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What you’ll learn
  • how to configure your AWS credentials for programmatic access
  • how to deploy Webiny in a more controlled and secure manner using our Deploy Webiny Project AWS CloudFormation template

This article guides you through configuring your AWS credentials for programmatic access. At the end of the tutorial, you will have your API keys and region configured to successfully deploy Webiny to your AWS cloud.

If you prefer the video version, check out our YouTube video below:


Step 1: Create Your AWS Account
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Already have an account?

In that case skip to step 2 to create your programmatic user.

To create your AWS account and set up your IAM credentials we should first navigate to the AWS Console pageexternal link:

aws-sign-inaws-sign-in
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Next click on Create a new AWS account:

aws-loginaws-login
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Now input your credentials and create your account:

aws-registeraws-register
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Step 2: Create a User for Programmatic Access
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Once you’re registered, login and head to the AWS Management Console and select IAM under Security, Identity & Compliance:

aws-iam-selectionaws-iam-selection
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Click on IAM and select Users under Access Management:

aws-iam-usersaws-iam-users
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Click on Add user to create the account with the IAM credentials:

aws-create-useraws-create-user
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Here you enter a 5-step process, and the first step is to create a User name for the credentials.

Programmatic access

Make sure to select the Programmatic access checkbox before moving to the next step.

aws-user-detailsaws-user-details
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In the next step you define the access level for the new user. Select Attach existing Policies from the three options that are available. Then select the AdministratorAccess policy by marking the checkbox next to it. When ready, click the Next:Tags button:

Need a more secure deployment option?

In case your organization cannot use the AdministratorAccess policy or you need to have a more strictly defined set of permissions, please see the “Deploy Webiny Project” AWS CloudFormation Template section.

aws-user-permissionsaws-user-permissions
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In case you don’t want to add any tags to your new user, you can just skip this step and click the Next:Review button.

aws-user-tagsaws-user-tags
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After all the steps are complete, you’ll see a Review page. It should look something similar to this. If everything is correct, click the Create user button.

aws-user-reviewaws-user-review
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Lastly, you will receive a success message with your Access key ID and Secret access key. You need to copy these strings and keep them safe as you need them for the next step.

Save the credentials

Once you navigate off this screen, you will not be able to see the credentials any more. If you lose them, you will need to delete the user and create a new one.

aws-user-createdaws-user-created
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"Deploy Webiny Project" AWS CloudFormation Template
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Please note that an IAM user with programmatic access is a prerequisite for this step. If you don’t have one, please refer to the previous step.

In order to deploy your Webiny project in a more controlled and secure manner, you can utilize our Deploy Webiny Project AWS CloudFormation template. Via three IAM user groups, the template deploys necessary (least-privilegeexternal link) set of permissions into your AWS account, which also automatically get linked with a preexisting Amazon IAM user of your choosing (the user you plan to use upon running deployments).

To get started, simply click hereexternal link.

Before deploying the AWS CloudFormation template, you might want to inspect it. You can do that by visiting our GitHub repositoryexternal link or downloading the template from our S3 bucketexternal link.

Step 3: Configure the Programmatic Access
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Now that you have the Access key ID and Secret access key it’s time to store them on your development machine.

Unix Setup
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If you’re on UNIX, create a folder named .aws inside your user folder, that’s ~/.aws. Inside that folder place a file called credentials. So the full path is ~/.aws/credentials.

Windows Setup
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On Windows machines, navigate to your user folder. That’s C:\Users\USERNAME\ (replace USERNAME with your actual username). Inside create a new folder named .aws, and inside the .aws folder create a file named credentials. The full path should be like this: C:\Users\USERNAME\.aws\credentials.


Now that we have our credentials file, edit the file and populate it like so:

The word default inside the square brackets is your profile name. If you don’t explicitly configure a profile name, the default profile is used by AWS CLI and SDK.

And that’s it! You now have your AWS credentials, your default region, and you’re ready to deploy Webiny.

Using a Different AWS Profile Name?

If you would like to use a different name for your AWS profile, you can do that too. Check out the Use AWS Profiles how-to guide for more information.

FAQ
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Is There a Way to Check if My Profile Was Set Properly?
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If you have the AWS CLIexternal link installed on your system, you can run the following command:

This should give an output similar to the following: