Copy files from private EC2 instance to local machine

Question

Hi,

I have a requirement of copying files from private EC2 instance to my local machine. I have port forwarded a EC2 instance to local using below command.

aws ssm start-session \
    --target instance-id \
    --document-name AWS-StartPortForwardingSession \
    --parameters '{"portNumber":["22"], "localPortNumber":["2222"]}'

Now is there a way to copy files from EC2machine to local machine without passing PEM keys. I have tried it but getting error

scp -P 2222 ec2-user@localhost:/var/log/yumlog /home/user
ec2-user@localhost: Permission denied (publickey,gssapi-keyex,gssapi-with-mic).

Can any one guide to copy the files.

Accepted Answer

Hi, yes, right way to go for your goal is scp not ssm. 
See https://dearsikandarkhan.medium.com/files-copying-between-aws-ec2-and-local-d07ed205eefa

Corresponding AWS reference documentation is here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/appguide/qs-file-transfer.html

Follow in details all the guidance about security groups and access key creation / management to get it to work properly.

Best,

Didier

Copy files from private EC2 instance to local machine

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