Using Amazon EC2 as a webserver with a specific IP address

Question

I'm trying to create a personal/professional website within a college-domain. From the university I've requested a static-IP address which is directed to a website-name "http://lastname.someuniversity.edu". I would like to setup an Amazon EC2 instance to host a website.

I know how to create/administer the website on the EC2 instance I just don't know how to get the EC2 instance to talk to the university (and vice-versa). The IT person at the university wasn't terribly helpful.

i know how to setup a local machine to run as the webserver just not how to get the Amazon EC2 instance to 'sit inside" the university.

Thanks for the help,

Will

Answer 1

Check out Amazon Virtual Private Clouds. I think it is exactly what you are asking for.

Answer 2

If you want the Amazon EC2 instance "to sit inside your university" you may want to establish a VPN connection by using the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud service.

This service is still in beta, but it has been publicly available for about a year. A connection currently costs $0.05 per hour (circa $36.5 per month) and you also pay for data transfer.

Answer 3

You will need to work with your "IT person" to setup a VPN connection between your premises and the EC2 cloud. In practice you will likely need to: 1) Define a subnet for your EC2 connections (ie. 10.10.10.x). 2) Build a VPN tunnel between your university and Amazon (Virtual Private Cloud). 3) Enable any routing or firewall changes at the university.

You know you've got it working when you can 'ping' the EC2 host from within your premises.

BTW, I have recently released a new service that specifically runs on Amazon EC2. About 20% of people are now asking for VPC in order to use our service (Virtual Lab Management), and so I can attest that it's a solution that has raised interest in a lot of large organizations.