This post assumes you’ve configured an EC2 instance using Amazon’s Linux AMI, or you’ve modified a [preconfigured instance](2011-01-02-Create-a-free-Gemstone-server-in-the-cloud-in-10-minutes.md] and want to make that image reusable.

At the time of writing this post (December 2010), I found that I needed to update the CloudInit package to reinitialise it:

$ sudo yum install cloud-init

then edit /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg and change:

user: ec2-user

to read:

user: seasideuser

remove your SSH key from ~/.ssh/:

$ rm -rf ~/.ssh

Warning: Removing your SSH key will prevent you from being able to subsequently ssh into your remote image, however you’ll be able to create a new image based on this image and pass in your SSH key.

reset the author initials within GemTools:

Author reset

Stop Gemstone:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/gemstone stop

and exit the instance.

With the instance you want to reuse selected, choose ‘Create Image’ from the Instance actions button:

Give your image a name and a description:

Which will create your own AMI (Amazon Machine Image):

The ‘Permissions’ button allows you to make that image publicly visible:

which allows you to share and create as many instances of your image as you desire.