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To add an additional network interface to an instance or to remove an interface from your instance perform the steps described below.

(warning) The steps below only provide a basic overview. The exact tasks required will vary depending on your network design.

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Creating a New Network Interface

The table below describes the following steps are required to create a new network interface that can later be added to an instance.:

StepDetails
Locate the Network Interfaces option on the EC2 dashboard and click on it.

Clicking on Network Interfaces opens the list of existing networks.

Create a new interface.

Click on Create Network Interface at the top of the interface list.

This opens the interface creation window.

On this screen,

  • enter a description,
  • select the subnet the interface should be on (select the subnet containing to which your instance is to be connected),
  • allow AWS to automatically assign a private IP address or set a custom one from the subnet IP range, and
  • associate the interface with a security group (same as for the instance).

Click on Create when you are done. The new interface will appear in the overview list. There you can assign a name to the interface. Check that the interface is in state available.

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Warning

Adding a second network interface to a non-Amazon Linux EC2 instance causes traffic flow issues. This occurs because both interfaces are in the same subnet, and there is only one routing table with containing one default gateway. Traffic that comes into the second network interface leaves the instance using the first network interface. This is blocked by AWS because a mismatch between MAC address and IP address.

To make the second interface work, perform the following steps:

  • Add the new interface to your running instance.
  • Before restarting the network, create Create a configuration file for the second interface. 
  • If one interface has a public IP address, restart your network and test reachability of the public interface.
  • If both interfaces only have private IP addresses,
    • configure a secondary routing table, and then
    • set up rules in the custom routing table policy database so that traffic for the secondary interface uses the new routing table.

Refer to the AWS documentation and to section Example of a More Complex Network Configuration. Failure to use the proper steps, may make your instance unreachable! 

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StepDetails
Locate your network interface in the interface list and right-click on it.

The right-click opens the context menu. Select Attach.


This will open the window to enter the necessary instance information.

Select your instance and confirm entry.

Select your instance from the drop-down list and click on Attach.


The state of your interface will change from available to in-use.

Verify that instance has second interface.

Select your instance in the instance list. The description tab in instance details should now display two network interfaces:

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An Elastic IP address is a staticpersistent, public IPv4 address to be used for one of your network interfaces or instances. You can associate an Elastic IP address with any instance or network interface in your account.

(info) The advantage of associating the Elastic IP address with the network interface instead of directly with the instance is that you can move the network interface with its attributes easily from one instance to another.

(warning) The initial automatically assigned public IP address will be removed as soon as you restart the network or the instance after adding a network interface with an Elastic IP address to your instance. Do not restart your network or your instance before you are sure you can reach it via the Elastic IP address. The automatically assigned public IP address will also be disabled if you assign an Elastic IP address to the primary Ethernet interface of the instance.

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