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+---
+layout: page
+title: Installing the easy way
+---
+
+# Installation on Amazon EC2
+
+<p class="lead">
+ We've made an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) so you can quickly deploy on Amazon EC2. This is handy if you just want to evaluate Alaveteli, for example.
+</p>
+
+Note that there are [other ways to install Alaveteli]({{ site.baseurl }}docs/installing).
+
+## Installing from our AMI
+
+To help people try out Alaveteli, we have created an AMI (Amazon Machine Image)
+with a basic installation of Alaveteli, which you can use to create a running
+server on an Amazon EC2 instance. This creates an instance that runs in
+development mode, so we wouldn't recommend you use it for a production system
+without changing the configuration.
+
+Unfortunately, Alaveteli will not run properly on a free Micro
+instance due to the low amount of memory available on those
+instances; you will need to use at least a Small instance, which
+Amazon will charge for.
+
+The AMI can be found in the EU West (Ireland) region, with the ID ami-8603f4f1
+and name “Basic Alaveteli installation 2014-01-29”. You can launch an instance
+based on that AMI with [this
+link](https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/home?region=eu-west-1#launchAmi=ami-8603f4f1).
+
+When you create an EC2 instance based on that AMI, make sure that you choose
+Security Groups that allows at least inbound HTTP, HTTPS, SSH and, if you want
+to test incoming mail as well, SMTP.
+
+When your EC2 instance is launched, you will be able to log in as the `ubuntu`
+user. This user can `sudo` freely to run commands as root. However, the code is
+actually owned by (and runs as) the `alaveteli` user. After creating the
+instance, you may want to edit a configuration file to customize the site's
+configuration. That configuration file is
+`/var/www/alaveteli/alaveteli/config/general.yml`, which can be edited with:
+
+ ubuntu@ip-10-58-191-98:~$ sudo su - alaveteli
+ alaveteli@ip-10-58-191-98:~$ cd alaveteli
+ alaveteli@ip-10-58-191-98:~/alaveteli$ nano config/general.yml
+
+Then you should restart the Thin webserver with:
+
+ alaveteli@ip-10-58-191-98:~/alaveteli$ logout
+ ubuntu@ip-10-58-191-98:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/alaveteli restart
+
+If you find the hostname of your EC2 instance from the AWS console, you should
+then be able to see the site at
+`http://your-ec2-hostname.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com`
+
+If you have any problems or questions, please ask on the [Alaveteli Google
+Group](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alaveteli-dev) or [report an
+issue](https://github.com/mysociety/alaveteli/issues?state=open).
+