Lesson 065 · AWS Learning Path

AWS 065: Launching an EC2 instance

Anil Jalela · Published Aug 29, 2025 · 7 min read

The problem

A team uses Launching an EC2 instance as a label or Console setting without proving the identity, scope, behavior, failure boundary, cost, or operational result. The configuration appears complete but the real requirement remains untested.

Final outcome

The learner will inspect, explain, test, and document Launching an EC2 instance. The submission must connect the Console and CLI view to the same AWS control, state what the evidence proves, diagnose one likely failure, and make a requirement-based architecture decision.

Learning outcomes

You will be able to:

1. explain launch is a collection of decisions;
2. explain the subnet fixes the availability zone;
3. explain iam role should be selected at launch;
4. explain block-device settings affect data loss;
5. explain metadata settings are a security control;

1. distinguish successful configuration from successful workload behavior;
2. preserve redacted evidence and complete the stated cleanup or retention decision.

Mental model

requirement
   -> identity and permission
   -> account, Region, and resource scope
   -> configuration or request
   -> observable state
   -> workload result
   -> failure evidence
   -> cleanup or controlled retention

Never begin with a create button or a copied command. Start with the result that must be proven and the boundary that must remain protected.

Core facts

How to reason about it

Prefer a versioned launch template and automation over manual console choices. Validate service quotas, subnet IPs, IAM PassRole, KMS keys, security-group rules, AMI permission, capacity, bootstrap completion, and health checks before sending production traffic.

Use the following decision table as a starting point, then change the answer when the scenario changes.

Prerequisites, permissions, Region, and cost

Run this lesson as the approved non-root course identity. Begin with aws sts get-caller-identity, confirm the private account record, and set the fixed project Region before any regional query. IAM resources are global within an account, while STS endpoints and the services reached by an identity can be regional.

Use only the read or change actions required for this lesson. An AccessDenied result is evidence to analyse, not permission to switch to root or attach AdministratorAccess. Record the action, resource, principal type, request context, and smallest justified correction.

The listed cost tier is T0 - no resource creation. Free Tier eligibility and credits are account-specific. Before a mutating lab, identify every resource that can charge, estimate its duration, start a timer, and write the reverse cleanup order. A budget reports cost after billing data arrives and is not a real-time stop control.

AWS Management Console method

1. Open EC2 Instances and choose Launch instances in a learning account.
2. Select AMI, instance type, key or access method, subnet, security groups, storage, IAM instance profile, metadata options, user data, and tags.
3. Review Summary and cancel before launch unless the test resource, cost, cleanup, quotas, and permissions have been approved.

For every step record the service page, selected account and Region, exact object, visible state, and why that state matters. A Console label or green status is not enough unless it is tied to the final workload outcome.

AWS CLI or API evidence

Perform a dry run to distinguish authorization from capacity and parameter problems.

aws ec2 run-instances --image-id ami-0123456789abcdef0 --instance-type t3.micro --subnet-id subnet-0123456789abcdef0 --security-group-ids sg-0123456789abcdef0 --iam-instance-profile Name=ExampleProfile --dry-run

DryRunOperation means the caller appears authorized for the simulated request. UnauthorizedOperation indicates permission failure. A dry run does not reserve capacity or validate every runtime dependency.

Before running the command, replace every placeholder, explain each option, and decide whether the operation is read-only or mutating. Capture the exit code immediately. Redact account IDs, ARNs, public addresses, request identifiers, and personal data before sharing.

The CLI and Console are clients of AWS APIs. Matching state across them increases confidence, but neither substitutes for data-plane or application verification.

Practical work

Create p04-launch-review.md containing every future launch value: latest Amazon Linux 2023 x86_64 AMI, selected small instance type, nw-p04-public-a, nw-p04-ec2-sg, no key pair, nw-p04-ec2-ssm instance profile, 8 GiB encrypted gp3 root volume with delete-on-termination, temporary public IPv4, user data file, IMDSv2 required, hop limit 1, project tags, disabled detailed monitoring, and disabled termination protection. Complete the Console review but do not choose Launch.

The evidence package must include:

• non-root principal type, account verified privately, and Region;
• exact intended and observed state;
• one Console observation and the matching CLI or API result;
• one successful result and one denied, failed, or counterexample result;
• what each result does not prove;
• cost state and elapsed lab time;
• cleanup evidence or a named retained-state owner and next lesson.

Verification standard

Use three levels of proof:

1. Control plane: the object or policy exists with the intended configuration.
2. Data plane or behavior: the request, packet, session, storage path, or application does what the requirement states.
3. Operations: monitoring, failure diagnosis, cost, ownership, and cleanup are known.

A control-plane response can precede final readiness. Use waiters or state polling where supported, then test the actual behavior. If a request times out, do not assume it failed. Inspect state and use documented idempotency before retrying a mutation.

Troubleshooting method

Keep the original symptom and timestamp. State one hypothesis, make one reversible change, repeat the original test, and record rollback. Never open a management port to the world, expose credentials, disable TLS verification, format an unknown disk, or add broad permissions as a generic fix.

Architecture and certification decisions

Professional-level questions provide competing valid features. Identify the requirement that decides between them: human or workload identity, same-account or cross-account access, regional or zonal scope, stateful or stateless filtering, durable or ephemeral data, latency, RTO/RPO, cost, or operational ownership.

Explain why the selected option fits and why each plausible alternative fails one stated requirement. Do not rely on feature memorization or reproduce protected certification questions.

Knowledge check

1. What determines an instance Availability Zone?

Expected direction: The selected subnet.

1. Where should application AWS credentials come from?

Expected direction: An IAM role attached through the instance profile.

1. Does a successful dry run guarantee the actual instance will launch?

Expected direction: No. Capacity, quotas, changed configuration, bootstrap, and runtime dependencies can still fail.

1. Why tag volumes during launch?

Expected direction: Ownership and policy controls should exist immediately, not after an unreliable cleanup step.

Cost, cleanup, and retained state

Retain only the state explicitly required by the next P04 lesson and record it in the private resource ledger.

Cleanup evidence includes the final state query, not only a successful delete response. Search related resources, other Regions used by the lab, retained storage, public IPv4 addresses, logging destinations, and service-managed dependencies. Schedule a later billing review because cost data can lag.

Completion gate

Pass when the practical artifact explains the real problem, matches Console and CLI evidence, answers every knowledge check, diagnoses one failure without broadening access, records cost, and proves cleanup or approved retention. The learner must defend one decision orally and name the requirement that would change it.

Official sources

• Launch an EC2 instance
• RunInstances API