Wondering how to launch EC2 instance using the Launch Instance Wizard? We can help you.

As a part of our AWS Support Services, we often receive similar requests from our AWS customers.

Today, let’s see the steps followed by our Support Techs to help our customers.

How to launch EC2 instance using the Launch Instance Wizard?

Generally, the launch instance wizard specifies all the launch parameters required for launching an instance.

Where the launch instance wizard provides a default value, you can accept the default or specify your own value.

Today, let us see the steps followed by our Support techs to perform this task.

Initiate instance launch

1.Firstly, open the Amazon EC2 console.

2.In the navigation bar at the top of the screen, the current Region will display.

Select a Region for the instance that meets your needs.

This choice is important because some Amazon EC2 resources can be shared between Regions, while others can’t.

3.From the Amazon EC2 console dashboard, choose Launch instance.

Step 1: Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI)

When you launch an instance, you must select a configuration, known as an Amazon Machine Image.

An AMI contains the information required to create a new instance.

When you launch an instance, you can either select an AMI from the list, or you can select a Systems Manager parameter that points to an AMI ID.

On the Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) page, use one of two options to choose an AMI.

Either search the list of AMIs, or search by Systems Manager parameter.

By searching the list of AMIs

1. Firstly, select the type of AMI to use in the left pane.

2. Then, check the Virtualization type listed for each AMI. Notice which AMIs are the type that you need, either hvm or paravirtual. For example, some instance types require HVM.

3. Next, check the Boot mode listed for each AMI. Notice which AMIs use the boot mode that you need, either legacy-bios or uefi.

4. Then, choose an AMI that meets your needs.

5. Finally, choose Select.

By Systems Manager parameter

1. Firstly, choose Search by Systems Manager parameter (at top right).

2. For Systems Manager parameter, select a parameter. The corresponding AMI ID appears next to Currently resolves to.

3. Then, choose Search. The AMIs that match the AMI ID appear in the list.

4. Select the AMI from the list.

5. Finally, choose Select.

Step 2: Choose an Instance Type

On the Choose an Instance Type page, select the hardware configuration and size of the instance to launch.

Larger instance types have more CPU and memory.

By default, the wizard displays current generation instance types, and selects the first available instance type based on the AMI that you selected.

To view previous generation instance types, choose All generations from the filter list.

Step 3: Configure Instance Details

On the Configure Instance Details page, change the following settings, then choose Next, Add Storage:

• Number of instances: Enter the number of instances to launch.
• Purchasing option: Choose Request Spot instances to launch a Spot Instance.
• Network: Select the VPC, or to create a new VPC, choose Create new VPC to go the Amazon VPC console.
• Subnet: You can launch an instance in a subnet associated with an Availability Zone, Local Zone, Wavelength Zone or Outpost.
• Auto-assign Public IP: Specify whether your instance receives a public IPv4 address.
• Auto-assign IPv6 IP: Specify whether your instance receives an IPv6 address from the range of the subnet.
• Domain join directory: Select the AWS Directory Service directory to which your Windows instance is joined after launch.
• Capacity Reservation: Specify whether to launch the instance into shared capacity, any open Capacity Reservation, a specific Capacity Reservation, or a Capacity Reservation group.
• IAM role: Select an AWS Identity and Access Management  role to associate with the instance.
• CPU options: Choose Specify CPU options to specify a custom number of vCPUs during launch.
• Shutdown behavior: Select whether the instance should stop or terminate when shut down.
• Stop – Hibernate behavior: To enable hibernation, select check box.
• Monitoring: Select this check box to enable detailed monitoring of your instance using Amazon CloudWatch.
• Network interfaces: If you selected a specific subnet, you can specify up to two network interfaces for your instance.
• Network Card Index: The primary network interface must be assigned to network card index 0.
• Kernel ID: Select Use default unless you want to use a specific kernel.
• Enclave: Select Enable to enable the instance for AWS Nitro Enclaves.
• Metadata accessible: You can enable or disable access to the instance metadata.
• Then, metadata transport: You can enable or disable access method to  instance metadata service that’s available for this EC2 instance based on the IP address type of instance.
• Metadata token response hop limit: You can set allowable number of network hops for metadata token.
• User data: You can specify user data to configure an instance during launch.

Step 4: Add Storage

On the Add Storage page, you can specify additional volumes to attach to the instance by choosing Add New Volume.

Configure each volume as follows.

Type: Select instance store or Amazon EBS volumes to associate with your instance.

Device: Select from the list of available device names for the volume.

Snapshot: Enter the name or ID of the snapshot from which to restore a volume.

Size: For EBS volumes, you can specify a storage size.

Volume Type: For EBS volumes, select a volume type.

IOPS: If you have selected a Provisioned IOPS SSD volume type. You can enter the number of I/O operations per second (IOPS) that the volume can support.

Delete on Termination: For Amazon EBS volumes, select this check box to delete volume when instance is terminated.

Encrypted: If the instance type supports EBS encryption, you can specify the encryption state of the volume.

Step 5: Add Tags

On the Add Tags page, specify tags by providing key and value combinations.

You can tag the instance, the volumes, or both.

For Spot Instances, you can tag the Spot Instance request only.

Then, choose Add another tag to add more than one tag to your resources.

Then, choose Next.

Finally, configure Security Group when you are done.

Step 6: Configure Security Group

On the Configure Security Group page, use a security group to define firewall rules for your instance.

Next, select or create a security group as follows.

• To select an existing security group, choose Select an existing security group.
• Then, select your security group.
• Then, you can add rules as described in the next step.
• Next, to create a new security group, choose Create a new security group.
• The wizard automatically defines the launch-wizard-x security group and creates an inbound rule to allow you to connect to your instance over RDP (port 3389).
• Next, you can add rules to suit your needs.
• To add a rule, choose Add Rule, select the protocol to open to network traffic, and then specify the source.
• Finally, choose My IP from the Source list to let the wizard add your computer’s public IP address.

Step 7: Review Instance Launch and Select Key Pair

On the Review Instance Launch page, check the details of your instance.

Then, make any necessary changes by choosing the appropriate Edit link.

Then, choose Launch.

• In the Select an existing key pair or create a new key pair dialog box, you can choose an existing key pair, or create a new one.
• To launch your instance, select the acknowledgment check box.
• Finally, choose Launch Instances.

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Conclusion

In short, today we discussed the steps followed by our Support Engineers  to launch EC2 instance using the Launch Instance Wizard.