Introduction
In Amazon EC2, a key pair is a set of cryptographic keys that are used to authenticate and securely connect to your Amazon EC2 instances. This consists of a private key that is kept secure on your local machine, and a public key that you deploy to your EC2 instances. In this article, we will explore, how to create and manage them, and how they are used for secure access to instances.
Understanding Key Pairs in EC2
A key pair in Amazon EC2 consists of a pair of RSA keys generated by the service. When launching a new EC2 instance, you can specify a key pair to associate with the instance. The public portion of the key pair is installed on the instance during its launch, allowing you to securely connect to and interact with the instance. The private portion is stored securely on your local machine and is used for authentication when connecting to the instance.
Creating and Managing Key Pairs in EC2
To create a new key pair in EC2, you can use the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, or any of the AWS SDKs. Let’s look at an example of how to create this.
First, ensure that you have the AWS CLI installed and configured with your credentials. Then, open a terminal or command prompt and run the following command:
In this command, we are using the `create-key-pair` API to create a new key pair named “my-key-pair”. The `–query` option is used to specify that we only want the `KeyMaterial` field from the API response. We redirect the output to a file named `my-key-pair.pem`, which will be used to store the private key.
Once the key pair is created, you should store the private key securely on your local machine. This key should never be shared or exposed to others, as it provides access to your EC2 instances.
Using Key Pairs for SSH Access to EC2 Instances
These are used for SSH access to EC2 instances. When you launch a new EC2 instance, you can specify the key pair to associate with the instance. The public key is installed on the instance, allowing you to securely connect to it using SSH.
To connect to an EC2 instance using SSH, you need to have the private key corresponding to the key pair. Assuming you have the private key file stored locally, you can use the following command to connect to the instance:
In this command, `my-key-pair.pem` is the path to the private key file, and “ is the IP address of the EC2 instance you want to connect to. The `ec2-user` is the default user name for Amazon Linux or the Amazon Machine Image (AMI) you are using.
Ensure that the private key file has the correct permissions by running the following command:
This command sets the permissions of the file to read-only for the owner.
Managing Key Pairs in EC2
In addition to creating this, you can also manage your existing key pairs in EC2. The AWS Management Console provides an interface to view, create, import, and delete key pairs.
To view your existing key pairs in the AWS Management Console, navigate to the EC2 service, and click on “Key Pairs” in the navigation pane. Here, you can see a list of your key pairs, along with their names, fingerprints, and creation dates.
To delete a key pair, select the key pair from the list, and click on the “Actions” dropdown menu. From here, you can choose “Delete Key Pair” to remove the key pair. Note that deleting a key pair will prevent you from accessing any instances that are associated with it.
Conclusion
Key pairs in Amazon EC2 are a vital component of the authentication and security of your EC2 instances. They provide a secure way to connect to your instances via SSH by using public and private key cryptography. By understanding how to create, manage, and use key pairs, you can ensure the secure access and administration of your instances.