Amazon+EC2+Security+groups

Security Groups
In order to be able to connect to an instance at Amazon's EC2 service you need to set the security settings of your instance appropriately. You will at least need to allow SSH connections. You can do this in the AWS Management Console under "Network & Security", "Security Groups.

With the "Add Rule" tab at the bottom you can add rules for inbound traffic to the instance. If you don't know what an IP addresses and ports are select SSH and don't change the default settings. This will allow SSH connections on the standard port 22 from any IP address (read any computer on any network that has the correct SSH key installed; e.g., your laptop in the coffee shop). You may also want to add HTTP services. This is important if you want to run a web server like Apache. Check out the following tutorial for an interesting and easy to set up Apache web server for visualizing mRNAseq data and gene models.