AWS provides a JSON template for use with AWS CloudFormation that simplifies this setup procedure. Access the template and save it as a JSON file. AWS CloudFormation allows you to configure your own SSH keys and offers an easy way to set up a performance test environment to evaluate st1 volumes. The template creates a current-generation instance and a 2 TiB st1 volume, and attaches the volume to the instance at /dev/xvdf.
To use the template, open the Console and perform the following steps:
1. Select CloudFormation from the list of AWS services.
2. Click the Create Stack button in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.
3. Choose Upload a Template to Amazon S3 and select the JSON template you previous obtained.
4. Give your stack a name like “ebs-perf-testing,” pick an instance type (default is r3.8xlarge), and choose your SSH key.
5. Click the Next button twice, and then click Create Stack.
6. Once the status for your new stack moves from CREATE_IN_PROGRESS to COMPLETE, click Outputs to get the public DNS entry for your new instance, which will have a 2 TiB st1 volume attached to it.
7. SSH to your new stack as user ec2-user, with the hostname obtained from the DNS entry in the previous step.
8. Proceed to Install Benchmark Tools.