How to SSH into AWS EC2 Instance server console
Once you've created an EC2 instance you will need to connect to it in order to manage it. This post teaches you how to SSH into an AWS EC2 Instance using free tools. Make sure you have access to the .pem keyfile you created when you started your instance.
Download PuTTY, a terminal client, and install on your computer. Once it is installed open the PuTTYGen application that was installed along with PuTTY.
PuTTYGen Console
You will see the PuTTY Key Generator console.
Click the “Load” button and browse to the location of your .pem keyfile. The Putty client application requires a “.ppk” file to connect to your instance. Once your .pem file has been loaded, click the “Save private key” button.
Give your Key file a name that will help you remember what it is for. Once saved, you are ready to use the PuTTY terminal client to SSH into the AWS EC2 instance.
The PuTTY SSH Console
To SSH into an AWS EC2 instance you must configure the PuTTY client. You will use the keyfile you created above to tell the instance that you are authorized to connect.
Launch the PuTTY application.
You will see a configuration screen.
Enter “bitnami@” followed by the public IP address of your EC2 instance in the “Host Name (or IP address)” text box.
Enter “22” in the “Port” text box. Make sure the “SSH” Connection Type radio button is selected.
Expand the “SSH” node in the Category panel and select the “Auth” node.
Click the “Browse” button and locate the .ppk Key file you generated for your EC2 instance with PuTTYGen. Click the “Session” node at the top of the Category panel.
Enter a name that will help you remember what this connection is for in the “Saved Sessions” text box. Click the “Save” button.
You now have a session that you can load whenever you need to SSH into the AWS EC2 instance.
Connecting via SSH into AWS EC2 Instance
Launch the PuTTY client application. Select the session you saved previously and click the “Load Button”. The settings for this session will be loaded into the console.
Click the “Open Button”. Your console session will launch.
Additional AWS Tutorials
This lesson on how to SSH into AWS EC2 Instances is part of my free Amazon Web Services course. Register today to start getting AWS lessons sent directly to your email inbox.
