You can create a DC/OS cluster for Amazon Web Services (AWS) by using the DC/OS templates on AWS CloudFormation.
These instructions provide a basic AWS CloudFormation template that creates a DC/OS cluster that is suitable for demonstrations and POCs. This is the fastest way to get started with the DC/OS templates for AWS CloudFormation.
For a complete set of DC/OS configuration options, see the Advanced AWS Install Guide.
Important: Upgrades are not supported with this installation method.
System requirements
Hardware
An AWS EC2 m3.xlarge instance. Selecting smaller-sized VMs is not recommended, and selecting fewer VMs will likely cause certain resource-intensive services, such as distributed datastores, to not work properly.
- You have the option of 1 or 3 Mesos master nodes.
- 5 private Mesos agent nodes is the default.
- 1 public Mesos agent node is the default.
Software
- DC/OS Enterprise AWS templates. Contact your sales representative or sales@mesosphere.com to obtain these files.
- An AWS account.
- An AWS EC2 key pair for the same region as your cluster. Key pairs cannot be shared across regions. The AWS key pair uses public-key cryptography to provide secure login to your AWS cluster. For more information about creating an AWS EC2 key pair, see the documentation.
- SSH installed and configured. This is required for accessing nodes in the DC/OS cluster.
Create DC/OS cluster stack
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Launch AWS CloudFormation.
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Click Create Stack.
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On the Select Template page, in the Choose a template field, click the Specify an Amazon S3 template URL radio button and paste in the template URL you received from sales.
Important: Do not click the View/Edit template in Designer link and edit the template. The DC/OS template is configured for running DC/OS. If you modify the template you might be unable to run certain packages on your DC/OS cluster.

-
Click Next.
-
On the Specify Details page, specify a cluster name (
Stack name
), key pair (KeyName
), public agent (PublicSlaveInstanceCount
), private agent (SlaveInstanceCount
), and click Next. Depending on the DC/OS services that you install, you might need to change the number of agent nodes after cluster creation. For more information, see Scaling the DC/OS cluster in AWS. -
On the Options page, accept the defaults and click Next.
Tip: In the Advanced section you can choose whether to rollback on failure. By default this option is set to Yes.
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On the Review page, check the acknowledgement box and then click Create.
Tip: If the Create New Stack page is shown, either AWS is still processing your request or you’re looking at a different region. Navigate to the correct region and refresh the page to see your stack.
Monitor cluster stack launch
In AWS CloudFormation you should see:
- The cluster stack spins up over a period of 10 to 15 minutes.
- The status changes from CREATE_IN_PROGRESS to CREATE_COMPLETE.
Troubleshooting: A ROLLBACK_COMPLETE status means the deployment has failed. See the Events tab for useful information about failures.
Open and log into the DC/OS GUI
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In AWS CloudFormation, check the box next to your stack.
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Click the Outputs tab and copy the Mesos Master hostname.
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Paste the hostname into your browser to open the DC/OS web interface. The interface runs on the standard HTTP port 80, so you do not need to specify a port number after the hostname. Your browser may show a warning that your connection is not secure. This is because DC/OS uses self-signed certificates. You can ignore this error and click to proceed to the login screen.
-
Enter the username and password of the superuser account. The default username is
bootstrapuser
and default password isdeleteme
. Click LOG IN.
Install the DC/OS CLI
You must install the DC/OS Command-Line Interface (CLI) to administer your DCOS cluster.
-
Click the dropdown menu on the upper-left of the DC/OS GUI and select Install CLI.
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Copy the code snippet and run in a terminal. Provide the sudo password, accept the fingerprint of the cluster certificate, and provide the superuser name and password to authenticate the CLI.