# Automated instance configuration setup
<a name="inst-auto-config-setup"></a>

Assuming the prerequisites have been met, adding a specific Amazon EC2 instance tag automatically initiates the AMS Accelerate automated instance configuration. Use one of the following methods to add this tag:

1. (Strongly recommended) Use the AMS Accelerate Resource Tagger

   To configure the tagging logic for your account, see [How tagging works](acc-tag-intro.md#acc-tag-how-works). After tagging is complete, tags and automated instance configuration are handled automatically.

1. Manually add tags

   Manually add the following tag to the Amazon EC2 instances:

   Key:**ams:rt:ams-managed**, Value:**true**.

**Note**  
The instance configuration service attempts to apply the required AMS configurations once the **ams:rt:ams-managed** tag is applied to the instance. The service asserts the AMS required configurations whenever an instance is started, and when a the AMS daily configuration check occurs.