Getting Started with AWS

Setting Up Your AWS Environment

Before diving into AWS services, it’s essential to properly set up your account, secure it, and understand the interface you’ll use to interact with the cloud.

🧾 Step 1: Create an AWS Free Tier Account

AWS offers a Free Tier that gives you limited access to many services for 12 months.

🔗 Sign-Up Process:

1. Visit: https://aws.amazon.com/free
2. Click Create a Free Account
3. Enter:
   • Email address
   • Password
   • Account name
4. Add billing details (credit/debit card required for identity verification)
5. Choose support plan (select Basic – it’s free)
6. Complete phone verification

🔐 Tip: Don’t use your root account for daily tasks. Immediately create an IAM user with limited permissions.

🛡️ Step 2: Secure Your Root Account

Your root user has full control of all services. It’s critical to secure it properly.

🔒 Best Practices:

• Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
• Do not share root credentials
• Use a strong, unique password
• Use the root user only for billing and account-level changes

👤 Step 3: Create IAM Users and Groups

The Identity and Access Management (IAM) service allows you to manage access to your AWS account securely.

🧑‍💼 Create Your First Admin IAM User:

1. Go to IAM Console
2. Create user (e.g., admin-user)
3. Enable Programmatic Access and Console Access
4. Assign to a group with AdministratorAccess policy
5. Set password and MFA

🔑 IAM Terms to Know:

🖥️ Understanding the AWS Management Console

The AWS Management Console is the browser-based UI to access services.

Key Elements:

• Search bar to find services quickly
• Service Dashboard grouped by category (Compute, Storage, etc.)
• Region Selector (top right) – services/resources are region-specific
• Billing Dashboard – monitor usage and costs

✅ Pro Tip: Use AWS CloudShell for browser-based command-line access to AWS CLI.

💻 Using AWS Command Line Interface (CLI)

The AWS CLI is a powerful way to interact with AWS services via the terminal.

⚙️ Installation:

• Windows: Use .msi installer from AWS docs
• macOS/Linux: Use brew or curl scripts

aws configure

aws configure

You’ll be prompted to enter:

• Access Key ID
• Secret Access Key
• Default region (e.g., us-east-1)
• Output format (json, table, or text)

🔐 Your Access/Secret keys are generated when creating a programmatic IAM user.

💸 Set Up Billing & Cost Management

To avoid unexpected charges:

• Set up billing alerts
• Use Cost Explorer to monitor usage
• Apply budgets for monthly limits

🔧 Configure Billing Alerts:

1. Open Billing Dashboard
2. Go to Budgets > Create Budget
3. Select Cost Budget, set a threshold
4. Attach your email to receive alerts

🌎 Choosing the Right AWS Region

Your choice of region affects:

• Latency
• Compliance
• Service availability
• Pricing

🌐 Examples:

• us-east-1 (N. Virginia): Most services, lowest cost
• ap-south-1 (Mumbai): Best for India-based apps
• eu-west-1 (Ireland): Great for European compliance

🧪 Test: Launch Your First EC2 Instance

Just to get hands-on:

1. Go to EC2 Dashboard
2. Click Launch Instance
3. Choose Amazon Linux 2 (Free Tier eligible)
4. Select t2.micro
5. Configure settings & firewall (allow SSH)
6. Download .pem key file
7. Connect via terminal using SSH

ssh -i "key.pem" ec2-user@<EC2-Public-IP>

ssh -i "key.pem" ec2-user@<EC2-Public-IP>

✅ Congrats! You’ve launched your first cloud server.

📌 Summary