To find a suitable AMI

1. If you are using SOAP, construct a request similar to the following which returns all Amazon-owned AMIs:

   <DescribeImages xmlns="http://ec2.amazonaws.com/doc/2009-08-15/">
     <executableBySet>
       <item>
         <user>amazon</user>
       </item>
     </executableBySet>
     <ownersSet/>
     <imagesSet>
       <item>
         <imageId/>
       </item>
     </imagesSet>
   </DescribeImages>

2. If you are using Query, construct a request similar to the following which returns all Amazon-owned AMIs:

   https://ec2.amazonaws.com/
   ?Action=DescribeImages
   &User.1=amazon
   &...auth parameters...
   

3. View output similar to the following:

   <DescribeImagesResponse xmlns="http://ec2.amazonaws.com/doc/2009-08-15/">
     <imagesSet>
       <item>
         <imageId>ami-be3adfd7</imageId>
         <imageLocation>ec2-public-images/fedora-8-i386-base-v1.04.manifest.xml
         </imageLocation>
         <imageState>available</imageState>
         <imageOwnerId>206029621532</imageOwnerId>
         <isPublic>false</isPublic>
         <architecture>i386</architecture>
         <imageType>machine</imageType>
         <kernelId>aki-4438dd2d</kernelId>
         <ramdiskId>ari-4538dd2c</ramdiskId>
       </item>
       ...
     </imagesSet>
   </DescribeImagesResponse>