AWS cli: rework EBS volume on AMI launch: switch to SSD, "delete on termination" to true

aws
    ec2
        run-instances
            --image-id
                ami-aaaaaa
            --instance-type
                hi1.4xlarge
            --security-group-ids
                sg-eeeeeeee
            --subnet-id
                subnet-cccccccc
            --block-device-mappings
                '[
                    {
                        "DeviceName":"/dev/sdb",
                        "VirtualName":"ephemeral0"
                    },
                    {
                        "DeviceName":"/dev/sdc",
                        "VirtualName":"ephemeral1"
                    },
                    {
                        "DeviceName":"/dev/sdd",
                        "Ebs":
                        {
                            "SnapshotId":"snap-6",
                            "VolumeType":"gp2",
                            "DeleteOnTermination":"true"
                        }
                    }
                ]'
            --region
                us-east-1

Switch to high IOPS

aws
    ec2
        run-instances
            --image-id
                ami-aaaaaa
            --instance-type
                hi1.4xlarge
            --security-group-ids
                sg-eeeeeeee
            --subnet-id
                subnet-cccccccc
            --block-device-mappings
                '[
                    {
                        "DeviceName":"/dev/sdb",
                        "VirtualName":"ephemeral0"
                    },
                    {
                        "DeviceName":"/dev/sdc",
                        "VirtualName":"ephemeral1"
                    },
                    {
                        "DeviceName":"/dev/sdd",
                        "Ebs":
                        {
                            "SnapshotId":"snap-6",
                            "VolumeType":"io1",
                            "Iops":4000,
                            "DeleteOnTermination":"true"
                        }
                    }
                ]'
            --region
                us-east-1

Snapshot AWS instance store as AMI

1. install api-tools
2. install ami-tools
3. generate key / cert
4. create IAM user 
5. upload cert
6. java install / export JAVA_HOME
7. export key and secret
8. ec2-bundle-vol 
1. --user  <AWS acct #> 
2. --privatekey /myhome/my-key.pem
3. --cert /myhome/my-cert.pem
4. --arch x86_64
5. --destination /var/tmp
6. --exclude
1. /backup,
2. /mnt,
3. /swapfile
9. ec2-upload-bundle
1. --manifest /var/tmp/image.manifest.xml
2. --bucket mybucket/hostname
3. --access-key <AWS Key>
4. --secret-key <AWS Secret>
5. --location EU
10. ec2-register
1. --region eu-west-1
2. --name "myaminame"
3. --description "Backing up hostname"
4. mybucket/hostname/image.manifest.xml

Taken:

1. http://www.dowdandassociates.com/content/howto-create-an-instance-store-backed-amazon-ec2-ami/
2. http://www.dowdandassociates.com/content/howto-install-aws-cli-amazon-elastic-compute-cloud-ec2-ami-tools/
3. http://www.dowdandassociates.com/content/howto-install-aws-cli-amazon-elastic-compute-cloud-ec2-api-tools/

NOTE: the above link's content has typos in very essential parts, proof all steps

vncserver on Amazon Linux on Amazon's AWS

NOTE: this first step may be outdated in new versions of Amazon Linux, which provides libjpeg-turbo.

First, get a good version of libjpeg-turbo:

1. yum clean all
2. yum --enablerepo=amzn-preview install libjpeg-turbo
3. see: https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=121128

Necessary packages:

1. gnutls-2.8.5-10.el6.x86_64.rpm
2. libfontenc-1.0.5-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
3. libtasn1-2.3-3.el6.x86_64.rpm
4. libxdmcp-1.1.1-7.ram1.x86_64.rpm
5. libXfont-1.4.5-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
6. libxkbfile-1.0.6-1.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
7. libXmu-1.1.1-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
8. mesa-dri-drivers-9.0-0.7.el6.x86_64.rpm
9. pixman-0.26.2-5.el6_4.x86_64.rpm
10. tigervnc-license-1.3.0-16.el6.noarch.rpm
11. tigervnc-server-1.3.0-16.el6.x86_64.rpm
12. tigervnc-server-minimal-1.3.0-16.el6.x86_64.rpm
13. xkeyboard-config-2.6-6.el6.noarch.rpm
14. xorg-x11-proto-devel-7.6-25.el6.noarch.rpm
15. xorg-x11-xauth-1.0.2-7.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
16. xorg-x11-xkb-utils-7.7-4.el6.x86_64.rpm

Necessary packages for fluxbox:

1. pyxdg-0.18-1.el6.noarch.rpm

Here's a link to all the packages needed: rpms

Start by trying to install tigervnc-server. That will fail. Follow the dependencies down, installing packages one by one as they come up. If they fail, install their dependencies first.

These packages were special cases

1. mesa-dri-drivers-9.0-0.7.el6.x86_64.rpm
1. just "--nodeps" install this one
2. the libraries of the dependencies are never called from my experience
2. libXtst-1.2.1-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
1. there is a more recent version of this already in Amazon Linux, so just skip this one and "--nodeps" the parent package, which is libXmu-1.1.1-2.el6.x86_64.rpm

If not found, add location of libXdmcp.so.6 to /etc/ld.so.conf and run "ldconfig", e.g. locations is /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6 so add the line "/usr/lib".

Once I got the vncserver up with

  vncserver :66 -localhost

bizarrely, it was listening on port 5966 and some 6066 port. The 5966 port is the one you want.

See previous post on Redhat VNC for details, click here.

ec2-create-image: attached EBS volumes are snapshot and mapped

"ec2-create-image does snapshot the attached EBS volumes and add a block device mapping for those snapshots in the created AMI"
Taken: https://forums.aws.amazon.com/message.jspa?messageID=211674