Creating an AMI

The image created here is based on CentOS Linux.

How to create a File to host the CentOS AMI

A base CentOS Linux installation requires about 1.2 GB, but custom installation for a server environment might require up to 3.0 GB.

• Create a location to place the CentOS AMI

# mkdir -p /usr/local/src/EC2

• Create a file to host the CentOS AMI

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/usr/local/src/EC2/bashlinux-server.fs bs=1M count=3072
3072+0 records in
3072+0 records out
3221225472 bytes (3.2 GB) copied, 118.687 seconds, 27.1 MB/s

How to create a Root File System inside a file

Create an ext3 file system

mke2fs -F -j /usr/local/src/EC2/bashlinux-server.fs
mke2fs 1.39 (29-May-2006)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
393216 inodes, 786432 blocks
39321 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=805306368
24 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16384 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
	32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912

Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (16384 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

This filesystem will be automatically checked every 30 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first.  Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.

• Mount the File via the loop device

• Create a mount point in the file system where the image will be attached

# mkdir -p /mnt/EC2-FS

• Mount the file system image

mount -o loop /usr/local/src/EC2/bashlinux-server.fs /mnt/EC2-FS/

• Prepare for the Installation

• Create a /dev directory and populate it with a minimal set of devices. You can ignore the errors in the output

# mkdir -p /mnt/EC2-FS/dev
# MAKEDEV -d /mnt/EC2-FS/dev -x console
# MAKEDEV -d /mnt/EC2-FS/dev -x null
# MAKEDEV -d /mnt/EC2-FS/dev -x zero
# mkdir -p /mnt/EC2-FS/etc