Connecting to EC2 instances in AWS - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Connecting to EC2 instances

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a cloud server using Amazon EC2. To manage your server, you need to connect to it securely using SSH. This project will guide you step-by-step to prepare and connect to your EC2 instance.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to prepare your SSH key, configure your EC2 instance's security group, and connect to the instance using the terminal.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a variable with the EC2 instance's public DNS name

Create a variable with the path to your SSH private key file

Write the SSH command string to connect to the EC2 instance

Add the option to use the SSH key file in the SSH command

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Connecting to EC2 instances is a fundamental skill for managing cloud servers securely and remotely.

💼 Career

Cloud engineers and system administrators regularly connect to EC2 instances to deploy, monitor, and maintain applications.

1

Set the EC2 instance public DNS

Create a variable called ec2_public_dns and set it to the exact string "ec2-3-123-45-67.compute-1.amazonaws.com" which represents your EC2 instance's public DNS name.

AWS

# Create a variable called ec2_public_dns with the EC2 instance public DNS
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The EC2 public DNS is a string that looks like a web address. Assign it exactly as shown.

2

Set the SSH private key file path

Create a variable called ssh_key_path and set it to the exact string "~/.ssh/my-ec2-key.pem" which is the path to your SSH private key file.

AWS

ec2_public_dns = "ec2-3-123-45-67.compute-1.amazonaws.com"
# Create a variable called ssh_key_path with the SSH private key file path
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The SSH key file path is a string that points to your private key file on your computer.

3

Write the SSH command string

Create a variable called ssh_command and set it to the exact string "ssh ec2-user@" + ec2_public_dns which forms the basic SSH command to connect to your EC2 instance.

AWS

ec2_public_dns = "ec2-3-123-45-67.compute-1.amazonaws.com"
ssh_key_path = "~/.ssh/my-ec2-key.pem"
# Create a variable called ssh_command with the SSH command string
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The SSH command starts with 'ssh ec2-user@' followed by the EC2 public DNS.

4

Add the SSH key option to the command

Update the ssh_command variable to include the SSH key file option by setting it to the exact string "ssh -i " + ssh_key_path + " ec2-user@" + ec2_public_dns so you can connect securely using your private key.

AWS

ec2_public_dns = "ec2-3-123-45-67.compute-1.amazonaws.com"
ssh_key_path = "~/.ssh/my-ec2-key.pem"
ssh_command = "ssh ec2-user@" + ec2_public_dns
# Update ssh_command to include the -i option with ssh_key_path
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The '-i' option tells SSH which private key file to use for authentication.