AMI

Amazon Machine Image

Overview

• AMI are a customization of an EC2 instance

• You add your own software, configuration, operating system, monitoring…

• Faster boot / configuration time because all your software 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)

Process

• 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