order to use with PuTTY.

PuTTY provides a tool named PuTTYgen, which converts keys to the required format for PuTTY.

In order to convert your private key please follow the below steps:

• From the Start menu–>choose All Programs—>PuTTY—>PuTTYgen.
• Under Type of key to generate, choose RSA. If your version of PuTTYgen does not include this option, choose SSH-2 RSA.
• Next, choose Load. PuTTYgen displays only files with the extension .ppk. To locate your .pem file, choose the option to display files of all types.
• Then, select all file types
• Next, select your .pem file for the key pair that you specified when you launched your instance and choose Open. PuTTYgen displays a notice that the .pem file was successfully imported. Choose OK.
• To save the key in the format that PuTTY can use, choose Save private key. PuTTYgen displays a warning about saving the key without a passphrase. Choose Yes.
• Finally, specify the same name for the key that you used for the key pair and choose Save. PuTTY automatically adds the .ppk file extension.

Your private key is now in the correct format for use with PuTTY. You can now connect to your instance using PuTTY’s SSH client.

4.Connect to your Linux instance

Check the steps followed by our Support Techs to connect to Linux Instance.

1.From the Start menu–>choose All Programs—>PuTTY.

2.In the Category, choose Session and complete the below fields:

In the Host Name box, try one of the following:

• (Public DNS) To connect using your instance’s public DNS name, enter my-instance-user-name@my-instance-public-dns-name.
• (IPv6) Alternatively, if your instance has an IPv6 address, to connect using your instance’s IPv6 address, enter my-instance-user-name@my-instance-IPv6-address.

Ensure that the Port value is 22.

Finally under Connection type, select SSH.

3.You can configure PuTTY to automatically send ‘keepalive’ data at regular intervals to keep the session active. In the Category, choose Connection, and then enter the required interval in the Seconds between keepalives field.

4.In the Category pane–>expand Connection—>expand SSH, and then choose Auth. Complete the following:

• Choose Browse.
• Select the .ppk file that you generated for your key pair and choose Open.

5.If you are connecting for the first time, PuTTY displays a security alert dialog box that asks whether you trust the host to which you are connecting. Choose Yes. A window opens and you are connected to your instance.

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Conclusion

Today, we saw steps followed by our support Techs to connect Amazon EC2 using putty.