diff --git a/src/contrib/ec2/README.txt b/src/contrib/ec2/README.txt
index dbeb64df3ff..39906d29f47 100644
--- a/src/contrib/ec2/README.txt
+++ b/src/contrib/ec2/README.txt
@@ -42,7 +42,9 @@ Quick Start:
    with 'cert' and end with '.pem'.
 
    Make sure the private part of your AWS SSH keypair exists in the same
-   directory as EC2_PRIVATE_KEY with the name id_rsa_root.
+   directory as EC2_PRIVATE_KEY with the name id_rsa_root. Also, insure that
+   the permissions on the private key file are 600 (ONLY owner readable/
+   writable).
 
 4) ./bin/hbase-ec2 launch-cluster <name> <nr-zoos> <nr-slaves>, e.g
 
diff --git a/src/contrib/ec2/bin/launch-hbase-master b/src/contrib/ec2/bin/launch-hbase-master
index 457492820cc..72e2be51a04 100755
--- a/src/contrib/ec2/bin/launch-hbase-master
+++ b/src/contrib/ec2/bin/launch-hbase-master
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ while true; do
   sleep 5
 done
 
-scp $SSH_OPTS $PRIVATE_KEY_PATH "root@$MASTER_EC2_HOST:/root/.ssh/id_rsa"
+scp $SSH_OPTS $EC2_ROOT_SSH_KEY "root@$MASTER_EC2_HOST:/root/.ssh/id_rsa"
 ssh $SSH_OPTS "root@$MASTER_EC2_HOST" "chmod 600 /root/.ssh/id_rsa"
 
 MASTER_IP=`dig +short $MASTER_EC2_HOST`