This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Augustine Okwaraebuzie
📘 INTRODUCTION
Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) provides scalable computing capacity in the AWS cloud. By launching an Ubuntu EC2 instance, you're essentially creating a virtual server on the cloud that can run applications, host websites, and perform development/testing activities. Ubuntu is a popular Linux distribution due to its security, open-source nature, and ease of use.
This guide walks you through each step, from logging into AWS to connecting to your Ubuntu server.
✅ Step-by-Step Process to Launch an Ubuntu EC2 Instance
Requirements
To begin, make sure you have the following:
An active AWS account
An Installed text editor like (Powershell)
SSH client (e.g., Terminal on macOS/Linux, PuTTY on Windows)
Step 1: Log in to AWS Management Console
🔹 Go to https://aws.amazon.com
🔹 Click on Sign In to the Console
🔹 Enter your username and password
Step 2: Navigate to EC2 Dashboard
🔹 On the AWS Console, search for EC2 in the “Find Services” bar.
🔹 Click on EC2 under “Compute”.
The EC2 Dashboard shows all running instances, volumes, security groups, and key pairs.
Step 3: Click “Launch Instance”
🔹 In the EC2 Dashboard, click the “Launch Instance” button.
🔹 You’ll be taken to the instance creation wizard.
Step 4: Name Your Instance
🔹 In the “Name and tags” section, type a name like: Ubuntu-Web-Server.
Step 5: Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
🔹 In the “Application and OS Images” section:
🔸 Click “Browse more AMIs”
🔸 In the search bar, type Ubuntu
🔸 Choose an Ubuntu Server (e.g., Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS)
🔸 Make sure it says Free Tier eligible (if you're using the free tier)
Step 6: Choose an Instance Type
🔹 Select t2.micro (eligible for Free Tier: 1 vCPU, 1GB RAM).
🔹 For more power, choose higher specs—but note, it may incur charges.
Step 7: Create (or Use) a Key Pair
🔹 A key pair lets you securely SSH into your instance.
🔸 Choose Create new key pair
🔸 Give it a name: ubuntu-key
🔸 Select .pem as file format
🔸 Click Create key pair — a file will download (save this safely)
⚠️ You won’t be able to download the key again. Keep it secure and don’t lose it.
Step 8: Configure Network Settings, Review and Launch
🔹 Choose or leave the default VPC and subnet
🔹 Under “Firewall (security groups)”, choose:
🔸 Create security group
🔸 Allow SSH (port 22) from your IP
🔸 Optional: Add HTTP (port 80) if you're hosting a web server
🔸 Click on Launch
🔸 Check Configure Storage and leave it on default
🔸 You will see a successful message, scroll down and click on "view instance" to go to dashboard.
Step 9: Connect to Your Ubuntu EC2 Instance via PowerShell
- Open your terminal and run the command from the directory containing your .pem file.
- Copy the SSH command that looks like: ssh -i "ubuntu-key.pem" ubuntu@your IP address
- Accept the connection (type yes)
Step 10:Installing and configuring NGINX Web Server
Installing NGINX: Enter the command "sudo apt install nginx -y"
Note that "nginx" is the web server software
"-y" means you agree to install without asking again
Start NGINX: Enter the command "sudo systemctl start nginx"
This is to start nginx server
Check NGINX status: Enter the command "sudo systemctl status nginx"
This shows if NGINX is running properly
Enabling NGINX to Auto-start: Enter the command "sudo systemctl enable nginx"
This ensures NGINX starts automatically if the server restarts
Step 11: Testing and Customizing the Web Page
Testing: Open your browser and login to http//:(your-ec2-IP)
You will see the default NGINX welcome page.
Editing the web page: Enter the command
"sudo /var/www/html/index.nginx-debian.html" . This is to open the default web page file that NGINX shows to visitors, the files are stored in the /var/www/html folder on the server
Steps to Edit:
- Delete the existing text in the file by holding the ctrl key and press K repeatedly (deletes lines one after the other).
- Type this:
You should see the NGINX web page in this effect
🎯 Conclusion
You’ve successfully launched and connected to an Ubuntu EC2 instance! From here, you can install software, host websites, configure firewalls, and much more — all from a scalable cloud environment.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Augustine Okwaraebuzie
Augustine Okwaraebuzie | Sciencx (2025-07-13T12:47:36+00:00) 🟢 How to Launch an Ubuntu EC2 Instance on AWS (Step-by-Step Guide). Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/07/13/%f0%9f%9f%a2-how-to-launch-an-ubuntu-ec2-instance-on-aws-step-by-step-guide/
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