The AWS Marketplace "Single AMI" delivery method launches the instance without any setup. You must manually create and attach an IAM Role and security group prior to launch, then use Secure Shell to complete instance setup. This process requires familiarity with Linux and EC2 setup.
- Verify that you have all of the requirements listed above.
- Choose an S3 account and bucket to access.
Note which region hosts the bucket. Buckets in the "Standard" region are "US East (N. Virginia)".
- Create an IAM Role
Use the AWS "Identity & Access Management" console to create or choose an IAM role. Attach a policy which allows the following S3 access rights to the S3 bucket(s) you will use with the gateway. This step is done automatically if you choose the Cloud Formation method.
"s3:AbortMultipartUpload", "s3:DeleteObject", "s3:GetBucketLocation", "s3:GetObject", "s3:ListBucket", "s3:ListBucketMultipartUploads", "s3:ListMultipartUploadParts", "s3:PutObject"
- Create a Security Group
Use the AWS EC2 "Security Groups" page to create a group with the following ports open: TCP/80 (HTTP), TCP/22 (SSH), and UDP/8080 (ExpeDat).
- Go to the AWS Marketplace page and choose the Hourly, Monthly, or Monthly High Capacity CloudDat product. Choose the Hourly product for the 7-day free trial.
- Click the "Continue to Subscribe" button at the top of the page, even if you are already subscribed.
- If this is your first time subscribing to this product, or if you have previously cancelled your subscription, click the "Accept Software Terms" button. If you are already subscribed, you will skip to the next step.
- The next screen will verify that you are subscribed and may display other offers, terms, and details. Click "Continue to Configuration".
- Select a "Delivery Method" by clicking on the dropdown menu and choosing "Amazon Machine Image". If drop-down menus interfere with your ability to make a selection, try making your browser window wider. Some regions may not display the Single AMI option from the product page. If Single AMI is not shown, launch through the Marketplace Console page instead.
- Verify that the latest "Software version" is selected. Older versions, if available, may not be fully supported.
- In the "Region" box, select the AWS region where your S3 bucket is located. Selecting a different region may cause the launch process to fail, or result in very poor performance.
- Click "Continue to Launch" at the top of the page.
- In the "Choose Action" box, select "Launch through EC2".
- Click the "Launch" button. This does not actually launch the software, it just starts the configuration process.
- You should now be directed to the EC2 "Launch an instance" page. AWS has recently changed this to a "New experience", with more limited functionality. These instructions follow the "New experience" as of the August 2022. Begin by selecting a name for your CloudDat instance.
- Scroll down to select the "Instance type", based on your desired performance. c5n types give the best performance, but a few newer AWS regions do not support c5n. Choosing an unsupported type will cause the launch process to fail later during stack creation.
- Next, select the SSH key pair to use with your instance. You may also be given an option to create a new one.
- Under "Network settings", select the existing security group that you created at the start or one that you have used with other CloudDat instances.
- Open the "Advanced details" section and locate the "IAM instance profile" section. Select the IAM Role you created at the start or one that you have used with other CloudDat instances. You may also be given an option to create a new one.
- Scroll down to the "Summary" section and review the configuration. When you are ready, click "Launch instance" (this time it really will launch the instance).
- Return to the Instance list and wait for the Instance to report Ready.
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Once the instance is ready, ssh to the ec2-user account on that instance. When the instance is first being launched, the setup script will run automatically. Later, you can run it manually by executing /usr/local/expedat/s3setup.sh. Click the screenshot on the right to see an example.
- The script will identify the IAM Role attached to the gateway. If the role cannot be found or is incorrect, AWS requires that you terminate the instance and start over.
- Next, the script will ask for the name of the S3 bucket you wish to access. Do not enter the endpoint URL, just the name. The script will test whether the bucket exists, is accessible, and is in the same region as the gateway. If a problem is found, follow the instructions or contact us for help.
- Finally, the script will ask you to enter a username and password for your initial gateway account. These are the credentials end-users will enter into ExpeDat clients to access your S3 bucket. You may create additional accounts later.
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Upon successfully completing the setup script, the URL of the gateway will be shown. Direct a web browser to that instance public address. An example page is shown on the right.
- Download a client.
Choose Windows or Mac for the graphical client and extract the contents of the ZIP package after download. A command line client is included in the "Full Client Package" links near the bottom of the page.
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Run the client.
No installation is required. You may move the client executable to any location on your system before running it.
- Back in the web browser, click "Access your S3 Bucket".
Your browser may ask you to confirm launching ExpeDat Desktop.
The ExpeDat Desktop client will prompt you to enter the password you created earlier. For command line clients, see the Client Use page.
After clicking the Access link, the client will list the contents of your S3 bucket (if any) and you can begin transferring files. You may wish to bookmark the link for easy access later. The next page describes more about using clients. See the Support page if you the client has trouble reaching the CloudDat instance.
Next: Client Use >
