Once the account is created, we should not use it for anything apart from creating an admin user and handling billing related information. A strong password policy and multi-factor authentication (MFA) should be configured for all powerful users. We shall go through the steps to create an admin user. We shall use this user credential for executing recipes for different network elements in AWS. More stringent processes and methods should be followed for creating and managing users in AWS for production purposes.

Log in to the AWS account with user credentials.

1. Select Identity and Access Management (IAM) service from the console by typing https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/ in the browser. You will see the URL that the user other than the root user will need to use for console access.

2. Click on Users in the left menu and then click on Add user.

3. Provide a username of your choice. Opt for both programmatic and console access. Select other relevant options and click on Next: Permission.

4. Choose the option Attach existing policies directly. Choose AdministratorAccess and then click Next: Review.

5. Review the details and click on Create User.

6. Download and store the .csv file in a safe place. The file contains user access key details and console login link. User access information is required for AWS service access through program or CLI. It will be used in the later part of the book.

The user access details can be used for accessing AWS from Command Line Interface (CLI). Scripts can be written using CLI and can be used as code for managing AWS infrastructure.