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AMI Overview

  • AMI - Amazon Machine Image
  • AMI are a customization of an EC2 instance
    • You add your own software, configuration, operating system, monitoring...
    • Faster boot / configuration time because all your sofware is pre-packaged
  • AMI are built for a specific region (and can be copied across regions)
  • You can launch EC2 instances from:
    • A public AMI: AWS provided
    • Your own AMI: you make and maintain them yourself
    • An AWS Marketplace AMI: an AMI someone else made (and potentially sells)

AMI Process (from an EC2 instance)

  • Start an EC2 instance and customize it
  • Stop the instance (for data integrity)
  • Build an AMI - this will also create EBS snapshots
  • Launch instances from other AMIs