Secure Connections… No this is not a dating app thing…

Remember that bank from last time, they’re looking to deploy some servers and need some mechanisms to manage them remotely from their global team. I decided to give them some basic pieces that are more OS native depending on each of their preferred OS of use.

I deployed a Linux and Windows VM using CloudFoundation template, including Security Groups to allow for ssh (tcp port 22) for Linux and rdp (tcp port 3389) for Windows.

Template used:

Resources:
  LinuxInstance:
    Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: us-east-1a
      ImageId: ami-05548f9cecf47b442
      InstanceType: t2.micro
      KeyName: LUIT_Linux
      SecurityGroups:
        - !Ref LinuxSecurityGroup
  LinuxEIP:
    Type: AWS::EC2::EIP
    Properties:
      InstanceId: !Ref LinuxInstance
  LinuxSecurityGroup:
    Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
    Properties:
      GroupDescription: SSH on Port 22
      SecurityGroupIngress:
      - CidrIp: 0.0.0.0/0
        FromPort: 22
        IpProtocol: tcp
        ToPort: 22

  WindowsInstance:
    Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: us-east-1a
      ImageId: ami-0fc682b2a42e57ca2
      InstanceType: t2.micro
      KeyName: LUIT_Linux
      SecurityGroups:
        - !Ref WindowsSecurityGroup
  WindowsEIP:
    Type: AWS::EC2::EIP
    Properties:
      InstanceId: !Ref WindowsInstance
  WindowsSecurityGroup:
    Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
    Properties:
      GroupDescription: RDP on 3389
      SecurityGroupIngress:
      - CidrIp: 0.0.0.0/0
        FromPort: 3389
        IpProtocol: tcp
        ToPort: 3389

A little example of what Cloud Foundation will look like upon completion:

Instead of diving through the UI, I used the AWS CLI to query the appropriate info for the running VMs:

stevenjones@stevenjones Downloads % aws - profile default ec2 describe-instances - filters "Name=instance-state-name,Values=running" - query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].[InstanceId, PlatformDetails, InstanceType, PublicDnsName, State.Name]' - output table
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
| DescribeInstances |
+ - - - - - - - - - - -+ - - - - - - -+ - - - - - -+ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ - - - - - -+
| i-0f054fd2c23fb1372| Windows | t2.micro | ec2–44–216–96–152.compute-1.amazonaws.com | running |
| i-0cccaee06abdcf462| Linux/UNIX | t2.micro | ec2–3–214–12–222.compute-1.amazonaws.com | running |
+ - - - - - - - - - - -+ - - - - - - -+ - - - - - -+ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ - - - - - -+
stevenjones@stevenjones Downloads %

Since I have the private key, I used ssh to login to the Linux instance without moving further.

I also verified I could pass commands for additional administration, scripting, etc.

For Windows, I needed to go into the UI and retrieve the password. I go back to the UI and identify the Windows instance using the instanceID retrieved from the CLI output: i-0f054fd2c23fb1372

I select it and use the connect function in the AWS UI:

This pops up:

I select the RDP client tab from the UI:

I select the get password link:

I upload my private key, select Decrypt Password and retrieve my password:

Now that I have my password and the hostname, I can connect to my Windows EC2 instance.

Using the Microsoft Remote Desktop for Mac, I use the hostname of the Windows instance:

I copy and paste the password from the AWS UI. And login.

I accepted the cert and allowed the login to continue.

Login complete!!

I ran a command to show the same info I retrieved from the Linux machine.

This gives the tooling for admins to perform a great number of remote administration tasks on either Linux or Windows instances.

These are the basics. You can also use AWS Systems Manager Session Manager — which I will cover in another article. Ta Ta for now!!