Description: Canaries aren't just hardware devices. You can run Canaries inside your EC2 Cloud infrastructure, using the same Console as the rest of your Canary fleet.

Note: Like other Cloud Canaries, a registered, but offline, Cloud Canary will still occupy a license. If you've terminated a bird onEC2, don't forget to decommission it on your Canary Console too. See guide here to decommission a Canary.

Follow the steps below to create your EC2 Cloud Canary:

Step 1:

Log in to your Console.

Step 2:

Click the + icon and click Add Canary.

Step 3:

Click Add EC2 Canary.

Step 4:

Click Launch on the AWS region you want to deploy your Canary into.

Note: If the account/region is not available on your Console, please see our guide here.

Step 5:

You will be taken to your AWS account where you will need to Sign In.

Step 6:

Select Review and Launch to continue your EC2 Cloud deployment.

Note: We will automatically selected the instance type. EC2 Cloud Canaries are not high powered and only require a t2.micro instance.

Step 7:

We will also automatically configure the instance details, storage, tags and security groups.

Once you are happy with the configuration, select Launch.

Note: 

• The security group you select should allow traffic between the bird and the networks you want to monitor.
• Exposing your instance to the public internet will produce lots of noise. We recommend not opening up ports to 0.0.0.0/0.

Step 8:

Select Proceed without a key pair from the drop down and select Launch Instance.

Note: This is required by Amazon, but the Canary will not use the keys; there's no way to log in to the Canary remotely. You can also pick any keypair available in your EC2 environment.

Step 9:

Your instance is now launching.

Note: If the launch process returns an error regarding accepting terms, this page describes the steps you need to take.

Step 10:

Your instance is busy Initializing.

Step 11:

On your Console you should see a pop up to confirm your new Canary.

Click Add Canary.

Step 12:

Your EC2 Canary will boot and connect back to your Console.

You can setup your EC2 Canary from within your Console using the remote management - Guide found here.

You're done! ;-)

Costs per EC2 Cloud Canary

The AWS birds run on a t2.micro and depending on the regions, the estimated cost would be $5 to $8 per month.

AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress
CreateSecurityGroup
DescribeAccountAttributes
DescribeAvailabilityZones
DescribeCapacityReservations
DescribeHosts
DescribeImages
DescribeInstanceAttribute
DescribeInstanceCreditSpecifications
DescribeInstances
DescribeInstanceStatus
DescribeInstanceTypes
DescribeKeyPairs
DescribeLaunchTemplates
DescribeNetworkInterfaces
DescribePlacementGroups
DescribeSecurityGroups
DescribeSnapshots
DescribeSpotPriceHistory
DescribeSubnets
DescribeTags
DescribeVolumes
DescribeVolumesModifications
DescribeVolumeStatus
DescribeVpcs
GetDefaultCreditSpecification
GetEbsEncryptionByDefault
RunInstances