How to find a base Ubuntu Amazon Machine Image (AMI)

At times, you may want to build an IDA starting with a base AMI containing no previous edX code. To find the proper base AMI for most IDAs (including edx-platform):

1. Visit this URL: http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/locator/ec2/
   1. 
2. Enter the following terms in the search box: us-east-1 hvm ssd xenial amd (for 16.04) OR us-east-1 hvm ssd bionic amd (for 18.04)
   1. Exactly one AMI should be showing in the filtered list:
   2. 
   3. The term definitions:
      1. us-east-1: The region in which we run our edX infrastructure (currently).
      2. hvm: Virtualization type allowing faster virtualization
      3. ssd: Supports solid-state drives for fast disk access.
         1. xenial: Codename for Ubuntu 16.04
         2. bionic: Codename for Ubuntu 18.04
      4. amd: System processor
3. Use the AMI ID, which is in the form "ami-xxxxxxxx".