[Recipes] Creating and Publishing Amazon Machine Images (AMI)

1. Login to AWS console and go to EC2.

2. Create a snapshot of the default root volume.

3. Go to Actions > Create Image

   1. Give a name and description. E.g. DemoWebServerAMI and Demo WebServer AMI

   2. Leave other details as is, but look into each of the options: Architecture, Virtualization Type, Root Device Name, Kernel ID, RAM Disk ID. You can also change the size and type of the root volume.

   3. Click on Create

   4. Go to AMIs (Under Images Sidebar) and wait for image to appear. It might take some time to create the Image.

4. Make the image public

   1. Select the image and click on Modify Image Permissions (under Actions menu)

   2. Click on public and save.

   3. Guidelines are available at:

      1. https://aws.amazon.com/articles/9001172542712674

      2. http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/building-shared-amis.html

Exam Tips

1. Private images can be shared with another AWS account alone. Select the image and click on Modify Image Permissions (under Actions menu)

2. AMIs are regional.