Part 1 - Create an account in AWS and start to play with some services

Hello!

First, this is my diary about my experience, learning the path to the cloud and the focus on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Don't forget that the account is a free tier, which means you have 12 months of almost 100 services to try.

I will update every time I continue this journey.

Happy cloud!

1.Create an AWS account.

• Go to the https://aws.com/free
• Follow each of the steps
• Remember your credit card and your cell phone to validate your identity.
• After you receive the validation, go to the AWS Management Console.
• Because this is your first time logging, select Root user, and type your email and password.

2.Set up MFA for the Root user

• Extra larger protection for my account.
• Go to the service IAM (Identity and Access Management) to manage resource access.
• Click on Add MFA
• Add a name on the device name
• Select an MFA device, in my case I use the Authenticator app.
• Click on the Next button.
• Note: I fill both MFA codes with two different values.
• Add MFA.
• After all of this, refresh if you do not see any change in the security recommendations:

3.Create a new user admin detached from the root user.

• Go to users on the left menu.
• Click Add User.
• Next.
• Set permissions: this is because I’m the same root and admin user 😉
• Then next, create a user, and next.
• After this step, AWS will show a Retrieve password, that has 3 things → 1. Console sign-in URL (Save in some bookmark) 2. User name 3. Console password
• The first is the URL with the ID associated with the user. We will use this to access the AWS Console.

4.Enable billing alarm: This is important to monitor your cost, even if there is a free tier.

• Go to the service Billing and cost management
• Next, in the left menu, Preference → Billing preferences
• On the box Alert Preferences, click on the Edit button.
• Select Receive AWS Free Tier alerts, it is not necessary to type the email.
• Select Receive CloudWatch alerts.
• Click on the Update button.
• This will show this message.

5.Create a billing alarm using the CloudWatch console:

• Go to the service CloudWatch
• Choose alarms
• Create Alarm
• Note: Select the us-east-1 region if you do not see the Billing/Total Estimated Charge
• Select metric → choose Billing → and choose Total Estimated Charge → select USD

• Then Select the metric
• Let's almost like this show, and type the maximum amount of money, in this case, 5 USD
• If the amount of money exceeds 5 USD, then an email will be sent to you
• Click Next.

• Create a Notification and a new topic:
  

• Click on Create topic.

• Click on Next.

• Add a Name to the alarm Name → Click on Next.

• Check everything is fine and click on Create alarm.

• Check your email and confirm the subscription on the topic.

• Refresh the dashboard alarm.

6.Add MFA for the admin user

• log-in with the link provided when it was created.
• Go to the IAM service
• Select Assign MFA
• It is the same process that we did for the root user.

7.Set up the AWS CLI

• Go to https://aws.amazon.com/cli/?nc1=h_ls
• Download the CLI for Windows in my case.
• Install the console.

8.Link the AWS CLI with your account AWS

• Go to the IAM service.
• Select Users on the left menu.
• In the Right menu select My Security credentials
• Go to the section Access keys
• Click on Create access keys
• Select Command Line Interface (CLI)
• Select: I understand the above recommendation and want to proceed to create an access key checkbox.

• Click Next → Click the Create access key button.
  

• Validate AWS CLI is installed
  

• you can use the aws —version command too.

• Now configure the connection with the previous access keys.

See you next time!