diff --git a/aws-code/spot-instance/create_launch_specs.py b/aws-code/spot-instance/create_launch_specs.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c55c6a92e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aws-code/spot-instance/create_launch_specs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+import os
+import argparse
+import json
+import time
+import datetime
+
+REGION_NAME = 'region_name'
+REGION_KEY = 'region_key'
+REGION_SECURITY_GROUP = 'region_security_group'
+REGION_HUMAN_NAME = 'region_human_name'
+
+INSTANCE_TYPE = 'm3.medium' # 't2.micro'
+AMI = 'ami-f2d3638a' # 'ami-a9d09ed1'
+# base64 userdata.sh
+USER_DATA = 'IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKeXVtIC15IHVwZGF0ZQp5dW0gaW5zdGFsbCAteSBydWJ5CmNkIC9ob21lL2VjMi11c2VyCmN1cmwgLU8gaHR0cHM6Ly9hd3MtY29kZWRlcGxveS11cy13ZXN0LTIuczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9sYXRlc3QvaW5zdGFsbApjaG1vZCAreCAuL2luc3RhbGwKLi9pbnN0YWxsIGF1dG8='
+IAM_INSTANCE_PROFILE = 'BenchMarkCodeDeployInstanceProfile'
+
+def read_configuration_file(filename):
+    config = {}
+    with open(filename,'r') as f:
+        for line in f:
+            vals = line.strip().split(',')
+            region_num = vals[0]
+            config[region_num] = {}
+            config[region_num][REGION_NAME] = vals[1]
+            config[region_num][REGION_KEY] = vals[2]
+            config[region_num][REGION_SECURITY_GROUP] = vals[3]
+            config[region_num][REGION_HUMAN_NAME] = vals[4]
+    return config
+
+def create_launch_specification(region_num):
+    input_cli = {}
+    input_cli['ImageId'] = AMI
+    # input_cli['Placement'] = {
+    #     "AvailabilityZone": config[region_num][REGION_NAME] +"a"
+    # }
+    input_cli['SecurityGroups'] = [ "richard-spot-instance SSH" ] # [ config[region_num][REGION_SECURITY_GROUP] ]
+    input_cli['IamInstanceProfile'] = {
+        "Name": IAM_INSTANCE_PROFILE
+    }
+    input_cli['KeyName'] = "richard-spot-instance" # config[region_num][REGION_KEY]
+    input_cli['UserData'] = USER_DATA
+    input_cli['InstanceType'] = INSTANCE_TYPE
+    # folder = "launch_specs/" + "session-"+ current_session 
+    folder = "launch_specs/latest"
+    if not os.path.exists(folder):
+        os.makedirs(folder)
+    launch_spec_file = os.path.join(folder,config[region_num][REGION_HUMAN_NAME]+".json")
+    with open(launch_spec_file,'w') as g:
+        json.dump(input_cli,g)
+    print("Launch spec: %s" % launch_spec_file)
+    return launch_spec_file
+
+def create_instances(region_list):
+    for i in range(len(region_list)):
+        region_num = region_list[i]
+        launch_spec_file = create_launch_specification(region_num)
+        
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='This script helps you start instances across multiple regions')
+    parser.add_argument('--regions',type=str,dest='regions',default='3',help="a comma-separated-value list of all regions")
+    # configuration file contains the number/name/security-group etc. information of each region.
+    parser.add_argument('--config',type=str,dest='config',default='configuration.txt')
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    config = read_configuration_file(args.config)
+    region_list = args.regions.split(',')
+    time_stamp = time.time()
+    current_session = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(time_stamp).strftime('%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S')
+    print("current session is %s" % current_session)
+    create_instances(region_list)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/aws-scripts/spot-instance/request-spot.sh b/aws-code/spot-instance/request-spot.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
similarity index 71%
rename from aws-scripts/spot-instance/request-spot.sh
rename to aws-code/spot-instance/request-spot.sh
index 2436631ac..846d966fb
--- a/aws-scripts/spot-instance/request-spot.sh
+++ b/aws-code/spot-instance/request-spot.sh
@@ -9,8 +9,10 @@ aws ec2 request-spot-instances \
     ], \
     \"KeyName\": \"richard-spot-instance\", \
     \"IamInstanceProfile\": { \
-        \"Name\": \"RichardCodeDeployInstanceRole\" \
+        \"Name\": \"BenchMarkCodeDeployInstanceProfile\" \
     }, \
-    \"UserData\": \"`base64 -w 0 userdata.sh`\" \
+    \"UserData\": \"`base64 userdata.sh`\" \
   }" \
   --dry-run # uncomment this line to send a real request.
+
+# Note: on windows, UserData should be "`base64 -w 0 userdata.sh`"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/aws-code/spot-instance/request-spot2.sh b/aws-code/spot-instance/request-spot2.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..dead35350
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aws-code/spot-instance/request-spot2.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+aws ec2 request-spot-instances \
+  --instance-count 1 \
+  --block-duration-minutes 60 \
+  --launch-specification file://launch_specs/latest/ohio.json
+  # --dry-run # uncomment this line to send a real request.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/aws-scripts/spot-instance/userdata.sh b/aws-code/spot-instance/userdata.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from aws-scripts/spot-instance/userdata.sh
rename to aws-code/spot-instance/userdata.sh