AWS + Linux Combo — Part 2: EC2 & Linux Server Setup

EC2 is where AWS and Linux actually meet. An EC2 instance is nothing but a Linux server running inside AWS.

What is EC2?

EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is a virtual machine. You control the OS. AWS controls the hardware.

Choosing the Right Linux AMI

For beginners, Ubuntu or Amazon Linux is best.

Instance Type (Important)

Instance type decides CPU & RAM.


t2.micro  # Free tier (practice only)
t3.small  # Light production

Key Pair & SSH

AWS does not use passwords by default. It uses SSH keys.


ssh -i key.pem ubuntu@PUBLIC_IP

First Linux Commands on EC2


whoami
uname -a
uptime
df -h

Important Thinking

This server is public. Anything open is a risk. Linux responsibility starts now.

Next: Users, Permissions & SSH Security →
Disclaimer:
Never share your private key (.pem) file.