How to connect to EC2 Instance (AWS) from Windows/Ubuntu

Here, we will learn how to connect to AWS EC2 instance from your local machine (Windows/Ubuntu) .

Prerequisite

1. Considering that you have successfully created a AWS Account.
2. You have also created a AWS EC2 Instance on your AWS Account.
   If not yet ? Learn How to Create a Ubuntu 20.04 Server on AWS EC2 (Elastic Cloud Computing)
3. Get Ready with your private key file (.pem). That your have generated while creating EC2 instance .

Steps to Connect EC2 From Windows

1. Download and Install Putty on your local machine

Download and install PuTTY from the PuTTY download page. If you already have an older version of PuTTY installed please Update it , Be sure to install the entire suite.

2. Convert your private key using PuTTYgen

PuTTY does not natively support the private key format for SSH keys. PuTTY provides a tool named PuTTYgen, which converts keys to the required format for PuTTY. You must convert your private key (.pem file) into this format (.ppk file) as follows in order to connect to your instance using PuTTY.

1. From the Start menu, choose All Programs then PuTTYgen.

2. Under Type of key to generate, choose RSA. If you’re using an older version of PuTTYgen, choose SSH-2 RSA.

3. Choose Load. By default, PuTTYgen displays only files with the extension .ppk . To locate your .pem file, choose the option to display files of all types.

4. Select your .pem file. It will show a message successfully imported now save your private key .

Your private key is now in the correct format for use with PuTTY. You can now connect to your instance using PuTTY’s SSH client.

3. Connect To EC2 Using Putty

1. Start PuTTY (from the Start menu, choose All Programs, PuTTY, PuTTY) .

2. In the Category pane, choose Session and complete the following fields :

Enter Host_name =  my-instance-user-name@my-instance-public-dns-name
Enter Port = 22
Connection Type = SSH

Replace “my-instance-user-name@my-instance-public-dns-name” with your host name and user name . You will find these details on AWS EC2 Dashboard. Go to EC2 dashboard. Click on your instance. Click on connect you will these find details in Example there .

3. In the Category pane, expand Connection, expand SSH, and then choose Auth then Browse and Select the .ppk file that you generated for your key pair and choose open .

4. (Optional) If you plan to start this session again later, you can save the session information for future use. Under Category, choose Session, enter a name for the session in Saved Sessions, and then choose Save.

4. Choose Open.

If this is the first time you have connected to this instance, PuTTY displays a security alert dialog box that asks whether you trust the host to which you are connecting. Choose yes .

You are now connected to your EC2 Instance from Windows

Steps to Connect EC2 From Ubuntu

To connect to your EC2 Instance from Ubuntu .

1. Open Terminal .
2. Go to the folder Where your private key is stored .
3. Run the Below Command to connect to your EC2 instance .

$ sudo ssh -i "yourPrivateKey.pem" my-instance-user-name@my-instance-public-dns-name

Terminal Example

Replace “my-instance-user-name@my-instance-public-dns-name” with your host name and user name . You will find these details on AWS EC2 Dashboard. Go to EC2 dashboard. Click on your instance. Click on connect you will these find details in Example there .

If this is the first time you have connected to this instance, It will displays a security alert Choose yes to connect to EC2 instance .

You are now connected to your EC2 Instance from Ubuntu .