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How To Setup Amazon Linux On AWS 2021

Published: March 29, 2020 (Updated: Mar 29, 2020)
#AWS EC2 #Amazon Linux #SSH

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How to Launch Amazon Linux on AWS EC2: The Ultimate Setup Guide for Stability and Performance

Welcome to Darren’s Tech Tutorials! If you’re looking to host an application on Amazon Web Services, choosing the right operating system is your first and most critical decision. Today, we’re diving deep into the powerful, secure, and highly optimized Amazon Linux AMI.

This image is not just any Linux distribution—it is a supported and maintained environment provided directly by AWS, specifically designed to offer a stable, high-performance execution environment for everything running on Amazon EC2. Since this guide was updated to reflect current best practices (2021 and beyond), you can be confident you’re setting up your infrastructure the right way.

By the end of this tutorial, you will have successfully launched and configured your very own Amazon Linux EC2 instance, ready for deployment.

Why Choose Amazon Linux for Your EC2 Instance?

Before we jump into the console, let’s briefly recap why the Amazon Linux AMI is often the preferred choice for developers and system administrators:

  1. Optimized for EC2: It is engineered from the ground up to take full advantage of the features and performance capabilities of Amazon EC2 hardware.
  2. Security Focused: It comes pre-configured with AWS security best practices and receives continuous security updates directly from Amazon.
  3. Stability and Maintenance: AWS provides long-term support, ensuring a stable environment for your applications without surprise changes.
  4. Pre-Installed AWS Tools: The AMI includes essential packages and tools needed to interact with the AWS services right out of the box.

Let’s dive right into the configuration steps!

Prerequisites

To follow along with this tutorial, you will need:

  • An active AWS Account.
  • Basic understanding of the AWS Management Console.

Step 1: Navigating to the EC2 Dashboard and Launching an Instance

The journey begins in the AWS console.

  1. Log into your AWS Management Console.
  2. Navigate to the EC2 service dashboard. (You can type “EC2” into the search bar at the top.)
  3. In the main EC2 dashboard, look for the Launch Instance button and click it.

Step 2: Selecting the Amazon Linux AMI

This is the most critical step, where we specify the operating system we want to run.

  1. On the “Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI)” screen, you will see a list of available operating systems.
  2. Look for the official image, typically titled Amazon Linux 2 AMI (HVM) - Kernel 5.10.
  3. Pro Tip: Ensure you select the version that is labeled “Free tier eligible” if you are just testing or using the instance for low-traffic applications.
  4. Click Select next to the Amazon Linux image.

Step 3: Choosing the Instance Type (Free Tier Focus)

The instance type determines the computing resources (CPU, Memory, Network) available to your server.

  1. On the “Choose an Instance Type” screen, select the t2.micro instance type. This is generally the best option for the AWS Free Tier, providing enough power for testing and development environments.
  2. Leave the remaining settings on the default configurations for this basic setup. You can always come back and configure details like VPC or IAM roles later.
  3. Click Next: Configure Instance Details. (We will skip this screen for simplicity, but know that you can configure advanced networking here.)

Step 4: Adding Storage and Tags

We need to ensure we have enough disk space and proper identification for our new server.

Storage

  1. In the “Add Storage” section, the default size for Amazon Linux is usually 8 GiB, which is sufficient.
  2. Ensure the volume type is set to gp2 or gp3 (General Purpose SSD) for good performance.
  3. Click Next: Add Tags.

Tags

Tags are crucial for organization and cost tracking in a complex AWS environment.

  1. Click Add Tag.
  2. Set the Key to Name.
  3. Set the Value to Darren’s Amazon Linux Server. This makes it easy to identify the instance in the console later.
  4. Click Next: Configure Security Group.

Step 5: Configuring Security Groups

Security groups act as a virtual firewall, controlling what traffic can reach your instance. Since we are running a Linux machine, we need to ensure SSH (Secure Shell) access is permitted.

  1. Select Create a new security group.
  2. Name the Security Group: Give it a descriptive name, like Amazon-Linux-SSH-Access.
  3. Configure Inbound Rules:
    • Type: Ensure the first rule is set to SSH. This automatically populates the port range to 22.
    • Source: For basic security, set the source to My IP. This limits access strictly to your current network location. If you need global access (not recommended), you could select “Anywhere.”

This configuration allows you to connect securely to your Amazon Linux instance later.

Step 6: Review and Launch!

You are now ready to bring your Amazon Linux server online.

  1. Click Review and Launch. Double-check that your AMI is Amazon Linux, your instance type is t2.micro, and your security group allows SSH on port 22.
  2. Click Launch.

Creating Your Key Pair

The final popup will ask you to select or create a key pair. This is the cryptographic key you need to securely connect (via SSH) to your new server.

  1. Select Create a new key pair from the dropdown.
  2. Name the key pair something memorable, like Darren-Linux-Key.
  3. Click Download Key Pair. IMPORTANT: Save this .pem file somewhere secure. If you lose it, you lose access to your instance!
  4. Click Launch Instances.

Congratulations! AWS is now preparing your Amazon Linux environment.

What’s Next? Connecting to Your New Server

Once your instance state changes from pending to running (usually takes about 30 seconds), you are ready to connect using your downloaded key pair and an SSH client (like Terminal on macOS/Linux or PuTTY on Windows).

Your Amazon Linux instance is now a stable, powerful foundation ready for any application deployment!

Conclusion: Start Building with Confidence

You have successfully navigated the AWS console and launched a high-performance Amazon Linux 2 instance! This operating system provides the ideal blend of security, speed, and stability for your cloud applications. You’ve mastered the core steps of selecting the right AMI, choosing a Free Tier-eligible instance, and setting up the necessary security boundaries.

Now that you know how easy it is to set up this optimized environment, go ahead and start installing your web server or applications!

Did this guide help you launch your first Amazon Linux instance? Let us know in the comments below! If you found this tutorial valuable, please hit that Like button and Subscribe to Darren’s Tech Tutorials for more clear, actionable guides! Happy coding!