How to Launch a Marketplace Server in the AWS Cloud

This step-by-step guide describes how to launch a pre-installed cloud server in the cloud from the AWS Marketplace via an AMI (Amazon Machine Image).

To launch a server in the cloud, first subscribe to the product and accept the terms and conditions:

Launch a Marketplace Server in the AWS Cloud - Subscribe to the product
Launch a Marketplace Server in the AWS Cloud - Accept terms

As a result, the subscription becomes active after a few seconds, and the configuration of the server can start:

Launch a Marketplace Server in the AWS Cloud - Continue to configuration

Users may select the recommended instance type and stick with the prepopulated x86 AMI while changing the region to their preferred choice:

Launch a Marketplace Server in the AWS Cloud - Choose your preferred region

The usage instructions provide helpful information on mandatory security group settings and how to connect to the launched server, especially if a user wants to use a special instance or change the standard settings.

Launch a Marketplace Server in the AWS Cloud - Usage instructions
Launch a Marketplace Server in the AWS Cloud - Usage instructions for stable diffusion

Users can choose the preselected settings for Launch from Website and the EC2 instance type. If a user has previously launched an instance, there will be a prepopulated default VPC and subnet. If a user has not launched an instance before or has special requirements, they can create new ones by clicking on the suggested links:

Launch a Marketplace Server in the AWS Cloud - Choose action, EC2 instance type, VPC settings and subnet settings

Now a security group must be selected. Users can either

  • select a previously created security group that fulfills the requirements described in the usage instructions or
  • create a new one based on these settings by clicking the offered link:
Launch a Marketplace Server in the AWS Cloud - Security group selection options

Additionally, you need to provide a key pair that you will later need to connect to your server.

Launch a Marketplace Server in the AWS Cloud - Key pair settings

If a user already has a key pair, they must ensure that it complies with the requirements for accepted key formats, which is an RSA key pair with an SSH private key in PEM or PPK format. They can check if their private key file starts with

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

as a quick test. If their private key does not comply with these requirements, they can either

  • convert their existing private key, e.g. convert your openssh key to pem with

ssh-keygen -p -m pem -f [private key file]

  • or create a new key pair following this guide. As described this can be accomplished with aws ec2 or external tools like openssh or Putty depending on your operating system. More information on key conversion can be found here.

If you are on a Windows machine you probably want to use the Putty Key Generator Puttygen. There you need to pay attention to select RSA type for generation. Export to the openssh format and save as .pem afterwards.

PuTTY Key Generator screen - Generate RSA

Memorize the private key storage location because you will need the file later on.

PuTTY Key Generator screen - Export OpenSSH key

Select the key pair and the server can be launched. A few seconds later it becomes operational, which you can monitor via the EC2 console:

Final success screen via EC2 console

As next step you can connect to your new AWS Cloud server. Follow this guide for the next steps how to connect to your AWS DCV server.