Set up Amazon EC2 credentials

To be able to create an EC2 cloud source in Lab Management, you need to set up an Amazon Web Services account and supply the EC2 credentials to Lab Management.

To get started, you need to create an Amazon Web Services (AWS) account (or sign in with an existing Amazon account). You will be required to provide a credit card as part of sign up; this card will be charged for all your running EC2 instances. You will also be required to provide a callback number to which you have ready access. Amazon will generate an automated callback to this number to complete registration, and ask you to enter a generated PIN into your phone. Finally you'll receive a verification email letting you know that your account is set up.
  1. Go to https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/ to view the AWS console.
    Note: You should default to the US East region. This is the default that Lab Management assumes for all AMIs, instances, and key pairs.
  2. Get the API credentials you'll give Lab Management to use your AWS account.
    1. In My Account > Security Credentials, scroll down to your Access Keys, and get the Access Key ID (known as API Key in Lab Management).
    2. Show the Secret Access Key (known as API Secret in Lab Management).
  3. Generate or upload a Key Pair. This is a named public/private key pair that will be used to access instances as root.
    Note: This key pair is associated with this AWS account, and therefore the credit card and the user that creates a cloud in Lab Management - take the appropriate precautions!
    Amazon stores only the public key for passwordless SSH access to the instances. If you generate a key pair, you'll download the private key, which you'll be responsible for keeping secure. If you upload your own public key, you're still responsible for keeping your private key secure. For Lab Management-controlled EC2 instances, this key is used for paswordless root SSH access to the instance.
When you create an EC2 cloud source in Lab Management, you'll need to provide the API Key and API Secret viewed above, as well as the Keypair Name and Keypair Value (your RSA private key) generated above.
Parent topic: Administer clouds