AWS CLI

External

• https://aws.amazon.com/cli/
• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-welcome.html
• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/install-cliv2-mac.html

Internal

• Amazon AWS
• EC2 CLI
• AWS Security Concepts

Overview

AWS CLI is a package that provides commands for interacting with the AWS services. All functionality available on the web Amazon Management Console is made available from command line.

Installation

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/awscli-install-bundle.html

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/install-cliv2.html

Mac

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/install-cliv2-mac.html

This section documents installation of AWS CLI v2.

curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/AWSCLIV2.pkg" -o "AWSCLIV2.pkg"
sudo installer -pkg AWSCLIV2.pkg -target /

Even it looks odd, "-target /" will install AWS CLI in /usr/local/aws-cli.

Linux

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/install-cliv2-linux.html

curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"
unzip awscliv2.zip
sudo ./aws/install
rm -f awscliv2.zip

Test Installation

Verify the installation executing:

aws --version
aws-cli/2.0.35 Python/3.7.4 Darwin/18.7.0 botocore/2.0.0dev39

aws ec2 describe-regions
aws ec2 describe-hosts

Uninstall AWS CLI Version 1

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/aws
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/aws

Configuration

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-configure.html#cli-multiple-profiles

Configuration Profile

A collection of settings related to a certain account (access key, secret key, the default region and the default output format) are called a profile. The initial configuration procedure creates a profile named "default", and this is what AWS CLI uses by default. Additional named profiles can be created and stored, and then referred from command line with --profile, or configured in the environment to be used instead "default". The configuration information associated with profiles is stores in a series of local files. More details in the Configuration Files section.

Individual AWS CLI commands can be executed within the context of a specific profile using the --profile option:

aws s3 ls --profile blue

Named Profile

A named profile is a collection of settings and credentials that apply to an AWS CLI command. The named profile elements are specified in both and :

.aws/config:

[green]
region = us-west-2

.aws/credentials:

[green]
aws_access_key_id = AKIA9999999999999999
aws_secret_access_key = Bsomething+something+something+something

AWS CLI commands accept a named profiles as a command line parameter. When no named profile is explicitly specified, the default profile settings and credentials are used.

Default Profile

The default profile is specified in AWS CLI configuration files under the [default] label:

[default]
aws_access_key_id = AKIA9999999999999999
aws_secret_access_key = Bsomething+something+something+something

There is no way of configuring a named profile to also be the default profile, except duplicating the credentials and configuration from a named profile under [default] label.

If the AWS_PROFILE environment variable is present, its value overrides the default profile.

AWS_PROFILE Environment Variable

The AWS_PROFILE environment variable value overrides the default profile specified in the configuration files.

Configuration Profile Operations

List Available Profiles

aws configure list-profiles

List the Configuration for a Specific Profiles

Default profile:

aws configure list

Specific named profile:

aws configure list --profile blue

Permanently Select a Profile

A previously-configured profile can be selected by setting the AWS_PROFILE environment variable:

export AWS_PROFILE=jenkins

Add a New Profile

aws configure --profile green
AWS Access Key ID [None]: AKIAXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
AWS Secret Access Key [None]: yxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Default region name [None]: us-west-2
Default output format [None]:

If --profile <profile-name> is omitted, the default profile will be configured.

Change a Specific Configuration Element for a Profile

aws configure set region us-west-2 --profile <some-profile>

Alternative syntax:

aws configure set <some-profile>.region us-west-2

Change the Name of an Existing Profile

Manually change the name of the profile in ~/.aws/config and ~/.aws/credentials.

Configuration Files

AWS CLI organizes configuration and credentials in two separate files placed in $USER/.aws. They are separated to isolate credentials for less sensitive options of region and output.

~/.aws/config

AWS CLI configuration file is maintained by default in ~/.aws/config:

[default]
region = us-west-2
ca_bundle = /path/to/ca-bundle.pem
output=json

[profile testing]
region = us-west-1

[profile testing2]
region = eu-west-1

[preview]
cloudsearch = true

~/.aws/credentials

AWS CLI credentials are maintained by default in ~/.aws/credentials:

[default]
aws_access_key_id=...
aws_secret_access_key=...

Credential Providers

Credential Providers