From Local Linux to AWS: My First Hands-On Experience with EC2, IAM and Networking
From Linux to AWS! Exploring EC2, IAM, VPC, Security Groups, SSH, and networking through hands-on practice as I continue my AWS DevOps journey.
This article moves from Linux → Cloud.
Topics
- AWS account
- Region
- Availability Zone
- IAM
- EC2
- Key pairs
- Security Groups
- Public/private IP
- SSH
- VPC basics
- Installing software on EC2
- Connecting to an EC2 instance
Possible opening
After becoming comfortable with Linux locally, I wanted to understand how the same concepts work on a real cloud server. This led me to Amazon EC2.
Hands-on section
Launch EC2 → connect using SSH → update packages:
1
2
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgradeInstall a package:
1
sudo apt install nginxThen access the application through the EC2 public IP.
Important concept
Explain the flow:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
My Laptop
|
| SSH
↓
Security Group
|
↓
EC2 Instance
|
↓
Linux
|
↓
ApplicationIAM section
Explain:
One of my important AWS lessons was that authentication and authorization are different concepts.
Then introduce:
- Users
- Groups
- Policies
- Roles
- Least privilege
Security Groups
Explain why opening ports such as:
1
2
3
22 → SSH
80 → HTTP
443 → HTTPSmatters.
What I Learned
End with:
I now had a cloud server running Linux. But I still had a problem: how could I package my applications so they behaved consistently across different environments?
Next article → Docker.
Follow me for more hands-on AWS, DevOps, Docker, CI/CD, and Kubernetes content
Enjoyed reading this content? Let the author know!
Your likes, comments, shares, and saves help creators reach more builders.
Loading recommendations
Loading article