Document History

Support for cc2.8xlarge instances in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC)

Added support for cc2.8xlarge instances in Amazon VPC in API version: 2012-04-01.

Support for AWS Marketplace and a New API Version

Added support for AWS Marketplace AMIs and a new API version: 2012-04-01.

Verify the Signature of Tools

Added information about how to verify the signature of the Amazon EC2 API tools package. For more information, see Verify the Signature of the Amazon EC2 Command Line Tools .

New Linux AMI release

Added information about the release of Amazon Linux AMI 2012.03. For more information, see Amazon Linux AMI Basics.

New AKI version

Added information about the release of new AKI version 1.03 and the release of AKIs for the AWS GovCloud (US) region. For more information, see Enabling Your Own Linux Kernels.

Volume Status

Added a new section about using volume status.

New Medium Instance Type, Support for 64-bit on all Amazon Machine Images, and a Java-based SSH Client

Updated instance information to include a new instance type and 64-bit information. Added procedures for using the Java-based SSH client to connect to Linux/UNIX instances.

Reserved Instance Pricing Tiers

Added a new section discussing what you need to understand to take advantage of the discount pricing that is built into the Reserved Instance Pricing Tiers. For more information, see Understanding Reserved Instance Pricing Tiers.

Instance Status Checks

Added new section about using instance status checks to monitor your instances and submit feedback about instance status.

Elastic Network Interfaces (ENIs) for EC2 Instances in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud

Added new section about elastic network interfaces (ENIs) for EC2 instances in a VPC. For more information, see Elastic Network Interfaces.

New GRU Region and AKIs

Added information about the release of new AKIs for the SA-East-1 Region. This release deprecates the AKI version 1.01. The current AKI version 1.02 will continue to be backward compatible.

New Offering Types for Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances

Starting with API version 2011-11-01, you can choose from a variety of Reserved Instance offerings that address your projected use of the instance: Heavy Utilization, Medium Utilization, and Light Utilization. See Reserved Instances.

Amazon EC2 Instance Status

You can now view additional details about the status of your instances, including scheduled events planned by AWS that might have an impact on your instances. These operational activities include instance reboots required to apply software updates or security patches, or instance retirements required where there are hardware issues. See Monitoring the Status of Your Instances.

Amazon EC2 Cluster Compute Instance Type

Added support for Cluster Compute Eight Extra Large (cc2.8xlarge).

New PDX Region and AKIs

Added information about the release of new AKI's for the new US-West 2 Region.

Amazon EC2 Spot Instances in Amazon VPC

Added information about the support for Amazon EC2 Spot Instances in Amazon VPC. With this update, users will be able to launch Spot Instances in the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC). By launching Spot Instances in Amazon VPC, users of Spot Instances can enjoy all of the controls and advanced security options of Amazon VPC. For more information, see Launch Spot Instances in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud.

Updated Content for Amazon EC2 Spot Instances

Included a restructured and expanded Spot Instances chapter that includes new sections on Getting Started, Architecting for Interruptions, and Bidding Strategies. For more information, see Spot Instances.

New Linux AMI release

Added information about the release of Amazon Linux AMI 2011.09. This update removes the beta tag from the Amazon Linux AMI, supports the ability to lock the repositories to a specific version, and provides for notification when updates are available to installed packages including security updates. For more information, see Amazon Linux AMI Basics.

Updated Content

Added information about how to connect to instances. For more information, see Connecting to Instances. Moved Appendix D: Connecting to a Linux/UNIX Instance from Windows Using PuTTY to the Using Instances section. For more information, see Connecting to Linux/UNIX Instances from Windows Using PuTTY.

Simplified VM import process for users of the CLI tools

The VM Import process for CLI users is simplified with the enhanced functionality of ec2-import-instance and ec2-import-volume, which now will perform the upload of the images into Amazon EC2 after creating the import task. In addition, with the introduction of the ec2-resume-import command, users can restart an incomplete upload at the point the task stopped. For more information, see Importing Your Virtual Machine into Amazon EC2 in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide.

Added support for VHD file format

VM Import can now import virtual machine image files in VHD format. The VHD file format is compatible with the Citrix Xen and Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization platforms. With this release, VM Import now supports RAW, VHD and VMDK (VMware ESX-compatible) image formats. For more information, see Using the Command Line Tools to Import Your Virtual Machine to Amazon EC2 in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide.

Added support for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2

VM Import now supports Windows Server 2003 (R2). With this release, VM Import supports all versions of Microsoft Windows Server supported by Amazon EC2.

Added temporary security credentials section

New section describes how to pass temporary security credentials with Amazon EC2 API requests. For more information, see Using Temporary Security Credentials.

Update to the Amazon EC2 VM Import Connector for VMware vCenter

Added information about the 1.1 version of the Amazon EC2 VM Import Connector for VMware vCenter virtual appliance (Connector). This update includes proxy support for Internet access, better error handling, improved task progress bar accuracy, and several bug fixes. For more information, see Using Instances of Your Virtual Machine in Amazon EC2.

Enabling Linux AMI to run user-provided kernels

Added information about the AKI version change from 1.01 to 1.02. This version updates the PVGRUB to address launch failures associated with t1.micro Linux instances. For more information, go to Enabling Your Own Linux Kernels.

Restructured User Guide with a new section on Using Storage

Implemented the following updates to the Amazon EC2 User Guide:

Spot Instances Availability Zone Pricing Changes

Added information about the Spot Instances Availability Zone pricing feature. In this release, we've added new Availability Zone pricing options as part of the information returned when you query for Spot Instance requests and Spot Price history. These additions make it easier to determine the price required to launch a Spot Instance into a particular Availability Zone. For more information, see Spot Instances.

AWS Identity And Access Management

Added information about AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), which enables users to specify which Amazon EC2 actions a user can use with Amazon EC2 resources in general. For more information, see Using AWS Identity and Access Management.

Amazon Linux AMI Guide

Added information about using Amazon Linux AMI. Amazon Linux AMI is supported and maintained Linux image provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) for use on Amazon EC2. For more information, see Amazon Linux AMI Basics.

Enabling Linux AMI to run user-provided kernels

Added information about enabling a Linux AMI to use PVGRUB Amazon Kernel Image (AKI) to run a user-provided kernel. For more information, go to Enabling Your Own Linux Kernels.

Updated Content

Updated information about connecting to instances. For more information, see Connecting to Instances and Connecting to Linux/UNIX Instances from Windows Using PuTTY.

Dedicated Instances

Launched within your Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), Dedicated Instances are instances that are physically isolated at the host hardware level. Dedicated Instances let you take advantage of Amazon VPC and the AWS cloud, with benefits including on-demand elastic provisioning and pay only for what you use, while isolating your Amazon EC2 compute instances at the hardware level. For more information, go to Using EC2 Dedicated Instances Within Your VPC in the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud User Guide.

Reserved Instances Updates to the AWS Management Console

Updates to the AWS Management Console now make it easier for users to view their Reserved Instances and purchase additional Reserved Instances, including Dedicated Reserved Instances. For more information, see Reserved Instances.

Support for Windows Server 2008 R2

Amazon EC2 now provides you with several pre-configured Windows Server 2008 R2 AMIs. All of these AMIs are immediately available for use in every Region and in most 64-bit instance types, excluding t1.micro and HPC families. The AMIs will support multiple languages. For more information, see Windows Instance Types.

New Amazon Linux reference AMI

Added information about the new Amazon Linux reference AMI, which replaces the CentOS reference AMI. Removed information about the CentOS reference AMI, including the section named Correcting Clock Drift for Cluster Instances on CentOS 5.4 AMI. For more information, see Reference AMIs.

15 March 2011

Updated Metadata Information

Updated the information about metadata to reflect changes in the 2011-01-01 release. For more information, see Using Instance Metadata and Appendix B: Metadata Categories.

11 March 2011

Updated Security Group Information

Updated the section about security groups. For more information, see Using Security Groups.

11 March 2011

Updated Amazon VPC Information

Updated the section about Amazon VPC. For more information, see Amazon Virtual Private Cloud.

11 March 2011

Amazon EC2 VM Import Connector for VMware vCenter

Added information about the Amazon EC2 VM Import Connector for VMware vCenter virtual appliance (Connector). The Connector is a plug-in for VMware vCenter that integrates with VMware vSphere Client and provides a graphical user interface that you can use to import your VMware virtual machines to Amazon EC2. For more information, see Using Instances of Your Virtual Machine in Amazon EC2.

New link

This service's endpoint information is now located in the Amazon Web Services General Reference. For more information, go to Regions and Endpoints in Amazon Web Services General Reference.

Force Volume Detachment

You can now use the AWS Management Console to force the detachment of an Amazon EBS volume from an instance. For more information, see Detaching an Amazon EBS Volume from an Instance.

23 February 2011

Instance Termination Protection

You can now use the AWS Management Console to prevent an instance from being terminated. For more information, see Enabling Termination Protection for an Instance.

23 February 2011

Correcting Clock Drift for Cluster Instances on CentOS 5.4 AMI

Added information about how to correct clock drift for cluster instances running on Amazon's CentOS 5.4 AMI.

25 January 2011

Restructured User Guide

Implemented the following updates to the Amazon EC2 User Guide:

14 January 2011

VM Import

Added information about VM Import, which allows you to import a virtual machine or volume into Amazon EC2. For more information, see Using the Command Line Tools to Import Your Virtual Machine to Amazon EC2.

15 December 2010

Basic Monitoring for Instances

Added information about Basic Monitoring for EC2 instances. For more information, see Monitoring Instances.

12 December 2010

Updated Topic

Updated the topic about how to change an Amazon EBS-backed instance's root device volume to persist on instance termination. For more information, see Changing the Root Volume to Persist.

20 November 2010

New Instance Type

Amazon EC2 offers cluster GPU instances (cg1.4xlarge) for high-performance computing (HPC) applications. For more information, see Overview.

14 November 2010

Filters and Tags

Added information about listing, filtering, and tagging resources. For more information, see Listing and Filtering Your Resources and Using Tags.

19 September 2010

Idempotent Instance Launch

Added information about ensuring idempotency when running instances. For more information, see Ensuring Idempotency.

19 September 2010

New Instance Type

Amazon EC2 offers the t1.micro instance type for certain types of applications. For more information, see Micro Instances.

8 September 2010

Support for AWS Identity and Access Management

Amazon EC2 now integrates with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). For more information, see AWS Identity and Access Management.

2 September 2010

New Instance Type

Amazon EC2 offers cluster compute instances for high-performance computing (HPC) applications. For more information, see Overview.

12 July 2010

Amazon VPC IP Address Designation

Amazon VPC users can now specify the IP address to assign an instance launched in a VPC. For more information, see IP Addresses for Instances in a VPC.

12 July 2010

Amazon CloudWatch Monitoring for Amazon EBS Volumes

Amazon CloudWatch monitoring is now automatically available for Amazon EBS volumes. For more information, see Monitoring Amazon EBS Volumes.

14 June 2010

New Region

Amazon EC2 now supports the Asia Pacific (Singapore) Region. The new endpoint for requests to this Region is ec2.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com.

28 April 2010

Enhanced Information about Amazon EBS-Backed AMIs

We've added detailed information about Amazon EBS-backed AMIs. For more information, see the following sections:

28 April 2010

New Instance Type

Amazon EC2 now supports a High-Memory Extra Large instance type. For more information, see Available Instance Types.

22 February 2010

Reserved Instances with Windows

Amazon EC2 now supports Reserved Instances with Windows. For more information about Reserved Instances, see Reserved Instances.

22 February 2010

Clarification about Spot Instances

Clarified that you can't stop and start Spot Instances that use an Amazon EBS root device. For more information about Spot Instances, see Spot Instances.

1 February 2010

Command Line Tools Information

Information on how to get started with the command line tools is now available in the User Guide. For more information, see Getting Started with the Command Line Tools.

26 January 2010