Building AMIs
As noted above, mostly MDI project administrators need to build and release AWS AMIs, this documentation is mostly for them.
However, advanced users might prefer to build their own Tier 1 or Tier 2 AMIs instead of using the pre-built versions. Also, tool suite developers may wish to create and share Tier 3 AMIs carrying their specific tools and supporting resources. These last AMIs can be made public or kept private as suits your needs.
Throughout, it is important to understand the potential risks of sharing public AMIs. It is important that an instance be stripped of any passwords or keys that should not be shared publicly. It is therefore important to begin with fresh instances and to carefuly follow the instructions for how to prepare instances for public sharing as AMIs.