AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a web service that helps you securely control access to AWS resources for your users. You can specify permissions to a single user or you can use groups to specify permissions for a collection of users, which can make those permissions easier to manage for those users. Furthermore, you can use a Role to grant authorization to AWS resources without any credentials (password or access keys) directly associated with it. In this lab, you will learn the recommended AWS security best practices.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this lab you will be able to:
- Create IAM groups
- Create IAM users
- Work with IAM policies
- Work with IAM roles and instance profiles
Intended Audience
This lab is meant for:
- Those preparing to work with AWS
- Those preparing for certification in AWS
- Those looking to use IAM according to secure best practice
Prerequisites
You should be familiar with:
- AWS Management Console and AWS CLI familiarity are helpful but not required
- Basic IAM principles are helpful but not required
Updates
February 27th, 2023 - Updated instructions and screenshots to reflect latest UI
June 2nd, 2022 - Updated instructions and screenshots to reflect the new launch instance wizard
April 8th, 2022 - Addressed an issue with launching EC2 instances
March 7th, 2022 - Updated the instructions and screenshots to reflect the latest UI
January 25th, 2022 - Updated the instructions and screenshots to reflect the latest UI
December 21, 2021 - Updated step for additional clarity and explanation.
October 28, 2021 - Updated final lab step for clarity.
September 22nd, 2021 - Updated some screenshots and converted lab to utilize EC2 Instance Connect
February 12th. 2021 - Updated the lab to resolve a permission issue when creating the role and updated screenshots to the latest console experience
July 17th, 2019- Refactored the Lab to improve the user experience
February 12th, 2019 - Insert a warning for avoiding the user checking the wrong checkbox
December 5th, 2018 - Added a validation Lab Step to check the work you perform in the Lab
Matt has worked for multiple Fortune 500 companies as a DevOps Engineer and Solutions Architect. He is an AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional, and an AWS Certified Solution Architect - Associate. He enjoys reading and learning new technologies.