How to label ec2 instance in console ?

When I open my ec2 instance in console with command like:

ssh -i "accessfile.pem" [email protected]

I see command line like:

ubuntu@ip-NN-NNN-NN-NN:~$

As I have several ec2 instances if there is a way to label this console? I set label in instances list at left column, but this label was not applied in the console...

Thanks!

fideloper

4 years ago

Best Answer

Level 11

Hi!

The label in the EC2 console is based on the tag on the ec2 instance, specifically the tag called Name.

This has no bearing nor connection to what you see in the SSH session when logging into the server.

You can change that prompt that you see when SSH-ing in however.

By default, the prompt ubuntu@ip-NN-NNN-NN-NN:~$ is showing you the hostname of the server.

There's a few ways to change the prompt:

Edit /etc/hostname to change the hostname, and then reboot the server (not recommended)
Edit ~/.bashrc and change the PS1 variable. You want to replace \h with anything else. The \h character is saying to print the hostname. Then run source ~/.bashrc to see that change reflected.

You can change that \h to anything you want, for example:

# FROM:
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[3[01;32m\]\u@\h\[3[00m\]:\[3[01;34m\]\w\[3[00m\]$ '

# TO:
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[3[01;32m\]\u@anything-i-want\[3[00m\]:\[3[01;34m\]\w\[3[00m\]$ '

Note that you can change both instances of the PS1 variable if there are multiple in that file.

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