Unprotected Private Key Warning .pem file

Hello! Welcome to the world of AWS re:Post. Let's address the issues you're facing step by step.

EC2 "Bad Permissions" on Private Key

The bad permissions error message when trying to connect via SSH to your EC2 instance typically occurs because the private key file (your .pem file) has more open permissions than SSH allows. SSH requires your private key files to be protected. If anyone else can read your private key, then the key is not secure, which is why SSH complains.

On Linux, you can fix this issue by setting the correct permissions on your private key file. You should set the permissions so that only you can read the file and nobody else can. You can do this with the chmod command. Assuming your private key file is called your-key-name.pem, you can set the correct permissions with the following command:

chmod 400 your-key-name.pem

After changing the permissions, try connecting to your EC2 instance again using the SSH command provided by AWS in the EC2 management console. It usually looks something like this:

ssh -i /path/to/your-key-name.pem ec2-user@your-instance-public-dns.amazonaws.com

Make sure to replace /path/to/your-key-name.pem with the actual path to your private key file and your-instance-public-dns.amazonaws.com with the Public DNS (IPv4) or Public IP address of your EC2 instance.

Unable to Connect to RDS Instance

For your RDS issue, there could be several reasons why you're unable to connect. Here are a few common things to check:

• Security Groups: Ensure that the security group associated with your RDS instance allows inbound connections on the database port from your IP address. For example, if you're using MySQL, the default port is 3306. You mentioned setting up inbound and outbound rules, but it's worth double-checking these.

• Network ACLs: If your RDS instance is in a VPC, ensure that the network ACLs (Access Control Lists) also allow inbound and outbound traffic for the relevant port(s).

• Public Accessibility: If you're trying to connect to the RDS instance from outside the VPC (e.g., from your local machine), make sure that the RDS instance is set to be publicly accessible. This setting is in the RDS instance details in the AWS Management Console.

• Database Endpoint and Port: Ensure you are using the correct endpoint and port number for your RDS instance. You can find this information in the RDS section of the AWS Management Console.

• VPC Security: If your instances are in a VPC, ensure that there are no rules or configurations that might be preventing connections.