Step 7: Create AMI (Amazon Machine Image)

In the world of cloud computing, Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers a powerful feature called Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) that lets you create snapshots of your EC2 instances. This guide walks you through the process of creating an AMI from an EC2 instance, which can be useful for backup purposes, scaling, or replicating environments.

Why Create an AMI?

Creating an AMI from an EC2 instance allows you to:

1. Backup: Preserve the state of your instance, including its configuration, applications, and data.
2. Scaling: Quickly launch new instances with the same configuration.
3. Replicate: Deploy identical environments across different regions or accounts.

Step-by-Step Process

1. Prepare Your EC2 Instance

Before creating an AMI, ensure your EC2 instance is in the desired state:

• Clean Up: Remove any temporary files or data that you don’t need.
• Update Software: Ensure that the instance is up-to-date with the latest patches and updates.
• Stop Services: Optionally, stop any services or applications that might be writing data to ensure consistency.

2. Open the EC2 Management Console

1. Log in to your AWS Management Console.
2. Navigate to the EC2 Dashboard by selecting EC2 from the Services menu.

3. Select Your Instance

1. In the Instances section, find and select the instance you want to create an AMI from.
2. Make sure the instance is in the desired state (running or stopped). It’s often recommended to stop the instance to ensure a consistent image, though this is not always required.

4. Create the AMI

1. With the instance selected, click the Actions button.

2. Choose Image and templates and then select Create image.

   • Image name: Enter a descriptive name for your AMI.
   • Image description: Optionally, provide a description to help identify the AMI later.
   • No Reboot: Decide if you want to allow or prevent rebooting the instance. By default, AWS reboots the instance to ensure a clean state. If you select "No Reboot," the AMI creation will proceed without restarting the instance, but this may affect the consistency of the image.

3. Click Create image. AWS will start the process of creating the AMI.

5. Monitor the AMI Creation

1. Go to the AMIs section under Images in the EC2 Dashboard.

2. You will see your new AMI listed with a status of Pending. The AMI status will change to Available once the creation process is complete.

6. Use Your AMI

Once your AMI is available, you can:

• Launch New Instances: Use the AMI to launch new EC2 instances with the same configuration.
• Share AMI: Make your AMI available to other AWS accounts or regions by modifying its permissions.
• Create Launch Configurations: Use the AMI in auto-scaling groups or other deployment scenarios.

Best Practices

1. Regular Backups: Regularly create AMIs to keep your backups up-to-date.
2. Monitor AMI Usage: Keep track of your AMIs and delete those that are no longer needed to manage storage costs effectively.
3. Document AMIs: Maintain documentation on what each AMI contains, including any specific configurations or software versions.

Conclusion

Creating an AMI from an EC2 instance is a straightforward process that offers flexibility and reliability for managing your cloud infrastructure. By following these steps, you can efficiently create, use, and manage AMIs, ensuring your environments are easily replicable and recoverable.

Congratulations, you have been able to deploy a website on Amazon Linux EC2 instance and created an AMI from the instance. We can use the AMI in other projects without having to perform all the above steps each time. 

Note that this website has no database backend but we will have other projects with the data base integrated.