Why AWS IAM Matters
AWS IAM is the foundational service for controlling secure access to AWS resources. With IAM, you can:- Create and manage users, groups, and roles
- Define fine-grained permissions using policies
- Implement robust access control for applications, services, and end users
What You’ll Learn
In this lesson, you will:- Understand the core concepts of IAM (users, groups, roles, policies)
- Explore IAM best practices for least-privilege access
- Walk through hands-on labs to configure real-world scenarios
- Discover advanced features like managed policies, identity providers, and cross-account access
Ensure you have an active AWS account with administrative privileges to follow along with the labs.
IAM Key Components
| Resource Type | Description | Common Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| User | An individual identity | Grant CLI or console access to an employee |
| Group | A collection of IAM users | Apply shared permissions to multiple users |
| Role | A set of permissions assumed by entities | Enable cross-account access or service permissions |
| Policy | A JSON document defining permissions | Attach to users, groups, or roles to allow or deny actions |
Meet Sarah: A Use Case
Sarah is a cloud engineer tasked with:- Granting developers access to specific S3 buckets
- Enabling an EC2 instance to retrieve secrets from AWS Secrets Manager
- Auditing security configurations to comply with corporate policies
Additional Resources & References
- AWS IAM Documentation
- IAM Best Practices
- KodeKloud Forum – Ask questions and share insights with peers