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AWS Account Creation

It's time to create your AWS account (if you don't already have one)! Here are a few things to understand first:

Free vs. Paid account plans: AWS's Free plan limits which services you can use, and it ends after six months or when your credits run out, whichever comes first. There are no charges for usage while you're on a Free plan. You may need to upgrade to a Paid plan to access a service required by this course – AWS policies are complex and change frequently. A Paid plan charges for usage beyond your credits and free usage allowances, or for services that credits don't cover.
Free Tier credits: Eligible new customers can receive introductory credits on either plan. Upgrading through "Upgrade plan" preserves your remaining credits until they expire. Having credits does not mean every service is available on a Free plan.
Account creation requires billing info: Yes, this also applies to Free plans. AWS may place a small temporary authorization hold on your payment method to verify it.
Root login: When you first create an AWS account, you'll have a root user login linked to your email address. The root user has full control of the account! Guard this login carefully and use it only for tasks that require it.
IAM users: AWS has a system called Identity and Access Management (IAM), which allows you to set up users and roles under your account that have exactly the permissions they need to do certain work. We'll cover IAM in detail later; you'll use the system a little bit here, to create a non-root admin user for your account.
MFA: We (and AWS) recommend setting up multi-factor authentication (MFA) for at least the root user of your AWS account.

Assignment

Let's get your AWS account up and running.

If you're creating a new AWS account, make sure the email address that you use is not the owner of another AWS account. (Surprisingly, Amazon allows that, though it's a terrible idea.)

This course needs an advanced AWS account from "Sign up (advanced)". AWS's default "Create account" button now starts the newer Builder ID sign-up instead, which blocks features that this course uses.

Create an AWS account using "Sign up (advanced)" (or use an existing account).
- Select the "personal" account option and fill out the form.
- Follow the instructions step by step. For example, you'll need to verify your email address and probably a phone number as well.
- Review the Free and Paid account plans before choosing. If you start on a Free plan, be prepared for the possibility that you may need to upgrade to a Paid plan later.
- Add your billing info.
- Select the free Basic Support plan. Your support plan is separate from your Free or Paid account plan.
  
  We'll aggressively remind you to delete resources once you're done with them. Leaving things running in AWS consumes credits, and it can lead to charges on a Paid plan.
Log into your new AWS account as the root user (just this once!), and set up MFA.
- If you're not there already, navigate to the AWS console and select the "Root user" login option.
- Sign in with the email address and password that you used to create the account.
- If prompted after login, set up MFA using the additional factor of your choice (we recommend the Authy app if you don't already have a preference).
- If you were automatically logged in after creating a new account, you can add MFA from the IAM dashboard.
Create an admin-level IAM user for day-to-day account management. This will be your primary AWS login for the remainder of the course.
- Navigate to the IAM dashboard. You can also use the search bar at the top of the console to find it.
- Click on "Users" under "Access Management" in the menu on the left, then click "Create user."
- Give the IAM user a name like zach-admin (using your own name).
- Check the box "Provide user access to the AWS Management Console."
- Have AWS auto-generate an initial password, and leave the box checked to require a password reset on first login.
- Create a new group for this user, called Administrators. Attach the AdministratorAccess and SignInLocalDevelopmentAccess policies to the group.
- Assign the IAM user that you're creating to the new group.
- On the "Review and create" step, if everything looks right, click "Create user."
- Download the credentials CSV file. Note that AWS gives you a sign-in URL, the IAM username, and the initial password. The sign-in URL has your AWS account ID in it.
In the web console, log out of your root user, then log in as the new IAM admin user.
- Use the sign-in URL from the credentials CSV.
- The account ID should be pre-populated on the sign-in page, but save the ID number in case you need it for any future logins.
- Enter the username you created and the auto-generated initial password.
- You'll be prompted to set a new password for the IAM user. Create one and save it.
- If prompted, set up MFA for the IAM user as well (not as critical as with the root user, but still recommended).
  
  From this point on, use the IAM admin user unless a root user login is absolutely necessary. We'll be learning a lot more about IAM and scoped security throughout this course.
Go back to your terminal and authenticate the AWS CLI using the IAM admin user.
- Make sure you're using AWS CLI 2.32.0 or newer.
- Run aws login and follow the browser auth flow.
Verify your logged-in status.
- Run:
```
aws sts get-caller-identity
```
- The output should include your UserId, Account number, and Arn.
- The Arn should include iam and end with the IAM username you created.

Run and submit the CLI tests.