In traditional Data center environment , VM ware and other cloud providers like Azure having options to connect Linux virtual server serial console . Through IMM console or through web browser or through some application call .
Normally why we want to connect with Linux server console? If you are unable to reach your instance via ssh , problem diagnostics ,to troubleshoot the booting issues .So console is the most important tool to recover machine.
Is AWS has any option to connect with EC2 Linux server console? The direct answer would be NO. But AWS providing some option called “console output” to view the console and not to connect. It is the actual direct monitor screen output , you can get it for your EC2 Linux instance.
AWS provides one more option call ” Capture ScreenShot” of the instance , Which will show what is happening in the instance currently . Note it is available to specified regions.
So with help of console ouput and capture screenshot you can get to know the actual problem and you can follow the aws described steps to recover your instance . For example you can stop detach root volume and attache to some other running system and do the changes . Once you done with the changes you can attach the disk back to original instance and start the server.
To get the console output using AWS Web Console:
*Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/
*In the left navigation pane, choose Instances, and select the instance.
*Choose Actions, Instance Settings, Get System Log.
To get console output using the command line:
You can use one of the following commands. For more information about these command line interfaces, see Accessing Amazon EC2.
get-console-output (AWS CLI)
Get-EC2ConsoleOutput (AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell)
For more information about common system log errors, see Troubleshooting System Log Errors for Linux-Based Instances.
To get instance screenshot:
*Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.
*In the left navigation pane, choose Instances.
*Select the instance to capture.
*Choose Actions, Instance Settings.
*Choose Get Instance Screenshot.
*Right-click on the image to download and save it.