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/2009-10-31/">
     <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/2009-10-31/">
     <imagesSet>
       <item>
         <imageId>ami-be3adfd7</imageId>
         <imageLocation>amazon/getting-started</imageLocation>
         <imageState>available</imageState>
         <imageOwnerId>206029621532</imageOwnerId>
         <isPublic>true</isPublic>
         <architecture>i386</architecture>
         <imageType>machine</imageType>
         <kernelId>aki-d3376696</kernelId>
         <ramdiskId>ari-e73766a2</ramdiskId>
         <imageOwnerAlias>amazon</imageOwnerAlias>
         <name>getting-started</name>
         <description>Fedora 8 v1.11 i386 lvm-rootVG-rootFS ext3 ec2pnp enabled</description>
         <rootDeviceType>ebs</rootDeviceType>
         <rootDeviceName>/dev/sda</rootDeviceName>
         <blockDeviceMapping>
           <item>
             <deviceName>/dev/sda</deviceName>
             <ebs>
               <snapshotId>snap-32885f5a</snapshotId>
               <volumeSize>15</volumeSize>
               <deleteOnTermination>false</deleteOnTermination>
             </ebs>
           </item>
         </blockDeviceMapping>
       </item>
     </imagesSet>