EC2 instance running apache tomcat not accessible from outside

Solution 1:

Login to the AWS console and goto the Security Groups section Here, in the Inbound add a new rule named Custom TCP Rule and enter the custom port range 8080.

Now goto enter the {ipaddress}:8080 in the browser

Solution 2:

By default, AWS instances start off without any ports accessable from the internet. You need to alter your VPC's security group settings. To do this, select your instance in the EC2 list. In the frame under where you select your instance, you'll see a bunch of random data about the instance, including the "Security Group" - click on this to modify that instances firewall rules. Please be aware that depending on how your VPCs are setup, that altering these rules may affect more than one instance.

It's pretty obvious once you know about it's existence and can poke around.