AWS Management Console

 

Amazon offers its own, web-based interface to enable users to work with AWS. This interface, the AWS Management Console, hides all the complex details of interacting with the AWS API. You interact with the console, and Amazon’s program deals with all the complexity under the hood.

 

Setting Up Your Amazon Web Services Account

1. Point your favorite web browser to the main Amazon Web Services page at http://aws.amazon.com.
2. Click the Sign Up button.

3. Make sure that the I Am a New User radio button is selected, fill in an appropriate e-mail address in the given field, and then click the Sign In Using Our Secure Server button.

4. Enter a username, your e-mail address (twice, just to be sure), and the password you want to use (again, twice, just to be sure).
5. Click Continue button.

6. Enter the required personal information, confirm your acceptance of the customer agreement, and then click the Create Account and Continue button.

7. Enter the required payment information in the appropriate fields and then Click Continue. Amazon has to be sure to get paid,right?

8. Enter your telephone number in the appropriate field and click the Call Me Now button, AWS displays a pin code on the screen and then calls you on the phonenumber you supplied.

9. Answer the phone and enter the displayed PIN code on the telephone keypad.

10. Click the Continue button. You’re asked to wait a bit to have your account set up by AWS, but, inmy experience, this is no more than two or three minutes. You’ll then besent an e-mail confirming your account setup; you have to click on a linkin that e-mail to complete the account signup process.After setup is complete, you should see a screen that lists all the servicesyou’re already signed up for automatically, just by creating youraccount. Quite an impressive list, eh?

 

Here are two important points to take away from this initial account setup:
✓ Your account is now set up as a general AWS account. You can use AWS resources anywhere in the AWS system — the US East or either of the two US West regions, Asia Pacific (Tokyo, Singapore, or Australia), South America (Brazil), and Europe (Ireland). Put another way, your account is scoped over the entirety of AWS, but resources are located within a specific region.
✓ You have given AWS a credit card number to pay for the resources you use. In effect, you have an open tab with AWS, so be careful about how much computing resource you consume. You don’t have to worry much about costs — your initial sign-up provides a free level of service for a year that should be sufficient for you to perform the steps in this book as well as experiment on your own without breaking your piggy bank.

 

If you’re concerned about overspending on AWS, Amazon’s got your back. You can set a billing alert with a specified amount you don’t want to go over; if your AWS total use for a month approaches that number, Amazon will send you an alert. You can enable billing alerts by clicking My Account in the Management Console landing page and then clicking on Account Activity on the subsequent page.