Initializing a Laconica EC2 Instance

Overview

This procedure outlines how to initialize an instance of Laconica in the EC2 cloud. If you have already executed this procedure and wish to launch an existing image please see the Running an existing Laconica EC2 Instance procedure.

When you execute this procedure and run an instance you will be charged by Amazon for the virtual hosts, storage and bandwidth. An outline of the price structure can be found at http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/#pricing.

This procedure will use the AWS Management Console. The Elastifox Firefox Plugin is a fine alternative and can do all the same stuff.

Prerequisites

You will need the following things to execute this procedure:

An AWS enabled Amazon account.
An Amazon EC2 Key Pair.

We probably need more documentation here about how to acquire the key pair if you don't have one.

Initialization of the Laconica Instance

Launch the AWS Management Console

https://console.aws.amazon.com/

Create a Security Group

Click on the "Security Groups" Navigation Link.
Click on the "Create Security Group" button.
Set the Security Group Name to "laconica".
Set the description to anything you like ... "laconica" would be fine.
Click on "Create" to create the group.
Select the newly created "laconica" group in the Security Groups list.
In the "Allowed Connections" list (lower part of the same frame) add "SSH", "HTTP" and "HTTPS". The defaults for protocols, ports and IPs are fine.

Create an EBS Volume

Click on the "Volumes" Navigation Link.
Click on the "Create Volume".
Select a size, 1 GiB is probably fine.
Select an Availability Zone. It doesn't matter which you pick, but you will need to remember this zone and create your EC2 instance in the same zone later. I use "us-east-1c".
Leave Snapshot set to "No Snapshot".
Click on "Create" to create.
Observe the status of your volume in the EBS Volumes list; it will be "creating" for a while. You can go on with the other parts of the procedure while it gets created ...

Launch the Laconica AMI Image

Click on the "AMIs" Navigation Link.
Insert the string "laconica" in the "Viewing" filter box.

The current image is:

ami-ad23c4c4    ksedgwic/laconica-v5.manifest.xml

Select the image and press the "Launch" button. The "Launch Instances" dialog opens ...
Set Number of Instances to 1
Leave the Instance Type (32 bit) to "Small".
Select your "Key Pair Name" from the list.
Select both the "default" and "laconica" Security Groups.
Click on "Show advanced options".
Leave the "Kernel ID" and "Ramdisk ID" unspecified.
Change the "Availability Zone" to the same value you created your EBS Volume in. I run images in "us-east-1c".
Insert the string "INIT_EBS" in the "User Data" box. Don't include the quotes around the string. Don't type a return after entering it. If you already typed the return it's OK ... you're launched. IMPORTANT - Later when you run this instance we will type a different string in this box. You should only type "INIT_EBS" the first time.
Launch the instance by clicking "Launch".
Click on the "View your instances on the Instances page" link.
Observe the status of your instance, you must wait for it to become "ready" before proceeding.

Attach your EBS Volume

Click on the "Volumes" Navigation Link.
Select the volume you created earlier from the "EBS Volumes" list.
Click on the "Attach Volume" button.
Choose your instance from the "Attach Volume" dialog.
IMPORTANT - Set the "Device" to "/dev/sdf".
Click "Attach".
Observe the status of the volume in the "Attachment Information" column, you are waiting for it to read "... (attached)"

Visit your Laconica Instance

Click on the "Instances" Navigation Link.
Select your running instance from the list.
In the lower detail window copy the value of the "Public DNS" field. In my case it was: ec2-72-44-63-170.compute-1.amazonaws.com

Voila!