AWS CLI - Install and Setup

Download the zip file:

curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"

Unzip it:

unzip awscliv2.zip

Run the installer with sudo:

sudo ./aws/install

Alternatively, run the installer without root permissions and install to your home directory:

./aws/install -i ~/myaws

Verify that it is installed an that you can run commands by checking the version like this:

aws --version

Your access key and credentials are going to be what you setup in the web console or through whatever authentication provider you are using.

If you don’t have something already setup for this and you just want to get up and running you can set this up quickly in IAM. Go to IAM, Users, “Add users”. Then either add them to an existing “admin” group, create a new group, or directly attach a policy. The policy “AdministratorAccess” should give you administrative access to everything which is good if you are the owner of the account and want to give yourself permission to test out anything you want without any restrictions.

Run the following command to setup your credentials and save them to a persistent file:

aws configure

It will take parameters like this:

AWS Access Key ID : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
AWS Secret Access Key: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Default region name: us-west-2
Default output format: json

Creds will be stored here:

$HOME/.aws/creds

Config info will be stored here:

$HOME/.aws/config

Verify that you can access AWS with a query like this:

aws ec2 describe-instances

Alternatively, use these environment variables:

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-west-2
export AWS_DEFAULT_OUTPUT=json

You can create another profile like this:

aws configure --profile dev