Create EC2, Lightsail and Wavelength instances

Images, sizes and networking differ by deployment type. Available options depend on the region and account; use the choices returned by the creation dialog.

Updated October 8, 2026

1. 1

   EC2: choose an image, size and targets

   Enter a name, disk size and count, then choose a region and availability zone for each deployment target. Custom AMIs also require matching image region, CPU architecture, subnet, security groups, key pair and instance profile.

2. 2

   Lightsail: choose a region, image and bundle

   Lightsail uses its own images and bundles. Multi-region deployment uses the default key in each region; Windows uses the default key pair. Windows creation supports an administrator password, software preinstallation, startup URLs and extra bookmarks.

3. 3

   Wavelength: prepare the environment first

   Check region and zone status under Regions, then prepare networking under Wavelength environment setup. Capacity, sizes and carrier addressing depend on the selected region. Windows Web RDP uses an SSM tunnel without an additional bastion. The instance needs an SSM role, a running SSM Agent and outbound HTTPS access to AWS. Linux proxies may still use bastions; check their purpose before cleanup.

4. 4

   Wavelength: create across regions in batches

   Select Wavelength in the creation dialog and click Add another region. Choose a region, Wavelength zone and count for each target; you can also add different zones within one region. A batch allows up to 10 targets and 100 instances in total, subject to regional quotas and capacity. Windows batches default to Win-01, Win-02, with continuous numbering across regions; single-instance naming stays the same. Browser, website and bookmark settings apply to every instance. If a target fails, later targets are still attempted. The final result lists all failed regions, zones, reasons and created counts. Subtract already created instances before retrying to avoid duplicates.

5. 5

   Understand Spot and custom UserData

   Spot is intended for workloads that can tolerate interruption. Custom UserData runs at launch. Replacing the built-in script skips its password, auto-login, proxy and preinstallation setup and cannot be combined with startup URLs or bookmarks that depend on it. Lightsail append mode preserves the built-in setup.