Sarathlal N

User names for connecting to AWS EC2 instances via SSH

Recently, I got chance to work with various Linux distributions on Amazon AWS EC2 instances. When creating EC2 instance, normally we will select AMI & AWS done all other tasks.

It never ask for a user name. But when I start to communicate with my server via SSH, the user name is essential.

So here is a small list that show the official AMI SSH user name for various Linux distributions in AWS EC2.

OS / Distro User name
Amazon Linux ec2-user
Ubuntu ubuntu
Debian admin
RHEL 6.4 and later ec2-user
RHEL 6.3 and earlier root
Fedora ec2-user
Centos centos
SUSE root
BitNami bitnami
TurnKey root
NanoStack ubuntu
FreeBSD ec2-user
OmniOS root

Some AMIs are configured like when we start a SSH communication with root will output a message informing us the correct user to use and then close the connection. For example,

$ ssh root@<my_ip>
Please login as the user "ubuntu" rather than the user "root".

Looking for a skilled WordPress/WooCommerce developer? I'm currently available for freelance, contract, or full-time remote opportunities! Let's create something amazing together. Send me a quick message, and I'll respond within 24 hours!

Recent Posts

  1. Understanding the Singleton Pattern and Using Traits to Achieve Singleton in WordPress Plugin Development
  2. REST API Methods Explained with Best Practices for Building Clean and Secure APIs
  3. My 28-Day Plan to Master Modern WordPress Development Using AI Tools
  4. Scaling WordPress - How Custom Database Tables Solve the Post Meta Bottleneck
  5. WordPress Transients Explained - A Developer's Guide to Site Performance

Your Questions / Comments

If you found this article interesting, found errors, or just want to discuss about it, please get in touch.