Aws Ec2

AWS EC2 virtual machine management for instances, AMIs, and networking. Use when launching instances, configuring security groups, managing key pairs, troubleshooting connectivity, or automating instance lifecycle.

Third-party community skill

This skill is reviewed through Azure/git-ape PRs and maintained by its listed author. It is not bundled or activated with core. See the Skill Registry and use /git-ape-skills install aws-ec2 for explicit project or personal installation. Review is not a guarantee of safety.

Details

Property	Value
Skill Directory	`.github/community-skills/aws-ec2/`
Author	dawright22
Maturity	experimental
Available with Core	❌ No — explicit installation required
Usage	`/aws-ec2 Instance type, operation, or issue to look up (e.g. 't3.micro web server', 'security group SSH rule', 'IMDSv2', 'spot instance request')`

Documentation

AWS EC2

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. Launch virtual servers, configure networking and security, and manage storage.

Core Concepts
Common Patterns
CLI Reference
Best Practices
Troubleshooting
References

Core Concepts

Instance Types

Category	Example	Use Case
General Purpose	t3, m6i	Web servers, dev environments
Compute Optimized	c6i	Batch processing, gaming
Memory Optimized	r6i	Databases, caching
Storage Optimized	i3, d3	Data warehousing
Accelerated	p4d, g5	ML, graphics

Purchasing Options

Option	Description
On-Demand	Pay by the hour/second
Reserved	1-3 year commitment, up to 72% discount
Spot	Unused capacity, up to 90% discount
Savings Plans	Flexible commitment-based discount

AMI (Amazon Machine Image)

Template containing OS, software, and configuration for launching instances.

Security Groups

Virtual firewalls controlling inbound and outbound traffic.

Common Patterns

Launch an Instance

AWS CLI:

# Create key pair
aws ec2 create-key-pair \
  --key-name my-key \
  --query 'KeyMaterial' \
  --output text > my-key.pem
chmod 400 my-key.pem

# Create security group
aws ec2 create-security-group \
  --group-name web-server-sg \
  --description "Web server security group" \
  --vpc-id vpc-12345678

# Allow SSH from private range only
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \
  --group-id sg-12345678 \
  --protocol tcp \
  --port 22 \
  --cidr 10.0.0.0/8

aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \
  --group-id sg-12345678 \
  --protocol tcp \
  --port 80 \
  --cidr 0.0.0.0/0

# Launch instance
aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id ami-0123456789abcdef0 \
  --instance-type t3.micro \
  --key-name my-key \
  --security-group-ids sg-12345678 \
  --subnet-id subnet-12345678 \
  --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=web-server}]'

boto3:

import boto3

ec2 = boto3.resource('ec2')

instances = ec2.create_instances(
    ImageId='ami-0123456789abcdef0',
    InstanceType='t3.micro',
    KeyName='my-key',
    SecurityGroupIds=['sg-12345678'],
    SubnetId='subnet-12345678',
    MinCount=1,
    MaxCount=1,
    TagSpecifications=[{
        'ResourceType': 'instance',
        'Tags': [{'Key': 'Name', 'Value': 'web-server'}]
    }]
)

instance = instances[0]
instance.wait_until_running()
instance.reload()
print(f"Instance ID: {instance.id}")
print(f"Public IP: {instance.public_ip_address}")

User Data Script

aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id ami-0123456789abcdef0 \
  --instance-type t3.micro \
  --key-name my-key \
  --security-group-ids sg-12345678 \
  --subnet-id subnet-12345678 \
  --user-data '#!/bin/bash
    yum update -y
    yum install -y httpd
    systemctl start httpd
    systemctl enable httpd
    echo "<h1>Hello from $(hostname)</h1>" > /var/www/html/index.html
  '

Attach IAM Role

# Create instance profile
aws iam create-instance-profile \
  --instance-profile-name web-server-profile

aws iam add-role-to-instance-profile \
  --instance-profile-name web-server-profile \
  --role-name web-server-role

# Launch with profile
aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id ami-0123456789abcdef0 \
  --instance-type t3.micro \
  --iam-instance-profile Name=web-server-profile \
  --security-group-ids sg-12345678 \
  --subnet-id subnet-12345678

Create AMI from Instance

aws ec2 create-image \
  --instance-id i-1234567890abcdef0 \
  --name "my-custom-ami-$(date +%Y%m%d)" \
  --description "Custom AMI with web server" \
  --no-reboot

Spot Instance Request

aws ec2 request-spot-instances \
  --instance-count 1 \
  --type "one-time" \
  --launch-specification '{
    "ImageId": "ami-0123456789abcdef0",
    "InstanceType": "c5.large",
    "KeyName": "my-key",
    "SecurityGroupIds": ["sg-12345678"],
    "SubnetId": "subnet-12345678"
  }' \
  --spot-price "0.05"

EBS Volume Management

# Create volume
aws ec2 create-volume \
  --availability-zone us-east-1a \
  --size 100 \
  --volume-type gp3 \
  --iops 3000 \
  --throughput 125 \
  --encrypted

# Attach to instance
aws ec2 attach-volume \
  --volume-id vol-12345678 \
  --instance-id i-1234567890abcdef0 \
  --device /dev/sdf

# Create snapshot
aws ec2 create-snapshot \
  --volume-id vol-12345678 \
  --description "Daily backup"

CLI Reference

Instance Management

Command	Description
`aws ec2 run-instances`	Launch instances
`aws ec2 describe-instances`	List instances
`aws ec2 start-instances`	Start stopped instances
`aws ec2 stop-instances`	Stop running instances
`aws ec2 reboot-instances`	Reboot instances
`aws ec2 terminate-instances`	Terminate instances
`aws ec2 modify-instance-attribute`	Modify instance settings

Security Groups

Command	Description
`aws ec2 create-security-group`	Create security group
`aws ec2 describe-security-groups`	List security groups
`aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress`	Add inbound rule
`aws ec2 revoke-security-group-ingress`	Remove inbound rule
`aws ec2 authorize-security-group-egress`	Add outbound rule

AMIs

Command	Description
`aws ec2 describe-images`	List AMIs
`aws ec2 create-image`	Create AMI from instance
`aws ec2 copy-image`	Copy AMI to another region
`aws ec2 deregister-image`	Delete AMI

EBS Volumes

Command	Description
`aws ec2 create-volume`	Create EBS volume
`aws ec2 attach-volume`	Attach to instance
`aws ec2 detach-volume`	Detach from instance
`aws ec2 create-snapshot`	Create snapshot
`aws ec2 modify-volume`	Resize/modify volume

Best Practices

Security

Use IAM roles instead of access keys on instances
Restrict security groups — principle of least privilege
Use private subnets for backend instances
Enable IMDSv2 to prevent SSRF attacks
Encrypt EBS volumes at rest

# Require IMDSv2
aws ec2 modify-instance-metadata-options \
  --instance-id i-1234567890abcdef0 \
  --http-tokens required \
  --http-endpoint enabled

Performance

Right-size instances — monitor and adjust
Use EBS-optimized instances
Choose appropriate EBS volume type
Use placement groups for low-latency networking

Cost Optimization

Use Spot Instances for fault-tolerant workloads
Stop/terminate unused instances
Use Reserved Instances for steady-state workloads
Delete unused EBS volumes and snapshots

Reliability

Use Auto Scaling Groups for high availability
Deploy across multiple AZs
Use Elastic Load Balancer for traffic distribution
Implement health checks

Troubleshooting

Cannot SSH to Instance

Checklist:

Security group allows SSH (port 22) from your IP
Instance has public IP or use bastion/SSM
Key pair matches instance
Instance is running
Network ACL allows traffic

# Check security group
aws ec2 describe-security-groups --group-ids sg-12345678

# Check instance state
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0 \
  --query "Reservations[].Instances[].{State:State.Name,PublicIP:PublicIpAddress}"

Use Session Manager instead:

aws ssm start-session --target i-1234567890abcdef0

Instance Won't Start

Causes:

Reached instance limits
Insufficient capacity in AZ
EBS volume issue
Invalid AMI

# Check instance state reason
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0 \
  --query "Reservations[].Instances[].StateReason"

Instance Unreachable

Debug:

# Check instance status
aws ec2 describe-instance-status \
  --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0

# Get console output
aws ec2 get-console-output \
  --instance-id i-1234567890abcdef0

High CPU/Memory

# Enable detailed monitoring
aws ec2 monitor-instances \
  --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0

# Check CloudWatch metrics
aws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics \
  --namespace AWS/EC2 \
  --metric-name CPUUtilization \
  --dimensions Name=InstanceId,Value=i-1234567890abcdef0 \
  --start-time $(date -d '1 hour ago' -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ) \
  --end-time $(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ) \
  --period 300 \
  --statistics Average

Details​

Documentation​

AWS EC2

Table of Contents​

Core Concepts​

Instance Types​

Purchasing Options​

AMI (Amazon Machine Image)​

Security Groups​

Common Patterns​

Launch an Instance​

User Data Script​

Attach IAM Role​

Create AMI from Instance​

Spot Instance Request​

EBS Volume Management​

CLI Reference​

Instance Management​

Security Groups​

AMIs​

EBS Volumes​

Best Practices​

Security​

Performance​

Cost Optimization​

Reliability​

Troubleshooting​

Cannot SSH to Instance​

Instance Won't Start​

Instance Unreachable​

High CPU/Memory​

References​

Details

Documentation

Table of Contents

Core Concepts

Instance Types

Purchasing Options

AMI (Amazon Machine Image)

Security Groups

Common Patterns

Launch an Instance

User Data Script

Attach IAM Role

Create AMI from Instance

Spot Instance Request

EBS Volume Management

CLI Reference

Instance Management

Security Groups

AMIs

EBS Volumes

Best Practices

Security

Performance

Cost Optimization

Reliability

Troubleshooting

Cannot SSH to Instance

Instance Won't Start

Instance Unreachable

High CPU/Memory

References