A while back I wrote an article describing a way to move the root EBS volume from one running instance to another. I pitched this as a way to replace the hardware for your instance in the event of failures.
Since then, I have come to the realization that there is a much simpler method to move your instance to new hardware, and I have been using this new method for months when I run into issues that I suspect might be attributed to underlying hardware issues.
This method is so simple, that I am almost embarrassed about having written the previous article, but I’ll point out below at least one benefit that still exists with the more complicated approach.
I now use this process as the second step–after a simple reboot–when I am experiencing odd problems like not being able to connect to a long running EC2 instance. (The zeroth step is to start running and setting up a replacement instance in the event that steps one and two do not produce the desired results.)
Here goes…