Creating An IAM User on AWS
Tags: aws, security, cloud, cloudnative
Published: 2023-02-03 09:03:23

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a web service that helps you securely control access to AWS resources.

IAM is used to control authentication (who is signed in) and authorization (permissions) of AWS resources.

**Identity and Access Management is responsible for:**

- Fine-grained access control to AWS resources
- Analysis features to validate and fine-tune policies
- Integration with external identity management solutions
- AWS multi-factor authentication

> IAM cloud identity tools are more secure and flexible than traditional username and password solutions

{% vimeo 795011036 %}


**What is an IAM user?**

An IAM user is a long-term credentialed identity used to interact with AWS in an account.

AWS has redesigned the Users List experience to make it easier to use.


Let's create an **IAM User in 6 Simple Steps:**



**Step 1 — Login and Navigation.**

Login to your AWS console with an administrative user or profile.
On the Top left corner, click on services, scroll down to **Security, Identity & Compliance**, click on **IAM**


![Login and Navigation](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/1iwauel6w7r3zzifqqpe.JPG)




**Step 2 — Identity and Access Management(IAM) Dashboard.**

On the left-hand corner of the IAM dashboard, under **Access Management**, click** Users**. Click on "**Add Users**" > "Specify User Details."

![click users IAM Dashboard](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/bmbyuiknuo9hxvjjhohs.JPG)

![Add Users](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/8zvcrc41tlmpyor1z1nq.JPG)



**Step 3 — Specify User Details.**


![Specify User Details](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/rdt1xpccref77ndu82tk.JPG)
a) Enter a User name, and tick Enable console access checkbox.
b) Generate Console password
c) Uncheck Users must create a new password at the next sign-in —
The reason why we unchecked this is because, we don’t want to keep changing our password on every sign-in…

Well… it all depends on your security preference 🤷
d) Click Next.


**Step 4 — Set Permissions**
Select Attach policies directly from the Permissions menu.

> NB. The best practice is to attach the policies to a group, then add the created user to that group, but for this session, we would attach the policies directly to the user.


![Set Permissions](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/e61hqggm0crv7oom93ar.JPG)

Under **Permissions policies**, for this test scenario, we want this user to have full access to Amazon S3.


![Permissions policies](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/i24izeebym08yowvdnal.JPG)

In the search bar, search for "S3" and click on **_AmazonS3FullAccess*_*. You can also click the **_Plus Icon_**, to view the selected policy in json format.

Click Next

**Step 5 — Review**
In this step, you are given the chance to review your choices and also have the option to create _tags_.

Click **_Create User_**


![Review](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/6y13ly20d4f6lsndsbqo.JPG)

**Step 6 — Retrieve the password**
You can view and download the user’s password below, or email the user's instructions for signing in to the AWS Management Console. This is the only time you can view and download this password.

Under **_Console Password_**, click show to view your newly created password.
Click _**Return to users list**_.

**User-created successfully :blush:**


![User Created](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wpvy4bl3ejtw6xi3y2xw.JPG)