How to create a new EC2 instance from an existing EC2 instance

howto.md

• select the existing instance in the Instances list
• open the Actions menu
• select Image -> Create Image
• enter 'Interim AMI' for the Image name
• enter 'Interim AMI' for the Image description
• if you cannot accept downtime of the origin instance, check the box for No reboot
  • The No reboot option means that the new image is created without gracefully stopping the machine first.
  • This can be problematic for some things, like a database that's mid-write.
  • If you can handle downtime, don't check the No reboot box.
• click the Create Image button
• wait
• wait
• wait
• click the AMIs entry in the left navigation
• mash on the top right refresh button a bunch maybe
• select the Interim AMI entry in the list
• click the Launch button
• select your instance size
• click the Next: Configure Instance Details button
• select the correct entry for the Subnet menu to make sure this instance is in the same Availability Zone as any the other instances you have running
• click the Next: Add Storage button
• make any required changes to the size/volume type of your storage
• click the Next: Tag Instance button
• click the Next: Configure Security Group button
• click the radio button for Select an existing security group
• check the boxes for any security groups your new instance should be a member of
• click the Review and Launch button
• click the Launch button
• wait
• wait
• click the Instances entry in the left navigation
• mash on the top right refresh button a bunch maybe
• get the instance's IP address from the Public IP column
• ssh into it and go nuts