Amazon EC2 Launch

This page documents how to launch a Funtoo Linux Amazon EC2 instance.

Starting Out

The first thing you'll need to do, if you haven't already, is to head over to https://aws.amazon.com and create an account so that you can log in to the AWS Console. If you create a new account, you'll be using your "root credentials" to log in. Eventually, you should create an IAM User account to log in, instead of using your root credentials to log in, but that is not the focus of these instructions.

Choosing A Region

OK, now you are logged in to the AWS Console. The first thing you'll want to do is to choose a region in which you'd like to deploy your Funtoo Linux image. This is done by selecting your preferred region in the upper right-hand corner:

First things first -- select your region!

Once you are in the correct region, it's now time to launch an image!

Starting the Launcher

To launch a Funtoo Linux image, we'll go through a "UI wizard" process that initiates by clicking the blue Launch button at the top of the screen:

Once clicking this button, the UI wizard will start to guide you through the process of creating an image. We'll go through each screen below.

Choosing Funtoo

You'll be prompted to choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). Click on AWS Marketplace and type "funtoo" in the search bar to find the available Funtoo Linux images. You will want to choose a Funtoo Linux AMI optimized for the particular instance type you want to use. If unsure, we recommend starting with the "optimized for t2 instances" Funtoo Linux AMI and using a t2.xlarge instance type:

Now, select Funtoo in the AWS Marketplace

Now, click the blue Select button. You'll now be prompted to confirm a subscription to Funtoo Linux. Note that this doesn't actually incur any additional charges from us, since our images are available free of charge, but Amazon still records you as having "subscribed" to Funtoo Linux anyway:

Confirm that you want to 'subscribe' to Funtoo Linux.

You'll want to click the blue Continue button to continue.

Configure Instance

Next, you'll be prompted to configure the instance. In general, the defaults are typically fine, but make sure that Shutdown behavior is set to stop, so that when you shut down, your instance will still exist but in a dormant state.

Important

Don't click "Review and Launch" at this point! We'll want to continue to "Next: Add Storage"!

Most instance details can be left at their defaults.

Next, we'll want to continue to the next screen by selecting the non-highlighted Next: Add Storage button.

Adding Storage

Warning

Skipping this step will result in your AMI having only 8GiB of disk space total! This is because AMIs are created with a minimally-sized root EBS volume. You should modify the size of the root volume to suit your needs. At boot time, Funtoo Linux will resize the root volume to utilize all available space.

On this next screen of the wizard, you can add additional disks to your image, which is usually not required. What is generally required, however, is expanding the size of the disk from 10GB to a larger capacity (we recommend at least 50GB if you are starting out.) Do This by modifying the GiB setting for /dev/xvda as follows:

Expanding the size of the root volume is important!

When Funtoo Linux first starts, it will automatically resize its root partition and filesystem to take advantage of all available space, so that your additional storage space will be available by the time you log in.

Adding Tags

The next step, Adding Tags, can be safely skipped. Proceed to the next part of the wizard: Configure Security Group.

Configure Security Group

This next section allows you to configure a security group for your new instance. This security group is what defines what kinds of connections are allowed to be made to your new instance. By default, we ship with an auto-generated security group that allows SSH access (via TCP port 22) from anywhere on the Internet. You should select this security group, or alternatively can select another security group that allows appropriate access.