Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Information

Introduction

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a comprehensive, evolving cloud computing platform provided by Amazon. It includes a mixture of infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and packaged software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings.

Registration

Registering for an AWS account is the first step to accessing its services.

  1. Visit AWS Website: Go to aws.amazon.com.
  2. Create an AWS Account: Click on the “Create an AWS Account” button.
  3. Provide Information: Enter your email address, password, and an AWS account name.
  4. Verify Email: Follow the link sent to your email to verify it.
  5. Contact Information: Provide your contact details (Personal or Business).
  6. Payment Information: You must provide a credit or debit card. AWS will not charge you for the registration itself, but they may perform a small temporary authorization charge (usually $1) to verify the card.
  7. Identity Verification: Confirm your identity via a phone call or SMS.
  8. Select Support Plan: Choose the “Basic Support - Free” plan to avoid monthly support fees.
  9. Complete Sign Up: Once completed, you can log in to the AWS Management Console.

Note: Simply having an account registered does not incur costs. You only pay for the services you use beyond the AWS Free Tier.

Setup

1. Install AWS CLI

To interact with AWS from your command line, install the AWS CLI:

2. Configure AWS CLI

After installation, configure your credentials:

aws configure

You will be prompted for:

You can create Access Keys in the AWS Console under IAM > Users > [Your User] > Security credentials.

3. SSO Configuration

For organizations, it is common to use AWS SSO (IAM Identity Center):

aws configure sso --profile profilex
# SSO start URL [https://oursuperconpany.awsapps.com/start]:
# SSO Region [eu-central-1]:
# Select account from CLI menu

aws configure list-profiles
aws s3 ls --profile profilex

Example configuration file ~/.aws/config:

[profile MyProfile-Developers]
sso_start_url = https://mycompany.awsapps.com/start
sso_region = eu-central-1
sso_account_id = 123456789012
sso_role_name = Developers

[default]
sso_start_url = https://mycompany.awsapps.com/start
sso_region = eu-central-1
region = eu-central-1
sso_account_id = 123456789012
sso_role_name = Developers

Managing Kubernetes (EKS) Costs

If you have set up a Kubernetes cluster (EKS) for a Proof of Concept (PoC) as described in the Terraform guide, it is important to shut it down when not in use to avoid ongoing charges.

Stopping the Cluster (Saving Money)

In AWS, EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) has two main cost components:

  1. Cluster Control Plane: AWS charges ~$0.10 per hour for the managed control plane.
  2. Worker Nodes (EC2): You pay for the EC2 instances running your workloads.

Option 1: Scaling Down (Partial Savings)

If you want to keep the cluster configuration but stop paying for the worker nodes, you can scale the node group to zero.

Using Terraform: Update your main.tf:

  eks_managed_node_groups = {
    general = {
      desired_size = 0 # Set to 0
      min_size     = 0 # Set to 0
      max_size     = 3
      # ...
    }
  }

Then run:

terraform apply

Note: You will still be charged ~$0.10/hour for the EKS Control Plane.

Option 2: Destroying the Infrastructure (Total Savings)

To stop all charges related to your PoC, you must delete the resources. Since you used Terraform, this is easy.

terraform destroy

This command will:

  1. Terminate all EC2 worker nodes.
  2. Delete the EKS cluster control plane.
  3. Delete the VPC, subnets, and NAT Gateways (NAT Gateways also cost money hourly!).

Recommendation: For a PoC, always terraform destroy when you are finished for the day. You can always terraform apply again tomorrow to bring it back up in minutes.

See also