Amazon Machine Image (AMI)

Table of Contents
What is Amazon EC2 AMI #
AMI are a customization of an EC2 instance.
- Custom software, configuration, etc. can be added
- Faster boot / configuration time because all your software is pre-packaged
AWS EC2 AMI Tutorial
AMI are build for a specific AWS region but can be copied across regions.
AMI can be launched from #
- Public AMI - AWS provided
- Own AMI - managed by an organization
- AWS Marketplace - created by a vendor or another 3rd party (can be sold / bought)
Steps to build an AMI #
- Start EC2 Instance and customize it
- Stop the instance (for data integrity)
- Build AMI - this will also create EBS Sapshots
- Launch instances from other AMI’s
EC2 > Instances > Select an EC2 instance > Actions > Image and Templates > Create image
EC2 Image Builder #
EC2 Image Builder is a fully managed AWS service that helps you to automate the creation, management and deployment of customized, secure and up-to-date server images.
Custom images can be created via AWS Console, AWS CLI or API.
Automate the creation, maintain, validate the build of EC2 AMI’s. Can run on a schedule and can be distributed to multiple AWS Regions.
Summary #
AMI #
- Create ready-to-use EC2 instances with own customizations
EC2 Image Builder #
- automatically build, test and distribute AMI’s
» Sources « #
Stephane Maarek’s AWS playlists on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StephaneMaarek/playlists
» References « #
» Table of contents (CLF-C02) « #
» Disclaimer « #
Disclaimer: Content for educational purposes only, no rights reserved.
Most of the content in this series is coming from Stephane Maarek’s Ultimate AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02 2025 course on Udemy.
I highly encourage you to take the Stephane’s courses as they are awesome and really help understanding the subject.
More about Stephane Maarek:
This article is just a summary and has been published to help me learning and passing the practitioner exam.