Checklist for accessing an AWS EC2 instance with ssh

Quick checklist of items to check for enabling ssh instance into a running EC2 instance:

  • EC2 instance is started (check from AWS console)
  • From AWS console, check Security Group for the instance has an inbound rule for SSH – if only accessing remotely from your current IP, you can press ‘My IP’ to set your current public IP
  • From Network & Security, create a keypair and download the .pem file
  • Check the public DNS name for your EC2 instance from the console
  • chmod 400 your .pem file, otherwise you’ll get an error that it’s publicly readable

Connect with:

ssh -i path-to-.pem-file ec2-user@ec2-your-instance-name.compute-xyz.amazonaws.com

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