Launching an EC2 instance requires a configured Server Template. A server template tells the system the following:
- AMI to launch (OS choices are packaged as AMIs. There are many to choose from such as Centos, Ubuntu...etc)
- Size of the instance (tiny, small, medium, large, #of processors). Detailed description of instances can be found
here: http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/ - A Server Template can instruct the system to launch multiple instances at the same time
- The SSH key used with the ROOT user
- Security group the instance adheres to
- Zone to launch the server (us-west-1a, us-west-1b...etc)
Set up a new Server Template:
- Go to Clouds > [YOUR CLOUD] > Launch
- Click "Create" Button
- Fill out the "Name" field
- Fill out the "EC2 Image" field with the AMI to use. This field will auto-complete to help you locate images
- Fill out the "User Name". The "User Name" is used when trying to ssh into the machine via the SSH Console and when a remote script has to be invoked.
This is usually "root". For some ubuntu image, this will be "ubuntu" - Fill out the "SSH Key"
- Select a security group. The default group is sufficient for basic purposes.
- Fill out the "Count". Count tells the system how many instances to launch.
- Select "Availablity Zone" if there is a preference.
- Click "Add" to save the template