creating ami on amazon

this was stupid simple starting from an EBS boot volume.

steps
  1. launch an instance with an EBS boot volume. ubuntu has lots of images.
  2. make whatever changes you want to the volume. install, add, whatever services you need — configure them to start on boot (i just used rc.local).
  3. stop the instance.
  4. in the console, select "create image" from the instance actions pull-down menu.

that's it. stupid simple.