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AWS Access keys, CLI and SDK

To access AWS, you have 3 options: - AWS Management Console (protected by password + MFA) - AWS Command Line Interface (CLI): protected by access keys - AWS Software Developer Kit (SDK) - for code: protected by access keys

  • Access Keys are generated through AWS console
  • Users manage their own access keys
  • Access keys are secret, just like a password. Don't share them

What's a CLI?

  • A tool that enables you to interact with AWS services using commands in your command-line shell.
  • Direct access to the public APIs of AWS services
  • You can develop scripts to manage your resources
  • It's open source https://github.com/aws/aws-cli
  • Alternative to using AWS Management Console

What's the AWS SDK?

  • AWS Software Development Kit (AWS SDK)
  • Language-specific APIs (set of libraries)
  • Enables you to access and manage AWS services programmatically Embedded within your application
  • Supports
    • SDKs (Javascript, Python, PHP, .NET, Ruby, Java, Go, Node.js, C++)
    • Mobile SDKs (Android, iOS...)
    • IoT Device SDKs (Embedded C, Arduino, ...)

Example: AWS CLI is built on AWS SDK for Python