# AWS
## Step 1: Launching your AWS Node
**1.** If you don’t already have an AWS account, register one at [https://aws.amazon.com](https://aws.amazon.com/).
**2.** Once you have set up and logged into your AWS account, click on the top left bar “Services -> Compute -> EC2".
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**3.** Click on the blue button “Launch Instance".
**4.** Select “Amazon Linux 2 AMI (HVM), SSD Volume Type”.
**5.** Choose instance type “m5a.xlarge” or “m5.xlarge“.
**6.** Click “Next: Configure Instance Details” at the bottom right corner of the page.
**7.** Don't change anything. Click “Next: Add Storage” at the bottom right corner of the page.
**8.** Change the “Size (GiB)” accordingly to the [minimum storage requirements](https://docs.harmony.one/home/validators/cloud-setup/minimum-requirements).
**9.** Click “Next: Add Tags".
**10.** Click "Add Tag." Then, in the “Key” input box put “Name” in “Value” put “Pangaea-key”.
**11.** Click “Next: Configure Security Group”.
**12.** On the default SSH with port 22, change the “Source” option to “Anywhere”.
**13.** Click "Add Rule". Under "Type" select "Custom TCP Rule", under "Port Range" put "6000" and under "Source" select "Anywhere".
**14.** Click "Add Rule" again. This time, under "Type" select "Custom TCP Rule", under "Port Range" put "9000" and under "Source" select "Anywhere".
**15.** Click “Review and Launch” and then click "Launch". (Note: Ignore warnings such as “your security group is open to the world” or “your instance configuration is not eligible for free tier”)
**16.** In the pop-up window you will need to create a new key pair. Select “Create a new key pair” and then enter a name that you like, for example “Pangaea-key”.
**17.** Click “Download Key Pair” and save the key file somewhere you'll remember.
**18.** Click “Launch Instances”.
**19.** Click “View Instances” at the bottom right. Your new instance should be initializing. Wait a few moments for it to get started.
**21.** Congratulations your instance is up and running! Now it's time to connect to your instance.
## Step 2: Connecting to your AWS Instance
**1.** Open a Terminal window on your computer.
**For Mac:** If you can’t find Terminal, use spotlight to search for it. Or go to your "Applications' folder, and it should be inside of “Utilities”.
**For Windows:** Download PuTTY to allow your computer to SSH into the AWS instance. For instructions on connecting to an EC2 instance using Putty follow [these instructions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/quickstarts/latest/vmlaunch/step-2-connect-to-instance.html) from Amazon.
**2.** Once Terminal is open, use the `cd` command to change your directory to where the key pair file (Pangaea-key.pem) that you generated is. Hint it may be in your “Downloads” folder.
**3.** Enter the command `chmod 400 Pangaea-key.pem`. This command makes your key not publicly viewable.
**Note:** On Mac, your pem file may have been changed to a .txt file so the correct command on Mac would be: `chmod 400 Pangaea-key.pem.txt`
**4.** Go back to your AWS window where you are viewing your instances. Select your new "Pangaea-key" instance and click “Connect” on the top bar.
**5.** In the pop-up window, under the “Example:” header, copy the sample command to connect to your ec2 instance. The command will look something like:
```
ssh -i "pangaea-key.pem" ec2-user@ec2-13-250-30-215.ap-southeast-1.compute.amazonaws.com
```
Now connect to your instance by running the sample command you copied from the “Connect” page in your terminal window.
It may ask you whether or not you want to continue connecting. Type in “yes” and hit enter.
Congratulations! You should be logged into your new AWS instance!
## Step 3: Installing Required Packages
Run the following command to make sure your instance is properly updated:
```bash
sudo yum update
```
When prompted whether or not you want to download packages, enter "y" for yes.