IAM user with Access key

Create an IAM user with access keys in the AWS Management Console.

Create the user and grant it permissions

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console using a user with permission to manage IAM users.
2. Open the “Identity and Access Management (IAM)”
3. In the left-hand navigation pane, click “Users”
4. Click the “Add user” button
5. Enter a username for the new IAM user in the “User name” field
6. Choose how you want to grant permissions to the user
   • Groups are considered a best practice as they are easier to control and audit
7. Create the user

Generate the access key

1. In the user section, select the new user to view the properties.
2. Select Security Credentials
3. Select Create Access Key
4. Carefully check the list of use cases and ensure an access key is your best choice; there are more secure alternatives.
5. Give the key a tag value so it can be managed better, such as when rotating the key value
6. The Access key and Secret Access Key values will be shown on the screen. This is a one-time option to retrieve the Secret Access Key; once you click past this screen, you must re-generate the value as it cannot be retrieved again.

References

Best practices for managing AWS access keys