How to connect EC2 instance over SSH using Windows and Mac? | Visual Explanations

Summary

In this informative tutorial, the host guides viewers through the process of connecting to an Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2 instance using various tools and methods. Starting with the creation of an EC2 instance on AWS, the host then demonstrates how to connect to it via SSH with both Windows and Mac/Linux systems. For Windows 10, PowerShell and Command Prompt are used, while PuTTY and MobaXterm are recommended for older Windows versions. On Mac, the default terminal is utilized, and tools like Terminus are highlighted for a more user-friendly interface. The video also covers key management and permission settings to ensure secure connections. This comprehensive guide is designed to help users effectively manage and connect to their AWS instances.

Takeaways

• 🚀 The video continues a tutorial series on connecting to AWS EC2 instances using SSH.
• 💻 The presenter demonstrates how to create a new EC2 instance using Amazon Linux 2 AMI and a T2 micro instance, which is free tier eligible.
• 🔑 A new key pair is created and downloaded for secure SSH access to the instance.
• 🖥️ The video covers different methods to connect to the EC2 instance from both Windows and Mac/Linux systems.
• 🛠️ For Windows 10 users, the presenter shows how to use PowerShell and Command Prompt to SSH into the instance after enabling SSH and setting the correct permissions on the key file.
• 🔒 The importance of protecting the SSH key file with proper permissions is emphasized to ensure secure access.
• 🔄 For older Windows versions, the use of PuTTY as an alternative to connect to the EC2 instance is suggested.
• 🔗 The process of converting a PEM file to PuTTY's PPK format using PuTTYgen is explained.
• 🌐 The video introduces MobaXterm as a tool for Windows users to connect to EC2 instances with a graphical interface.
• 🍎 On Mac, the presenter uses the Terminal application to demonstrate the SSH connection process, including setting key permissions.
• 🎨 Terminus is highlighted as a favorite tool for Mac users, offering a visually appealing UI for managing and connecting to SSH hosts.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is about connecting to an AWS EC2 instance using different methods and tools on Windows, Linux, and Mac.

What are the steps to create a new EC2 instance in AWS as described in the video?

The steps include selecting the Amazon Linux 2 AMI, choosing the T2 micro instance which is free tier eligible, configuring the instance details without changes, adding a name tag, setting up a security group, and launching the instance with a new key pair.

What is the default username for connecting to an Amazon Linux AMI instance?

The default username for connecting to an Amazon Linux AMI instance is 'ec2-user'.

How can one check if SSH is enabled on Windows 10?

One can check if SSH is enabled on Windows 10 by opening PowerShell or Command Prompt and typing 'ssh' to see if there are options displayed or if there's an error like 'switch command not found'.

What is the process to connect to an EC2 instance using SSH on Windows 10?

The process involves opening PowerShell or Command Prompt, typing 'ssh' followed by the username 'ec2-user' and the instance's IP address, trusting the machine if prompted, and associating the previously downloaded SSH key to the command using the '-i' flag followed by the key file path.

Why is it important to protect the SSH key file when connecting to an EC2 instance?

It is important to protect the SSH key file because the key is used to authenticate your connection to the EC2 instance securely, and an unprotected key can pose a security risk.

What is the recommended permission setting for the SSH key file on Windows?

The recommended permission setting for the SSH key file on Windows is to allow modifying the file only by the user who owns it, by removing permissions for all other users and setting full control for the owner.

How can one connect to an EC2 instance using PuTTY on an older version of Windows?

One can connect to an EC2 instance using PuTTY by installing PuTTY, entering the hostname or IP address, specifying the username 'ec2-user', and using a PuTTY-compatible SSH key file (.PPK) which is created by importing the original .pem file using PuTTYgen.

What is MOBA Xterm and how is it used to connect to an EC2 instance?

MOBA Xterm is a terminal emulator for Windows that provides a graphical interface for SSH connections. It is used to connect to an EC2 instance by creating a new SSH session, entering the username and IP address, specifying the private key file, and establishing the connection.

What is the recommended permission setting for the SSH key file on Mac?

The recommended permission setting for the SSH key file on Mac is to change the permissions using 'chmod 400' command, allowing read access only to the owner of the file.

What is Terminus and how does it facilitate connecting to an EC2 instance?

Terminus is a terminal management tool with a graphical user interface. It facilitates connecting to an EC2 instance by allowing users to add a new host with a label and IP address, specify the username and SSH key, and connect with a single click.

Outlines

00:00

🖥️ AWS EC2 Instance Creation and SSH Connection Basics

The script begins with a greeting and an introduction to the tutorial series on AWS. The focus is on creating EC2 instances and connecting to them using SSH. The presenter demonstrates the process of launching a new Amazon Linux 2 instance with a T2.micro configuration, which is free tier eligible. They guide the audience through the steps of configuring the security group and creating a new key pair for SSH access. The presenter also explains how to check if SSH is enabled on Windows 10 and how to connect to the EC2 instance using the command prompt with the appropriate SSH command syntax. The importance of having the correct permissions set for the downloaded SSH key file is highlighted, and the presenter shows how to resolve permission issues to successfully establish an SSH connection.

05:02

🔐 Enhancing SSH Security and Connectivity with Tools

This paragraph delves into the details of securing the SSH key file and the process of connecting to an EC2 instance using different tools. The presenter explains how to change file permissions to ensure that only the owner can modify the SSH key file, which is crucial for security. They demonstrate how to use command prompt and PowerShell on Windows 10 for SSH connections. For users with older versions of Windows, the presenter suggests using PuTTY as an alternative. The process of converting an EC2 key from PEM format to PuTTY's PPK format is outlined, along with setting up a PuTTY session. Additionally, the presenter introduces MobaXterm, a tool that provides a graphical interface for SSH connections and includes features like file transfer and a local virtualized Linux machine environment.

10:03

🌐 Cross-Platform SSH Tools and Connection Techniques

The final paragraph covers SSH connection methods for different operating systems, focusing on Mac OS. The presenter uses the default terminal on Mac to demonstrate how to connect to an EC2 instance using SSH, emphasizing the need for proper permissions on the private key file. They also introduce Terminus, a popular SSH client with a user-friendly interface, and guide the audience through setting up a new host connection in Terminus. The presenter concludes by encouraging viewers to like and subscribe to the channel for more informative content, highlighting the educational value of the video.

Keywords

💡EC2 Instances

EC2 Instances refer to the virtual servers provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that can be used to host applications, run simulations, and perform other computing tasks. In the video, the creator discusses how to create and connect to EC2 instances, which is central to the theme of demonstrating cloud computing operations.

💡SSH Protocol

SSH, or Secure Shell, is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network. In the context of the video, SSH is the method used to securely connect to the EC2 instances, allowing for remote command-line access.

💡Windows 10

Windows 10 is an operating system developed by Microsoft, and in the video, it is mentioned as one of the platforms from which the creator demonstrates how to connect to an EC2 instance. The script includes specific steps for Windows 10 users to enable SSH and connect to AWS instances.

💡Amazon Linux 2 AMI

Amazon Linux 2 AMI stands for Amazon Machine Image, which is a pre-configured virtual machine image provided by AWS. The video script mentions selecting Amazon Linux 2 AMI as the base for the EC2 instance, highlighting the importance of choosing the right AMI for specific needs.

💡T2 Micro

T2 Micro is an instance type offered by AWS, which is part of the free tier and suitable for small, low to medium traffic websites and applications. The script refers to selecting T2 Micro as the instance type, indicating a cost-effective choice for beginners or small-scale projects.

💡Security Group

A security group in AWS is a virtual firewall that controls inbound and outbound traffic to EC2 instances. In the video, the creator configures a security group to allow SSH connections, which is crucial for establishing a secure connection to the instance.

💡Key Pair

In the context of AWS, a key pair refers to a public-private key pair that is used for authentication when connecting to an EC2 instance via SSH. The script details the process of creating and downloading a key pair, which is essential for secure access.

💡PuTTY

PuTTY is a free and open-source terminal emulator that is used to connect to servers via SSH, Telnet, and other protocols. The video mentions using PuTTY as a tool for older Windows versions to connect to Linux machines, showcasing an alternative method for those not using Windows 10.

💡MOBAXterm

MOBAXterm is a terminal software for Windows that provides an SSH client, Telnet client, and more. The script highlights MOBAXterm as a tool for creating SSH sessions, demonstrating its use for connecting to AWS EC2 instances.

💡Terminus

Terminus is a terminal emulator, system monitor, and network debugger for macOS. The video recommends Terminus as a favorite tool for the creator, showing how it can be used to connect to AWS EC2 instances with a user-friendly interface.

💡Permission

In computing, permission refers to the access rights granted to users or user groups to read, write, or execute files. The script discusses changing file permissions to ensure that only the owner can access the SSH key file, which is a security best practice when connecting to EC2 instances.

Highlights

Introduction to continuing the tutorial on connecting to EC2 instances using different operating systems and tools.

Creation of an 8 abreast EC2 instance and demonstration of connecting to it using SSH.

Explanation of launching a new EC2 instance with Amazon Linux 2 AMI and T2 micro for free tier eligibility.

Tagging the EC2 instance for identification and using a default security group.

Instructions on creating and downloading a new key pair for SSH access.

Visibility of instance launch progress and public IP address display.

Checking SSH availability on Windows 10 via PowerShell and Command Prompt.

Demonstration of connecting to an EC2 instance from Windows 10 using SSH.

Addressing permission denied errors and associating the correct SSH key.

Changing file permissions to protect the SSH key for secure connections.

Successfully logging into the EC2 instance using Command Prompt.

Using PuTTY as an alternative for older Windows versions to connect to Linux machines.

Conversion of the EC2 key from PEM to PPK format for PuTTY compatibility.

Introduction of MobaXterm as a tool for Windows users to connect to EC2 instances.

Demonstration of connecting to an EC2 instance using MobaXterm with SSH.

Switching to Mac OS and using the default Terminal to connect to an EC2 instance.

Using Terminus, a favorite tool for Mac users, to connect to EC2 instances with a beautiful UI.

Final thoughts and call to action for viewers to like, subscribe, and support the channel.

Transcripts

hello everyone and welcome back to the

channel once again and today on arrow to

AWS we will continue from where we left

yesterday we have created our 8 abreast

ec2 instances and in today's episode we

will see much more fun ways to connect

to as such using Windows and using Linux

or Mac and we look at some of the

favorite tools that I have that I wanted

to share with you so without wasting any

more time let's get started

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

so the last thing what we had done is we

had created our own a SS ec2 instance so

it's quite fun isn't it

so I would like to create once again one

more new instance for you guys so that

we can continue the flow and I will tell

you the ways we can connect to this

instance using the SSH protocol with the

ways that we have for Windows and Mac so

the first thing that we'll do is we'll

create our instance or we launch an

instance now so what we are going to do

is we are going to follow the steps that

we had followed last time as well so I

will go ahead and select the Amazon

Linux 2 AMI and I will select the T 2

micro that's the free tier eligible and

I will see the configuration instance

everything is same I am NOT going to

change anything so the tag that I'll add

is first is name and this is the one

that we will be using it so next we need

to configure the security group I'll use

a by default security group that is

already available ok so let's search to

my machine I will add the name as a

description here so we can identify this

easily so yeah just I'll click on launch

I will create a new key pair

so the key pair name is this and I will

just download it and just you can just

launch the instance right now so once

you have done all these things you will

be able to see the screen your instances

are now launching so in a few minutes

you'll be able to use these instances as

well so this is the instance list that

we have and I have created the new

instance now so you can see the public

IP that we have here is obviously

displayed 13.1 86 2142 2 2 1 1 9 and the

security group its launch wizard 1 that

we had specified the key pair name as

well and we will not name basically the

pythonic mean that I had for the owner

so it's obviously here so if you're

currently using Windows 10 like cool

then you can go to the powershell and

you can just check whether you have SH

enabled or not so if you get this as

such and you get a lot of options like

this then you have such and you can go

to the command prompt as well and check

the same so if you get the same and both

of them then your SH is enabled and if

you get something like a switch command

not found or something then probably you

don't have a switch and even

your machine maybe you are using an

older version of Windows but now what we

are going to do is we are going to

connect to this machine so on Windows 10

what we are going to do is we're going

to just type SSH

then the username and the IP address so

username for the Amazon Linux AMI -

basically it will always be like ec2 -

user so you just need to type hey c2 -

user and at the rate the IP address so

I'll just copy the IP address and I'll

paste it it is asking for us to

basically trust this machine so what I'm

going to do is I will just trust it okay

so it's permission denied because I

haven't added the key that I had

provided previously or I had downloaded

that so now what I'm going to do is I'm

going to associate that key and attached

to this particular execution command

mean it will give the option of - I

after - line you need to just mention

the path of that particular file name so

I have the file with me here and what

I'm going to do is I'm going to just

copy the file path and I'm going to

specify it here so I'm going to specify

that command - I the path of the file of

that particular SSH key and then they

username at the rate the IP address okay

so no such first nan so what I'm going

to do I'm just going to I iterate to the

particular folder path that I have okay

so I'll just execute the command once

again so what it is selling is

unprotected private key file so what you

need to understand is whenever you are

trying to access a particular SH

instance using a such protocol the key

that you are using for connecting it to

the machine using SSH should be

protected properly so what do you what

are you going to do is you want to

protect it so we'll see what are the

permissions available for that file that

we have so this is the properties of

that particular file so you're going to

click on security so you can see here

that these are the few users that are

already there they are able to actually

manipulate the file so what I'm going to

do is I'm going to allow the permission

for modifying this file only to myself

and for my user itself so what I'm going

to do is I'm going to go to advanced and

I'm going to remove all the permission

from other people that are currently

using it so I'll just remove this

remove this so what it is telling is you

cannot remove system because this object

is inherited permissions from its parent

so we'll remove the inheritance first so

you click on this one click on this

remove all in this I'm going to add

myself so now once I have this I can

just add myself I will give myself the

full control and click on this so now

only I have the access ok so what I did

is I removed the inheritance from all of

them and just I added myself so once you

have done this you can click on apply

click on ok and that's it that's what we

need to make it protected and we are

going to run the same command once again

and it will work yes see we have

successfully logged into the machine and

if you do the same thing using command

prompt also it will work so I will open

the command prompt and if I type here so

now I'll execute the same command again

and you will be able to access the

instance yes it's quite fun isn't it see

I'm able to access it so these are the

two ways that I actually told you right

now and this pretty important when you

using Windows 10 or Windows basically to

change the permission this is really

important most of the times we actually

don't know how to do this but now with

this tutorial maybe it will help you it

has helped me as well so if you really

liked it then hit the like button right

now but moving forward but if you are

using any older version of Windows then

you can probably use putty to connect to

your Linux machine so this also helps

you connect to the last mission using s

switch so what are you going to do is

once you have installed putty you see

your hostname or IP address here is

where we will be entering the hostname

ec2 user at the rate the IP address that

we have so I will go back here and I

will copy the IP address I've copied it

and what I'm going to do is I'll just go

ahead and paste it so once I've done

this I'll just give it a name ec2

instance okay and I'm going to save it

so if you see the key that we can

download it before it is a PM file but

we need to have a secure shell key that

beastly is compatible with putty

so we'll create a putty compatible file

so for that I need to open the putty

kitchen so you can go ahead and check

for party kitchen so once you get the

kitchen what do you need to do is you

need to just reload the private key that

you have go to the desired folder that

you had already placed your file click

on all types ok select the drop down and

click all files and you can just select

the ec2 key dot VM file successfully

imported foreign key ok to use this you

need to just save it and say a private

key command and use it and put his own

format ok once you just click this then

you can just save the private key so are

you sure you want to save this key

without a passphrase to protect it yes I

would definitely want to save it without

a passphrase but if you want additional

security basically you can add a

passphrase to that but I am NOT going to

do it so I'll just click on yes and I'll

save it as ec2 - key dot VPK auto putty

private key so once I've saved it what

I'm going to do is I have selected this

so you see the categories your right go

to the connections part you see a switch

click on this and expand it and you see

author here what you're going to do is

you're going to browse for that file

that we had just created click on that

and select open once you have done that

don't select or don't click on open

right now go to sessions click on ec2

and save it now double click on this see

it's as easy as and it's as simple as

possible so once you have done the part

where you have converted that p.m. file

to PPK file that's when you can use

buttons because if you just import it

and you try to run it it will not work

the next tool that I wanted to share for

Windows is MOBA X term that's also

pretty neat tool I have been using it

since a long time when I was working

with Windows but when I jumped into Mac

I started using dominus so here it is

also very simple and pretty clean setup

that you have so once you have installed

MOBA X term I'll give you the link in

the description below you can just

download it as well so you get to have a

very good interface here the graphical

interface so what you want to do is if

you want to create a session or SS

session or a remote session you can just

click on this click on SSH ok then enter

the same way that you had entered in

party you see - - user at the rate the

IP address and just copy it once again

so to stop and what happens here is you

can either give it here or you can just

specify the username by default that it

will be logged into so specify user name

and you can just type it here and you

can assign the port as well and you need

to mention the private key here so you

need to go to advanced SSH and then you

CA use private key option click on this

checkbox to activate it and browse for

the file so go to desktop means I have

my file on the desktop so and just use

the private key ok so once these

settings have been entered then you are

good to go you can just click OK and yes

we have connected to the ec2 instance

using mobile X term so this is pretty

neat actually you will have a session

here and you can as well drop files and

download files as well using the option

there is pretty cool to have something

like this

and the best part about Globex term is

that you get a local instance where you

wait to play with a local instance of

virtualized Linux machine so if I type

here

unless it'll work so this is pretty neat

so welcome to Mack everyone so Mac I'm

using the by default terminal like Mac

provides me and I'm just going to

execute the same command that I had

executed but I'll use the SSH command

here which I executed on Windows 10 on

the partial so let's go ahead and I'll

provide the destination for that and

I'll add the private key just I'm going

to allow it and the username easy to

have an user and copy the IP address and

I will paste it okay

yes I'm going to allow this oh okay

we face the same problem here protected

unprotected private key file so what we

are going to go is we are going to

change the permission for the private

key that we had and we are going to

allow it for access only to myself so

nitrate to the file and I'll check the

permissions LS - alt R and yes it has

write access for others in groups as

well so I will go to change it I will

see smooth 0 4 0 0 and allow it to just

myself the read permission only for

myself so once you have set the

permissions and this is pretty good to

go then you can just execute the same

again and well I think we should be able

to connect yes we are and let's move on

to the next one so the next important

tool and my one of my favorite tools

that I wanted for you guys to also use

was terminus I have been using it since

long time once since the time that I

have been using Mac so you can just type

in terminus and you can download it I

will provide you the landing link in the

description below you can download it

and what you get with terminus is a

beautiful UI so first of all you need to

continue without a count so not a

problem you don't need to login into

this so once you enter the console what

you want to see is a beautiful UI and

the way we need to add is click on new

host and add the label for the instance

that you want it's like giving the name

for that particular instance and just

add the IP address now you don't have to

worry about groups leave that come down

and you have mentioned as such that's

cool poor tornado is by default you just

need to give the username ec2 - user and

you need to pass the key the H key that

we had click on plus keys and then give

it a label like ec2 - key or something

no passphrase just browse the file once

you have done that just you need to

click on save so that's it and thomas

provides you a beautiful theme as well

like i will be going with the basic

theme and that's it nothing more to do

just click on save so once you have this

just click on connect with a switch

accept it that's it that's it you are

good to go you are able to connect to

the line of so am I so I hope this video

was as informative and as enjoyable as

it gets so if you did enjoy please hit

the like button and if you haven't

subscribed already where you doing man

please subscribe to the channel and uh

then sign off

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]