Chapter 1. Welcome

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud: 2009-04-04

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Welcome

Topics

This is the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud API Reference Guide. This section describes who should read this guide, how the guide is organized, and other resources related to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.

The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud is occasionally referred to within this guide as simply "Amazon EC2"; all copyrights and legal protections still apply.

Who Should Read This Guide

This guide is for programmers that need detailed information about the Amazon EC2 SOAP and Query APIs.

Required Knowledge and Skills

Use of this guide assumes you are familiar with the following:

XML (For an overview, go to the W3 Schools XML Tutorial)
Basic understanding of web services (go to W3 Schools Web Services Tutorial)
Query or SOAP
One or more programming languages

You should also have worked through the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud Getting Started Guide, set up your development environment, and have a general understanding of the service. Additionally, you should refer to the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud Developer Guide for high level concepts and examples of how to use major Amazon EC2 features.

Reader Feedback

The online version of this guide provides a link at the top of each page that enables you to enter feedback about this guide. We strive to make our guides as complete, error free, and easy to read as possible. You can help by giving us feedback. Thank you in advance!

How This Guide Is Organized

This guide is organized into several major sections described in the following table.

Information	Relevant Sections
Overview of the APIs and conventions.	API Overview
Comprehensive reference to the SOAP APIs.	Amazon EC2 SOAP API
Comprehensive reference to the Query APIs.	Amazon EC2 Query API
Comprehensive reference to the SOAP data types.	Data Types
Error code information.	API Error Codes
Amazon EC2 terms.	Glossary
Typographic and symbol conventions.	Document Conventions

Amazon EC2 Resources

The following table lists related resources that you'll find useful as you work with this service.

Resource	Description
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud Getting Started Guide	The Getting Started Guide provides a quick tutorial of the service based on a simple use case. Examples and instructions are included.
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide	The Console and Command Line User Guide provides conceptual information about Amazon EC2 and describes how to use Amazon EC2 features using the AWS Management Console and command line tools.
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud Developer Guide	The Developer Guide provides conceptual information about Amazon EC2 and describes how to use Amazon EC2 features using the SOAP and Query APIs.
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud API Reference	The API Reference contains a comprehensive description of all SOAP and Query APIs. Additionally, it contains a list of all SOAP data types.
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud Command Line Reference	The Command Line Tools Reference contains a comprehensive description of all the command line tools and their options.
Amazon EC2 Release Notes	The Release Notes give a high-level overview of the current release. They specifically note any new features, corrections, and known issues.
AWS Developer Resource Center	A central starting point to find documentation, code samples, release notes, and other information to help you build innovative applications with AWS.
Discussion Forums	A community-based forum for developers to discuss technical questions related to Amazon Web Services.
AWS Support Center	The home page for AWS Technical Support, including access to our Developer Forums, Technical FAQs, Service Status page, and AWS Premium Support (if you are subscribed to this program).
AWS Premium Support Information	The primary web page for information about AWS Premium Support, a one-on-one, fast-response support channel to help you build and run applications on AWS Infrastructure Services.
Form for questions related to your AWS account: Contact Us	This form is only for account questions. For technical questions, use the Discussion Forums.
Conditions of Use	Detailed information about the copyright and trademark usage at Amazon.com and other topics.

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