AWS Compute

EC2 Provisioning

Overview

Defining reusable instance configuration with launch templates, plus user data, key pairs/SSH access, IMDSv2, placement groups, and Elastic IPs.

Launch templates (use these, not launch configurations)

A launch template captures AMI, instance type, network interfaces, user data, security groups, instance profile, block device mappings, metadata options, and tags — versioned and reusable by Auto Scaling groups, Spot fleets, and one-off launches.

Launch configurations are deprecated: they do not support current EC2 instance types, and new accounts cannot create them — see the AWS launch-configurations docs. Always use launch templates.

aws ec2 create-launch-template \
  --launch-template-name my-app \
  --version-description v1 \
  --launch-template-data '{
    "ImageId": "ami-xxxxxxxx",
    "InstanceType": "m7g.large",
    "IamInstanceProfile": {"Name": "my-app-instance-profile"},
    "MetadataOptions": {"HttpTokens": "required", "HttpPutResponseHopLimit": 2},
    "BlockDeviceMappings": [{"DeviceName": "/dev/xvda", "Ebs": {"Encrypted": true}}],
    "Monitoring": {"Enabled": true},
    "TagSpecifications": [{"ResourceType":"instance","Tags":[{"Key":"managed_by","Value":"aws-skills"},{"Key":"skill","Value":"aws-compute"}]}]
  }'

Before hardcoding an instance type like m7g.large in production, verify it is current-generation for the target Region: aws ec2 describe-instance-types --filters Name=current-generation,Values=true --query 'InstanceTypes[].InstanceType'. The current-generation filter (values true|false) returns whether a type is the latest generation of its instance family, and filter names/values are case-sensitive. Note the command is Region-scoped, so a type may be current-generation but not offered in every Region — cross-check availability with aws ec2 describe-instance-type-offerings --location-type region --filters Name=instance-type,Values=m7g.large.

"Monitoring": {"Enabled": true} turns on detailed (1-minute) CloudWatch metrics — a production-ready default that also improves ASG scaling responsiveness (omit it only to save cost on non-critical fleets, which falls back to 5-minute metrics).

When the template sets SecurityGroupIds, scope those rules to least privilege — reference another security group for internal/tier-to-tier access, or a specific CIDR for known callers, rather than 0.0.0.0/0 (justify any open ingress). Instances inherit these rules at launch, so an over-permissive template propagates to the whole fleet.

Versioning: reference a version by number, $Latest, or $Default (the unspecified default is $Default). For instance refresh and rollback, pin a numeric version — rollback is unsupported when the ASG uses $Latest/$Default or an SSM-parameter AMI. Create a new version with create-launch-template-version; changing a template does not touch running instances (do an instance refresh — see auto-scaling.md).

IMDSv2

IMDSv2 requires a session token (PUT to /latest/api/token, then the token in each metadata GET), defeating SSRF credential theft. Enforce it:

• HttpTokens=required is what enforces IMDSv2 — it blocks IMDSv1 (a tokenless/invalid-token GET then returns 401 Unauthorized); also set HttpEndpoint=enabled.

• HttpPutResponseHopLimit defaults to 1 (range 1–64) and does NOT enforce IMDSv2. Set it to 2 for containers on EC2 — the default hop limit of 1 makes the IMDSv2 token PUT response fail to reach a containerized process (the extra hop exceeds the response TTL), so the token request times out; the extra hop covers container → bridge → IMDS. (If IMDSv2 is required, a subsequent tokenless GET returns 401; if optional, it silently falls back to IMDSv1. Host-networked containers are unaffected.)

• Account-level (per Region) default: aws ec2 modify-instance-metadata-defaults --http-tokens required --http-put-response-hop-limit 2 (org-wide enforcement is a separate Organizations declarative policy). Applies only to new launches — existing instances are unchanged; fix each with modify-instance-metadata-options. Launch-time settings override the account default.

User data

Bootstrap scripts run by cloud-init (Linux) / EC2Launch (Windows). Runs once at first boot by default. On Linux, cloud-init runs user data as root; for every-boot, use a cloud-init #cloud-config with [scripts-user, always] (these are Linux-specific — Windows uses EC2Launch v2, which runs as Local System and re-runs with frequency: always). Shell scripts start with #!; 16 KB limit before base64 (gzip to fit). Output goes to /var/log/cloud-init-output.log — check it when bootstrap "didn't run."

Never put secrets in user data. It is stored unencrypted, is readable via IMDS by any process on the instance (http://169.254.169.254/latest/user-data), is echoed to /var/log/cloud-init-output.log, and appears in the requestParameters of the RunInstances CloudTrail event. Fetch secrets at boot from AWS Secrets Manager or SSM Parameter Store (SecureString) using the instance-profile role.

Key pairs and SSH access

• Types: RSA (Linux + Windows) or ED25519 (Linux only). chmod 400 key.pem.

• Default users by AMI: ec2-user (Amazon Linux/RHEL/SUSE), ubuntu (Ubuntu), admin (Debian), centos (CentOS), bitnami (Bitnami); RHEL/SUSE also accept root. For other AMIs the default is typically ec2-user — confirm with the AMI provider rather than assuming root.

• EC2 Instance Connect pushes a temporary key valid 60 seconds (aws ec2-instance-connect send-ssh-public-key …) — connect immediately or you get Permission denied (publickey).

• Prefer Session Manager (no keys, no open port 22) — see systems-manager.md.

• Lost key: create a new key pair and reattach the public key via Instance Connect, Session Manager, or by editing authorized_keys on the detached root volume.

Placement groups

Cluster: launch all instances of the same type in one request; on InsufficientInstanceCapacity, stop/start all group members to re-place them. Reference a shared placement group by ID (not name) in the CLI. The spread and partition per-AZ maximums above are firm documented hard limits (not raisable Service Quota defaults) and apply even for shared placement groups.

Elastic IPs

• All public IPv4 is billed per hour — including idle Elastic IPs and EIPs on stopped instances (check current rates on the EC2 pricing page or via aws pricing get-products). Release unused ones: aws ec2 release-address --allocation-id <id> (EIPs keep billing after the instance is terminated until released). The per-Region EIP quota is low by default (check the current value with aws service-quotas get-service-quota --service-code ec2 --quota-code L-0263D0A3).

• An auto-assigned public IP changes on stop/start; attach an Elastic IP for a stable address (common cause of "SSH broke after restart").

• Remap on failover by disassociating/reassociating the EIP (no release needed).

Common Errors

Security Considerations

• Enforce IMDSv2 in the launch template (HttpTokens=required, and hop limit 2 for containers) to block SSRF-based credential theft.

• Never embed secrets in user data — it's stored unencrypted, readable via IMDS, logged to cloud-init output, and recorded in the requestParameters of the RunInstances CloudTrail event; fetch them at boot from Secrets Manager / SSM Parameter Store (SecureString) via the instance profile.

• Scope security groups to least privilege — reference another security group or a specific CIDR rather than 0.0.0.0/0; the template's rules propagate to every launched instance.

• Encrypt EBS volumes in the block device mappings, and prefer Session Manager over SSH (no open port 22, no key sprawl).

Related

• instance-selection.md — what to put in the template

• auto-scaling.md — use the template in an ASG

• systems-manager.md — keyless access