Using AWS Auto-Scaling Credentials

This section will give instructions on how to use the following AWS Auto-Scaling credentials:

• Amazon Login & Password: These are used for signing up for Amazon services, viewing your bills, performing account based tasks and getting your security credentials. Your password and login are also used by AWS Management console.
• Amazon Key ID & Secret Access Key: These are used for making Query and REST based requests. They are also used by UI based tools, such as ElasticFox.
• X.509 Certificate & Private Key: These are used by command line tools and also SOAP API.
• Account ID: These are used to share your resources with other AWS accounts.

Using Your Amazon Login and Password

The Amazon login and password help in enabling you to sign-up for services, perform account based tasks, view your bills and get your security credentials. The login and password are also used to perform Amazon EC2 operations through the AWS Management Console.

How to log-in to your AWS account with your Amazon login and password (for users who already have an account):

• Visit the AWS website.
• Select an option from the “Your Account” menu. Subsequently, the “Amazon Web Services Sign In” web page appears.
• Enter your e-mail address and select “I am a returning user and my password is”. Enter your password, and then click the “Sign In” button.

How to get a new Amazon login and password or creating a new AWS account:

•  Visit the AWS website.
• Click on the “Create an AWS Account” button. Subsequently, the “Amazon Web Services Sign In” web page appears.
  • Enter your e-mail address, and select “I am a new user”. Click the “Sign In” button.

Note: Keep your Amazon login and password secret, as someone else can use them to create new credentials. Amazon also offers Multi-Factor Authentication as an added security measure. This system uses a combination of a physical device and an authentic pass-code, to login to your AWS account. For further information regarding this, please visit http://aws.amazon.com/mfa.

Viewing your AWS Access Credentials

You have the ability to reuse any active access credentials that have been created in the past. The following section instructs on how to view your AWS access credentials:

• Visit the AWS website.
• Click on the “My Account/Console” tab, and then click on “Security Credentials”.
• Under the “Your Account” section, click on the “Security Credentials” tab.
• Type your user name and password in the spaces provided, and click on “Sign in using our secure server”.
• Your access key ID is displayed under the “Access Credentials” section, on the “Access Keys” tab. Click on the “Show” tab, under the “Secret Access Key” section to view your secret key.

Getting Your Amazon Access Key ID and Secret Access Key

The most widely used AWS credentials are the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key. These can be used to make Query and RECT based requests. They also enable using the command line tools. Furthermore, they are also used by ElasticFox, and other UI based tools. You are allowed to use a maximum of two sets of Access Keys at a time. You can also generate new keys, or disable old ones at any time.

How to get your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key:

• Visit the AWS website.
• Go to the “Your Account” section and select “Security Credentials”. If you are not already logged in, the website will prompt you to do so.
  • Scroll to the “Access Credentials” section, and select the “Access Keys” tab.
  • Locate an active key in the “Your Access Keys” list.
  • Display the Secret Access key by clicking on the “Show” button in the “Secret Access Key” column.
  • Save the keys on your computer, or write them down in a safe place.
  • If there are no Access Keys appearing in the list, click on the “Create a New Access Key” button, and follow the on-screen instructions.

Creating an X.509 Certificate and Private Key

The X.509 Certificate and Private Key are important because they are used by command line tools and SOAP. You can download a private key only once, and if you lose it, you will be required to create a new certificate altogether. A maximum of two certificates can be active at any point of time.

How to create a new certificate:

• Visit the AWS website.
• Locate the “Your Account” section, and select “Security Credentials”.
• Click on the “X.509 Certificates” tab.
• Click on “Create a New Certificate”, and follow the on-screen instructions. After doing so, the new certificate is created, and it appears on the X.509 certificates list. The website prompts you to download the certificate and private key files.
• Create a “.as” directory (the “as” stands for Auto-Scaling) in your home directory, and save the downloaded files to this directory, using the names suggested by your browser. In the end, you should have a PEM-encoded X.509 certificate and a private key file.

Viewing Your Account ID:

Your Account ID is used to identify your account to AWS, and enables the sharing of your resources, such as Amazon EC2 AMIs and Amazon EBS snapshots.

How to view your Account ID:

• Visit the AWS website.
• Locate the “Your Account” section, and click on “Security Credentials”. The website will prompt you to login, if you haven’t already.
• Scroll to the “Account Identifiers” section.
• Locate your AWS Account ID.

For further information on how to share AMIs, please refer to the Using Shared AMIs section.

Note: Make sure that you specify your Account ID without hyphens, when granting access to resources.