To make it easier to work with a lot of the AWS services, we are going to use the AWS CLI.

Install the AWS CLI

AWS CLI needs Python 2 version 2.6.5+ or Python 3 version 3.3+ and Pip. Use the following if you need help installing Python or Pip.

Now using Pip you can install the AWS CLI (on Linux, macOS, or Unix) by running:

$ sudo pip install awscli

Or using Homebrew on macOS:

$ brew install awscli

If you are having some problems installing the AWS CLI or need Windows install instructions, refer to the complete install instructions.

Add Your Access Key to AWS CLI

We now need to tell the AWS CLI to use your Access Keys from the previous chapter.

It should look something like this:

  • Access key ID AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
  • Secret access key wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY

Simply run the following with your Secret Key ID and your Access Key.

$ aws configure

You can leave the Default region name and Default output format the way they are.

Next let’s get started with setting up our backend.