If you're new to AWS or just getting started with EC2, one of the first things you'll need to learn is how to connect to your EC2 instance using SSH. SSH (Secure Shell) is a protocol that allows you to securely connect to a remote computer and execute commands. In this article, we'll walk through the steps of connecting to your EC2 instance using SSH.
Prerequisites:
- An AWS account
- An EC2 instance launched and running
- A key pair associated with your instance
Step 1: Open your terminal
To get started, open your terminal on your local computer. If you're using a Mac or Linux, you can use the Terminal application. If you're using Windows, you can use the PuTTY SSH client.
Step 2: Navigate to your key pair directory
Navigate to the directory on your local computer where your key pair is stored. If you're not sure where your key pair is stored, check the documentation or contact your administrator.
Step 3: Set permissions for your key pair file
In order to use your key pair file to connect to your EC2 instance, you'll need to set the permissions for the file. In your terminal, type the following command:
chmod 400 my-key-pair.pem
Note: Replace "my-key-pair.pem" with the name of your key pair file.
Step 4: Connect to your EC2 instance
To connect to your EC2 instance, you'll need to know the public IP address or hostname of the instance. You can find this information in the EC2 console. Once you have the public IP address or hostname, use the following command to connect to your instance:
ssh -i /path/to/key/pair/my-key-pair.pem ec2-user@public-ip-address
Note: Replace "/path/to/key/pair/my-key-pair.pem" with the path to your key pair file, "ec2-user" with the default user for Amazon Linux AMIs, and "public-ip-address" with the public IP address or hostname of your EC2 instance.
Step 5: Enter your passphrase
If you created a passphrase for your key pair, you'll be prompted to enter it. Enter your passphrase and press Enter.
Step 6: Verify your connection
Once you're connected to your EC2 instance, you should see the command prompt change to indicate that you're connected to a remote server. To verify that you're connected to the correct instance, you can run the following command:
hostname
This command will return the hostname of the EC2 instance you're connected to.
Congratulations! You've successfully connected to your EC2 instance using SSH.
More Examples:
- If you're using PuTTY on Windows, you'll need to convert your key pair file to a format that PuTTY can use. You can do this using the PuTTYgen tool.
- If you're having trouble connecting to your EC2 instance, try checking the security group rules for your instance to make sure that SSH traffic is allowed.
- If you're connecting to an instance running a different operating system (such as Windows or Ubuntu), the default username may be different. Check the documentation for your operating system to find the default username.
Related Searches and Questions asked:
That's it for this post. Keep practicing and have fun. Leave your comments if any.