mauvehed.com
mauvehed's dotfiles for personal and work environments
1# AWS Usage
2
3This document provides an overview of using Amazon Web Services (AWS) tools, primarily the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), within this dotfiles setup.
4
5## Overview
6
7The AWS CLI is a unified tool to manage your AWS services. This guide covers basic configuration and common commands.
8
9## Prerequisites
10
11* **AWS Account**: An active AWS account.
12* **AWS CLI Installed**: The AWS CLI is typically installed via Homebrew as part of the `chezmoi` setup if specified in your configurations.
13 ```sh
14 brew install awscli
15 ```
16* **Configured Credentials**: AWS CLI needs credentials to interact with your AWS account. These are typically stored in `~/.aws/credentials` and `~/.aws/config`.
17 * **Security Note**: It is highly recommended to manage AWS credentials securely, for example, by storing them in 1Password and having `chezmoi` templates populate the AWS configuration files, or by using a tool like `aws-vault`.
18
19## Configuration
20
21AWS CLI configuration can be managed via `aws configure` or by directly editing the files:
22
23* `~/.aws/config`: Stores default region, output format, and named profiles.
24* `~/.aws/credentials`: Stores AWS access keys for different profiles.
25
26### Example `~/.aws/config`:
27```ini
28[default]
29region = us-east-1
30output = json
31
32[profile my-other-profile]
33region = us-west-2
34output = text
35```
36
37### Example `~/.aws/credentials` (managed via 1Password/`chezmoi` or `aws-vault`):
38```ini
39[default]
40aws_access_key_id = YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID_DEFAULT
41aws_secret_access_key = YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY_DEFAULT
42
43[profile my-other-profile]
44aws_access_key_id = YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID_OTHER
45aws_secret_access_key = YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY_OTHER
46```
47
48Refer to `docs/1password-usage.md` for guidance on storing these credentials in 1Password and using `chezmoi` templates.
49
50## `aws-vault` (Recommended for Enhanced Security)
51
52[aws-vault](https://github.com/99designs/aws-vault) is a tool to securely store and access AWS credentials in your operating system's keystore. It helps in avoiding storing AWS credentials in plaintext files.
53
54### Installation (if not managed by `chezmoi`):
55```sh
56brew install aws-vault
57```
58
59### Basic Usage:
60
611. **Add credentials to `aws-vault`**:
62 ```sh
63 aws-vault add my-profile
64 ```
65 (This will prompt for your access key ID and secret access key)
66
672. **Execute commands using a profile**:
68 ```sh
69 aws-vault exec my-profile -- aws s3 ls
70 ```
71
72## Common AWS CLI Commands
73
74Replace `my-profile` with your desired AWS profile if not using `default`.
75
76* **List S3 Buckets**:
77 ```sh
78 aws s3 ls --profile my-profile
79 # Using aws-vault:
80 # aws-vault exec my-profile -- aws s3 ls
81 ```
82
83* **List EC2 Instances**:
84 ```sh
85 aws ec2 describe-instances --profile my-profile
86 # Using aws-vault:
87 # aws-vault exec my-profile -- aws ec2 describe-instances
88 ```
89
90* **Get Caller Identity (useful for verifying current credentials)**:
91 ```sh
92 aws sts get-caller-identity --profile my-profile
93 # Using aws-vault:
94 # aws-vault exec my-profile -- aws sts get-caller-identity
95 ```
96
97## Resources
98
99* **Official AWS CLI Documentation**:
100 * [AWS CLI User Guide](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/)
101 * [AWS CLI Command Reference](https://awscli.amazonaws.com/v2/documentation/api/latest/reference/index.html)
102* **`aws-vault` GitHub Repository**: [https://github.com/99designs/aws-vault](https://github.com/99designs/aws-vault)
103* **1Password Documentation**: Refer to `docs/1password-usage.md` for managing secrets.
104
105This document is a starting point. Please refer to the official documentation for comprehensive information.