AWS Marketplace

Deploy AWS Marketplace third-party software to AWS GovCloud (US) using Amazon EC2 console

AWS GovCloud (US) Regions is a regulated industry cloud solution that technology leaders have trusted to manage sensitive data and controlled unclassified information (CUI). AWS Marketplace allows customers to deploy third-party software to the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions within the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) console. Last year, we published a post on How to provision software available in AWS Marketplace in AWS GovCloud. Since then, we’ve identified frequently asked questions about how to navigate through the new Amazon EC2 UI and would like to share our guidance.

We will cover how to deploy third-party software to AWS GovCloud (US) using Amazon EC2 console. Customers can use the Amazon EC2 console to configure and deploy subscribed third-party software in the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions. This provides a convenient, centralized view of both Amazon EC2 and third-party software deployed in AWS GovCloud (US) Regions. Customers without access need to work with their program office or AWS administrator to make subscriptions within the commercial Region on their behalf.

Before we go over the procedures, we want to review a few important concepts and common misconceptions about AWS Marketplace and the AWS GovCloud (US) regions. AWS Marketplace subscriptions are managed in the standard AWS account linked to your account in the AWS GovCloud (US) Region. When using AWS Marketplace, the AWS GovCloud (US) Region is viewed as two additional selectable regions where you can deploy your subscribed products. It is not a separate or distinct marketplace. AWS GovCloud (US) Region accounts are always paired to a standard AWS account, and you can only subscribe to products available in the AWS Marketplace from the standard account.

Procedure overview: Deploy third-party software to AWS GovCloud (US) using Amazon EC2 console

The process flow diagram in the following image outlines the two scenarios we will cover:

Scenario 1: When you have access to the linked standard AWS account

Scenario 2: When you do not have access to the linked standard AWS account

Flow diagram showing subscription process

Figure 1: Process flow diagram

Prerequisites

To deploy a GovCloud product, you must have one of the following prerequisites in place:

  • Access to both your standard and GovCloud (US) AWS accounts.
  • Access to your GovCloud (US) AWS accounts and to your AWS administrator with access your standard AWS accounts.

The following two sections provide instructions for using the Amazon EC2 console to deploy third-party software to AWS GovCloud (US).

Scenario 1: Customer with access to standard AWS account

Follow these steps to deploy third-party software to AWS GovCloud (US) if you have access to the standard AWS account.

  1. In your standard AWS account, go to the AWS Marketplace, search for a standalone single AMI product you would like to buy and deploy in the AWS GovCloud (US) Region. To view AWS Marketplace products available for AWS GovCloud (US), select the AWS GovCloud (US-West) and/or AWS GovCloud (US-East) in the Refine results section of the AWS Marketplace All Products. Then select View purchase options.

Selecting a product to deploy to AWS GovCloud (AWS) regions

Figure 2: Third-party product detail page in AWS Marketplace

  1. Review Terms and Conditions and choose Accept Terms.

Accept terms to subscribe

Figure 3: Subscribing to the third-party product

  1. Verify that the subscription was successful. If it’s successful, you will observe a banner displaying Thank you for subscribing to this product! You can configure your software. Choose Continue to Configuration.

Subscription successful

Figure 4: Subscription successful message

  1. To configure the product, select a Fulfillment option and a Software version. In the Region dropdown, select the AWS GovCloud (US-East) or AWS GovCloud (US-West) Region. Then select Continue to Launch.

Configuring product

Figure 5: Configure this software page

  1. To launch the software, from the dropdown menu under Choose Action, select Launch through EC2. Choose Launch. This will open up a new tab to your linked AWS GovCloud (US) account

Launching product

Figure 6: Launch product through EC2

  1. You will need to authenticate to your AWS GovCloud (US) account

Login to AWS GovCloud (US) Account

Figure 7: Login to AWS GovCloud (US) Account)

  1. The Amazon EC2 console will open, where you can then customize the instance. Choose a Name, an Amazon Machine Image (AMI), and the Number of instances. Choose Launch instance.

Configure instance

Figure 8: Amazon EC2 console for configuring the instance

When the software has successfully launched, you will observe a banner displaying Success and the instance ID.

Instance launched successfully

Figure 9: Instance launched successfully

EC2 console showing new instance

Figure 10: Instance in EC2 console

 

Scenario 2: Customer with no access to the linked standard AWS account

Follow these steps to deploy third-party software to AWS GovCloud (US) if you do not have access to a standard AWS account. Remember to have your AWS administrator present to complete these steps. An AWS administrator for this scenario has the access to subscribe to products in AWS Marketplace in the standard AWS account paired to your AWS GovCloud(US) account.

  1. Log in to your AWS GovCloud (US) account and open the Amazon EC2 console.

EC2 console in AWS GovCloud (US)

Figure 11: AWS GovCloud (US) console

  1. Choose Launch instance and in the AWS Marketplace AMIs tab on the Amazon EC2 console, search for a third-party AMI product.

List of products in EC2 console

Figure 12: Searching for a product from the Amazon EC2 console

  1. Once a product is Identified, find the product link, notify your AWS administrator to subscribe to the software for you and to perform steps 4, 5 and 6 below.
  1. As the AWS administrator, login to the standard AWS account and go to the product link provided by you of the product you want to subscribe.
  1. As the AWS administrator, on the top right of the product page, choose View purchase options.

Product page in AWS Marketplace

Figure 13: AWS Marketplace console showing the selected software

  1. As the AWS administrator, review the terms and conditions and click Accept Terms.

Once the subscription is completed, the AWS administrator will inform you to let you know that you can proceed with step 7.

Subscribe to the product

Figure 14: Subscribing to product

  1. On the Amazon EC2 console in your AWS GovCloud (US) account, continued where you left off in step 2. Configure the instance and select Launch instance.

Launching the product

Figure 15: Launching the instance using the Amazon EC2 console

If the software instance launches successfully, you will observe a banner displaying Success and the instance ID.

EC2 instance launched successfully

Figure 16: Launch successful

Conclusion

In this post, we outlined the steps for deploying software to AWS GovCloud (US) for users who have the required standard AWS account access. We also showed the steps to take when that access isn’t as readily available. This new interface offers users a straightforward way to launch AWS Marketplace AMIs in AWS GovCloud (US) Regions in an environment that may already be familiar.

About Authors

Tuan Vo

Tuan Vo is a Marketplace Specialist Solutions Architect who focuses on supporting sellers to list their products on AWS Marketplace. He supports large enterprises and public sector customers. Outside of work, Tuan enjoys traveling, trying out new food, and going on walks.

Ken Bailey

Ken Bailey is a Senior Business Development Manager with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Ken leads the AWS Marketplace supporting the needs of the US Federal Government Federal Civilian and Federal Financial Agencies. He has proudly worked with the Federal Government for more than 20 years to help them serve citizens more effectively, achieve higher academic standards, reach broader constituents, and effectively deliver upon their mission objectives.