[AWS ECS] How to Create an IAM user

Create an IAM user

Services in AWS, such as Amazon EC2 and Amazon ECS, require that you provide credentials when you access them, so that the service can determine whether you have permission to access its resources. The console requires your password. You can create access keys for your AWS account to access the command line interface or API. However, we don't recommend that you access AWS using the credentials for your AWS account; we recommend that you use AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) instead. Create an IAM user, and then add the user to an IAM group with administrative permissions or and grant this user administrative permissions. You can then access AWS using a special URL and the credentials for the IAM user.

If you signed up for AWS but have not created an IAM user for yourself, you can create one using the IAM console.

To create an administrator user for yourself and add the user to an administrators group (console)

1. Sign in to the IAM console as the account owner by choosing Root user and entering your AWS account email address. On the next page, enter your password.
2. Note

   We strongly recommend that you adhere to the best practice of using the Administrator IAM user that follows and securely lock away the root user credentials. Sign in as the root user only to perform a few account and service management tasks.

3. In the navigation pane, choose Users and then choose Add user.
4. For User name, enter Administrator.
5. Select the check box next to AWS Management Console access. Then select Custom password, and then enter your new password in the text box.
6. (Optional) By default, AWS requires the new user to create a new password when first signing in. You can clear the check box next to User must create a new password at next sign-in to allow the new user to reset their password after they sign in.
7. Choose Next: Permissions.
8. Under Set permissions, choose Add user to group.
9. Choose Create group.
10. In the Create group dialog box, for Group name enter Administrators.
11. Choose Filter policies, and then select AWS managed - job function to filter the table contents.
12. In the policy list, select the check box for AdministratorAccess. Then choose Create group.
13. Note

    You must activate IAM user and role access to Billing before you can use the AdministratorAccess permissions to access the AWS Billing and Cost Management console. To do this, follow the instructions in step 1 of the tutorial about delegating access to the billing console.

14. Back in the list of groups, select the check box for your new group. Choose Refresh if necessary to see the group in the list.
15. Choose Next: Tags.
16. (Optional) Add metadata to the user by attaching tags as key-value pairs. For more information about using tags in IAM, see Tagging IAM entities in the IAM User Guide.
17. Choose Next: Review to see the list of group memberships to be added to the new user. When you are ready to proceed, choose Create user.

You can use this same process to create more groups and users and to give your users access to your AWS account resources. To learn about using policies that restrict user permissions to specific AWS resources, see Access management and Example policies.

To sign in as 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 1234-5678-9012, your AWS account ID is 123456789012):

 

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

Enter the IAM user name and password that you just created. When you're signed in, the navigation bar displays "your_user_name @ your_aws_account_id".

If you don't want the URL for your sign-in page to contain your AWS account ID, you can create an account alias. From the top of the IAM dashboard, to the right of your sign-in link, choose Customize and enter an alias, such as your company name. To sign in after you create an account alias, use the following URL:

 

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

To verify the sign-in link for IAM users for your account, open the IAM console and check under IAM users sign-in link on the dashboard.

For more information about IAM, see the AWS Identity and Access Management User Guide.