This section involves creating secure methods for accessing AWS resources, ensuring permissions are appropriately configured, and following best practices.

1. Managing Access Across Multiple Accounts

To manage access securely across multiple accounts, AWS provides tools like AWS Organizations:

• Service Control Policies (SCPs): These set boundaries on what actions can be performed across accounts in an organization.
• IAM (Identity and Access Management): Manages permissions at the user, group, and role level within individual accounts.

Example:

If your organization has multiple accounts (e.g., one for development and one for production), you can use SCPs to ensure that only specific actions are allowed in the production account.

2. AWS Federated Access and Identity Services

Federation allows external users to access AWS without creating individual IAM accounts.

Key Services:

• AWS IAM Identity Center (AWS SSO): Provides a centralized way to manage access to AWS accounts and apps.
• Federated Access: Connects AWS with external identity systems like Active Directory or Google Workspace.

How It Works:

• With federation, users can log in to a central system (like your corporate portal) and gain access to AWS resources automatically based on their roles.

3. Understanding AWS Global Infrastructure

AWS is designed with high availability and fault tolerance in mind:

• Regions: Physical locations (e.g., Mumbai, Virginia) where AWS data centers are housed.
• Availability Zones (AZs): Multiple isolated data centers within each Region.

Why This Matters:

• Use Regions close to your users for better performance.
• Deploy resources in multiple AZs to ensure resilience in case one data center goes down.

4. Security Best Practices for Access

To secure access, follow these easy-to-implement practices:

5. Best Practices for Securing the Root User and IAM Accounts

Root User

The root user is the default account created when setting up an AWS account. It has full access to all resources and services. Due to its high privileges, it should be secured and not used for everyday tasks.

• Enable MFA: Add extra security with multi-factor authentication.
• Limit Use: Reserve the root user for essential admin tasks only.

IAM Users

IAM (Identity and Access Management) users are individual accounts created for team members, each with specific access permissions. Unlike the root user, IAM users' permissions can be customized.

• Create IAM Users: Give each team member their own IAM account.
• Use IAM Groups: Group users by roles (e.g., Admins, Developers) and assign permissions based on needs.

6. Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

RBAC assigns access based on the user’s role in an organization, ensuring permissions are consistent and easy to manage.

Scenarios and Solutions:

7. Using Resource Policies

Resource policies allow you to control access to specific resources like S3 buckets or DynamoDB tables directly.

Example:

• You can restrict access to an S3 bucket to specific users or IP ranges.
• Use conditions like tags or specific AWS Regions to fine-tune access further.

8. Federation with IAM Roles

Federation allows users to access AWS resources by authenticating through an external system.

When to Use:

• If your organization already has a central directory like Active Directory.
• To allow temporary access to third-party users (e.g., contractors).

Example:

An organization uses AWS SSO integrated with their corporate directory. Employees log in with their corporate credentials to access AWS without creating separate AWS accounts.