Launching a NetBSD instance in 5 minutes

The easiest and quickest way to start a NetBSD instance under EC2 is via the Amazon Management Console. The only required tool is a web browser and a valid Amazon Web Service account.

Once you are connected to the Amazon Management Console, select the region you are interested in, then click on the instance menu (left part of the panel).

Look for the Launch Instance button. Click on it, choose the Classic Wizard, then select Community AMIs. Enter NetBSD in the search box, wait a few seconds, and a list of possible AMIs will appear. Select the one you want, then continue to the next step. You can also obtain the IDs directly through NetBSD's AMI page.

You will eventually be asked to enter, or create, an SSH key pair. This element is essential, as it is the only way you have to login to your NetBSD instance remotely once it is started. Choose the method you prefer. You can provide your own key pair, provided you have created one earlier, or let Amazon generate one for you, and download the resulting PEM file.

Finish by validating the instance creation.

While the machine starts up, be sure to adjust the firewall rules under "Security Groups" to allow incoming traffic to SSH (port 22/tcp) from anywhere (0.0.0.0/0). If you offer other services, remember to enable them as well.

The virtual machine will then appear in the list of running instances. Select the associated line, and look for its public DNS name, in the details section at the bottom of the page.

Once you have it, you will be able to login to your NetBSD virtual machine, thanks to your private key. For this, use the root account:

ssh -i /path/to/your/private/key.pem root@address-of-the-NetBSD-instance