Amazon Machine Image (AMI)

An Amazon Machine Image (AMI) in AWS is a preconfigured virtual machine, or template, that can be used to quickly deploy applications and services on the AWS cloud. AMIs provide the necessary components for launching an instance, including the operating system, application server, and other software. Additionally, they contain configuration settings such as security groups and user data. Each AMI is uniquely identified by an AWS account number and a unique ID; thus allowing it to be shared between AWS accounts. With an AMI configured for your environment needs, you can launch instances of any size with just few clicks without worrying about manually configuring all of the settings required for your application.