/launching-ec2-instance-with-best-practices

name: launching-ec2-instance-with-best-practices
description: Launches an EC2 instance with secure, cost-efficient defaults including AMI selection, burstable instance sizing, least-privilege IAM roles, hardened security groups, encrypted EBS volumes, and comprehensive tagging. Use when deploying new EC2 instances following AWS best practices for security and cost optimization.
version: 1

Launching EC2 Instances with Best Practices

Overview

Domain expertise for launching EC2 instances with sensible defaults optimized for security, cost-efficiency, and operational best practices. Covers AMI selection, instance type recommendation, network configuration, IAM role creation, security group hardening, storage configuration, tagging strategy, and post-launch verification.

Launch an EC2 instance

To launch a fully configured EC2 instance with best-practice defaults, follow the procedure exactly. See [EC2 instance launch procedure](references/launch-ec2-instance-with-best-practices.md).

The procedure handles:

• Intelligent defaults based on workload type and environment
• Network validation (VPC, subnet, public/private placement)
• AMI selection with architecture compatibility checks
• Least-privilege IAM roles for required AWS service access
• Hardened security groups with minimal port exposure
• Encrypted gp3 storage with environment-appropriate retention
• Comprehensive tagging for cost tracking and organization
• Post-launch verification and connection instructions

Troubleshooting

Insufficient instance capacity

Try a different availability zone or instance type (e.g., t3a instead of t3). See the full troubleshooting guide in the [launch procedure](references/launch-ec2-instance-with-best-practices.md).

Instance immediately terminates

Check console output with `aws ec2 get-console-output`. Verify EBS volume size is sufficient and AMI is compatible with the instance type.

Cannot connect via SSH

Verify the security group allows SSH from your IP, key file permissions are `400`, and the instance is running. Consider AWS Systems Manager Session Manager as an alternative.