name	Develop in Linux on AWS EC2 (Ephemeral, Persistent Home)
description	Get started with Linux development on AWS EC2.
tags	cloud aws
icon	/icon/aws.png

aws-linux-ephemeral

This template gives developers ephemeral AWS instances. When a workspace is restarted, all data is lost except files in /home/coder/ which is persisted by a seperate EBS volume.

To add software (e.g. Java), you have a few options:

1. Template authors can install software in the startup_script
2. Template authors can build custom AMIs which include all packages. New template versions can reference the new AMI, even in build pipelines.
3. Developers can add an executable personalize script in their home directory to install unique software.

Authentication

This template assumes that coderd is run in an environment that is authenticated with AWS. For example, run aws configure import to import credentials on the system and user running coderd. For other ways to authenticate consult the Terraform docs.

Required permissions / policy

The following sample policy allows Coder to create EC2 instances and modify instances provisioned by Coder:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "VisualEditor0",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ec2:GetDefaultCreditSpecification",
        "ec2:DescribeIamInstanceProfileAssociations",
        "ec2:DescribeTags",
        "ec2:CreateTags",
        "ec2:RunInstances",
        "ec2:DescribeInstanceCreditSpecifications",
        "ec2:DescribeImages",
        "ec2:ModifyDefaultCreditSpecification",
        "ec2:DescribeVolumes"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "CoderResources",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ec2:DescribeInstances",
        "ec2:DescribeInstanceAttribute",
        "ec2:UnmonitorInstances",
        "ec2:TerminateInstances",
        "ec2:StartInstances",
        "ec2:StopInstances",
        "ec2:DeleteTags",
        "ec2:MonitorInstances",
        "ec2:CreateTags",
        "ec2:RunInstances",
        "ec2:ModifyInstanceAttribute",
        "ec2:ModifyInstanceCreditSpecification"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:ec2:*:*:instance/*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "aws:ResourceTag/Coder_Provisioned": "true"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

code-server

code-server is installed via the startup_script argument in the coder_agent resource block. The coder_app resource is defined to access code-server through the dashboard UI over localhost:13337.