When you sign up, AWS provides you with security credentials that are specific to your account. Two of
these credentials, your access key ID and your secret key, are used by the SDK whenever it accesses
the services provided by AWS. The security credentials authenticate requests to the service and identify
you as the sender of a request. The following list shows examples of these credentials.
• Access Key ID Example: AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
• Secret Access Key Example: wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
To view your AWS access credentials
1.
Go to the Amazon Web Services website at
http://aws.amazon.com
.
2.
Click My Account/Console, and then click Security Credentials.
3.
Under Your Account, click Security Credentials.
4.
In the spaces provided, type your user name and password, and then click Sign in using our secure
server.
5.
Under Access Credentials, on the Access Keys tab, your access key ID is displayed. To view your
secret key, under Secret Access Key, click Show.
Your secret key must remain a secret that is known only to you and AWS. Keep it confidential in order
to protect your account. Store it securely in a safe place, and never email it. Do not share it outside your
organization, even if an inquiry appears to come from AWS or Amazon.com. No one who legitimately
represents Amazon will ever ask you for your secret key.
The credentials that are returned from the sign-up process are your root credentials. In general, we
recommend that you do not use your root credentials for most interactions with AWS.Your root credentials
provide complete access to your AWS account including your billing information. You should always keep
your root credentials as secure as possible and use them only when necessary. Instead of using your
root credentials, we recommend that you create an IAM user with only the permissions necessary to
perform the desired AWS tasks. For information about how to create an IAM user, go to the
Identity and
Access Management documentation
.
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AWS SDK for Node.js Getting Started Guide
AWS Account and Credentials
