ec2-import-instance makes an instance with no Public IP - amazon-web-services

Question

This is related to my previous question. Basically, to summarize: I
1) Set up a vagrant ubuntu 14.04 box locally
2) Packaged the vagrant instance into a package.box following these instructions
3) Converted the package.box into a .vmdk file using this function
4) Ran the following CLI command:
ec2-import-instance tmpdir/box-disk1.vmdk -f VMDK -t t2.micro -a x86_64 -b <S3 Bucket> -o $AWS_ACCESS_KEY -w $AWS_SECRET_KEY -p Linux
Since I suspected the problem was with something called cloud-init I read about (but have never used/don't really know what it does), I tried the above twice: once with the original /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg file and again with the /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg file I found here.
Basically, what I'm eventually seeing in the AWS Console is a running instance that does not have a Public IP address. I attached an Elastic IP to the instance, but I can't ssh into that IP address for some reason - it says port 22: Connection refused
I'm at a loss because these instances are launching in the Default VPC which has a security group attached to it that allows all ports and all protocols from any IP.
By the way: I'm pretty new to all of AWS and don't really know my way fully around the console, so any direct guidance would be much appreciated.
Original /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg file:
# The top level settings are used as module
# and system configuration.
# A set of users which may be applied and/or used by various modules
# when a 'default' entry is found it will reference the 'default_user'
# from the distro configuration specified below
users:
- default
# If this is set, 'root' will not be able to ssh in and they
# will get a message to login instead as the above $user (ubuntu)
disable_root: true
# This will cause the set+update hostname module to not operate (if true)
preserve_hostname: false
# Example datasource config
# datasource:
# Ec2:
# metadata_urls: [ 'blah.com' ]
# timeout: 5 # (defaults to 50 seconds)
# max_wait: 10 # (defaults to 120 seconds)
# The modules that run in the 'init' stage
cloud_init_modules:
- migrator
- seed_random
- bootcmd
- write-files
- growpart
- resizefs
- set_hostname
- update_hostname
- update_etc_hosts
- ca-certs
- rsyslog
- users-groups
- ssh
# The modules that run in the 'config' stage
cloud_config_modules:
# Emit the cloud config ready event
# this can be used by upstart jobs for 'start on cloud-config'.
- emit_upstart
- disk_setup
- mounts
- ssh-import-id
- locale
- set-passwords
- grub-dpkg
- apt-pipelining
- apt-configure
- package-update-upgrade-install
- landscape
- timezone
- puppet
- chef
- salt-minion
- mcollective
- disable-ec2-metadata
- runcmd
- byobu
# The modules that run in the 'final' stage
cloud_final_modules:
- rightscale_userdata
- scripts-vendor
- scripts-per-once
- scripts-per-boot
- scripts-per-instance
- scripts-user
- ssh-authkey-fingerprints
- keys-to-console
- phone-home
- final-message
- power-state-change
# System and/or distro specific settings
# (not accessible to handlers/transforms)
system_info:
# This will affect which distro class gets used
distro: ubuntu
# Default user name + that default users groups (if added/used)
default_user:
name: ubuntu
lock_passwd: True
gecos: Ubuntu
groups: [adm, audio, cdrom, dialout, dip, floppy, netdev, plugdev, sudo, video]
sudo: ["ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL"]
shell: /bin/bash
# Other config here will be given to the distro class and/or path classes
paths:
cloud_dir: /var/lib/cloud/
templates_dir: /etc/cloud/templates/
upstart_dir: /etc/init/
package_mirrors:
- arches: [i386, amd64]
failsafe:
primary: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu
security: http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu
search:
primary:
- http://%(ec2_region)s.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
- http://%(availability_zone)s.clouds.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
- http://%(region)s.clouds.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
security: []
- arches: [armhf, armel, default]
failsafe:
primary: http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports
security: http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports
ssh_svcname: ssh
Second try /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg file:
users:
- default
disable_root: 1
ssh_pwauth: 0
locale_configfile: /etc/sysconfig/i18n
mount_default_fields: [~, ~, 'auto', 'defaults,nofail', '0', '2']
resize_rootfs_tmp: /dev
ssh_deletekeys: 0
ssh_genkeytypes: ~
syslog_fix_perms: ~
cloud_init_modules:
- bootcmd
- write-files
- resizefs
- set_hostname
- update_hostname
- update_etc_hosts
- rsyslog
- users-groups
- ssh
cloud_config_modules:
- mounts
- locale
- set-passwords
- timezone
- runcmd
cloud_final_modules:
- scripts-per-once
- scripts-per-boot
- scripts-per-instance
- scripts-user
- ssh-authkey-fingerprints
- keys-to-console
- final-message
system_info:
distro: rhel
default_user:
name: ec2-user
paths:
cloud_dir: /var/lib/cloud
templates_dir: /etc/cloud/templates
ssh_svcname: sshd
EOF

Answer 1

This is happening because when you transferred the instance to AWS from your local there was no any PEM key associated with that instance due to which you were not able to SSH.
After you took an Image of your instance and launched the instance again with a associated key you were able to SSH into the instance.