AWS: Creating an IAM user

February 28, 2017

As the AWS services like Amazon EC2 are accessed using the provided credentials when we access these services it will check whether we have the permissions to access the resources the console asks for the password. We can create the access keys to access the AWS account from command line or API interfaces. But for the security reasons Amazon will not recommend that to access the AWS account using the credentials which we created while the Sign UP. For that Amazon recommends to use the IAM ( Identity and Access Management) instead. To create an IAM user and then add the user to an IAM group with administrative permissions and grant the user with administrative permissions we can access AWS using the special URL and credentials for that IAM user.

To create a group for administrators

a). Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com and Click on Sign in the Console.

b). Enter the console by using your credentials.

c). Click on identity & Access Management.

AWS Modules Screen

d). In the navigation pane, choose Groups, and then choose Create New Group.

IAM Dash Board

Group Creation page

e). For Group Name, type a name for your group, such as Administrators, and then choose Next Step.

Group Creation page

f). In the list of policies, select the check box next to the Administrator Access policy. You can use the Filter menu and the Search box to filter the list of policies.

Policy Attachment menu

g). Choose Next Step, and then Click Create Group.

Group Review Page

h). Your new group is listed under Group Names.

Group Dash Board

To create an IAM user for yourself, add the user to the administrators group, and create a password for the user

a). In the navigation pane, choose Users, and then choose Create New Users.

User Creation Dash board

b). In box, type a user name and clear the check box next to Generate an access key for each user and choose Create.

User Creation

c). Click on Show user Security Credentials.

Security Credentials.

d). Click on Download Credentials and save the .csv files. This credentials are used to access the AWS from command line or API.

Download Credentials

Adding the user to the Groups.

a). From the list of users, choose the name (not the check box) of the user you just created. You can use the Search box to search for the user name.

user to the Groups.

b). Choose the Groups tab and then choose Add User to Groups.

Add User to Groups.

c). Select the check box next to the administrators group. Then choose Add to Groups.

administrators group

Group added menu

d). Choose the Security Credentials tab. Under Sign-In Credentials, choose Manage Password.

Sign-In Credentials

e). Select Assign a custom password. Then type a password in the Password and Confirm Password boxes. When you are finished, choose Apply.

Assign a custom password

To Test the account

To access this new IAM user, sign out of the AWS console, then use the following URL, where your_aws_account_id is your AWS account number without the hyphens (for example, if your AWS account number is 630610218034, your AWS account ID is 630610218034):

https://your_account_alias.signin.aws.amazon.com/console/

Ex: https://630610218034.signin.aws.amazon.com/console/