Simple Tips to Get Started with Amazon Web Services

Getting your feet wet with the latest technology sound exciting! Here in this post, you will get some tips to get a head start with AWS. These tips are effective in preventing common pitfalls.

1. Allow MFA for Root User

Doing this will provide you with an easy access to all features of your AWS account, be it erasing the database or start virtual machines. To put this simple, your root user is an appealing target for bad people of all sorts. You should do, once you have created your account, is to enable a Virtual MFA Device for your AWS account root. Try a virtual device (mobile software) or a hardware token. Once you have activated MFA, you need to enter your email credentials and passwords from your MFA device in order to access your account.

2. Utilize the Free Tier

AWS provides a Free Tier to most of its services. Users are allowed to launch the virtual machine for around 750 hours every month throughout their first year on AWS without paying a single penny. They also get a storage of around 5 GB on their object store in the tenure. Moreover, they can also use the NoSQL database if they want to save about 25 GB free.

3. Set a Billing Alarm

Amazon Web Services (AWS) uses the pay-per-use pricing plan. Let say if you have launched a virtual server hosting machine you need to make payments on an hourly basis. Similarly, you might be charged for each GB of data saved in the object store. Unanticipated costs may occur in case you forget to deactivate unused virtual machines or erase data that you is of no worth to you from S3. To prevent such unforeseen billing amount from occurring on your monthly invoice by Amazon Web Services, you can create a billing alarm. This warning will notify you via email that your monthly expenses are going beyond your said limit.

4. Allow CloudTrail

CloudTrail is an effective option to track all the calls to the AWS API. When any activity—like changing of cloud infrastructure or returning your firewall configuration— occurs, a log event is saved. Doing this will also allow the users to debug failures or examine security incidences.

5. Install and configure the AWS CLI (Command Line Interface)

With AWS Managed Console, the user can easily manage AWS services by just clicking through a web interface. It enables the user to get an easy access to the AWS services straight from the command line. For a command line ninja, it is a treasured practice.