# Setting up your environment for Amazon Aurora
<a name="CHAP_SettingUp_Aurora"></a>

Before you use Amazon Aurora for the first time, complete the following tasks.

**Topics**
+ [Sign up for an Amazon Web Services account](#sign-up-for-aws)
+ [Secure IAM users](#secure-an-admin)
+ [Determine requirements](#CHAP_SettingUp_Aurora.Requirements)
+ [Provide access to the DB cluster in the VPC by creating a security group](#CHAP_SettingUp_Aurora.SecurityGroup)

If you already have an Amazon Web Services account, know your Aurora requirements, and prefer to use the defaults for IAM and VPC security groups, skip ahead to [Getting started with Amazon Aurora](CHAP_GettingStartedAurora.md).

## Sign up for an Amazon Web Services account
<a name="sign-up-for-aws"></a>

If you do not have an Amazon Web Services account, use the following procedure to create one.

**To sign up for Amazon Web Services**

1. Open [http://www.amazonaws.cn/](http://www.amazonaws.cn/) and choose **Sign Up**.

1. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Amazon sends you a confirmation email after the sign-up process is complete. At any time, you can view your current account activity and manage your account by going to [http://www.amazonaws.cn/](http://www.amazonaws.cn/) and choosing **My Account**.

## Secure IAM users
<a name="secure-an-admin"></a>

After you sign up for an Amazon Web Services account, safeguard your administrative user by turning on multi-factor authentication (MFA). For instructions, see [Enable a virtual MFA device for an IAM user (console)](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_credentials_mfa_enable_virtual.html#enable-virt-mfa-for-iam-user) in the *IAM User Guide*.

To give other users access to your Amazon Web Services account resources, create IAM users. To secure your IAM users, turn on MFA and only give the IAM users the permissions needed to perform their tasks.

For more information about creating and securing IAM users, see the following topics in the *IAM User Guide*: 
+ [Creating an IAM user in your Amazon Web Services account](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_users_create.html)
+ [Access management for Amazon resources](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access.html)
+ [Example IAM identity-based policies](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_examples.html)

## Determine requirements
<a name="CHAP_SettingUp_Aurora.Requirements"></a>

The basic building block of Aurora is the DB cluster. One or more DB instances can belong to a DB cluster. A DB cluster provides a network address called the *cluster endpoint*. Your applications connect to the cluster endpoint exposed by the DB cluster whenever they need to access the databases created in that DB cluster. The information you specify when you create the DB cluster controls configuration elements such as memory, database engine and version, network configuration, security, and maintenance periods.

Before you create a DB cluster and a security group, you must know your DB cluster and network needs. Here are some important things to consider:
+ **Resource requirements **– What are the memory and processor requirements for your application or service? You will use these settings when you determine what DB instance class you will use when you create your DB cluster. For specifications about DB instance classes, see [Amazon AuroraDB instance classes](Concepts.DBInstanceClass.md).
+ **VPC, subnet, and security group – **Your DB cluster will be in a virtual private cloud (VPC). Security group rules must be configured to connect to a DB cluster. The following list describes the rules for each VPC option:
  + **Default VPC** — If your Amazon account has a default VPC in the Amazon Region, that VPC is configured to support DB clusters. If you specify the default VPC when you create the DB cluster:
    + Make sure to create a *VPC security group* that authorizes connections from the application or service to the Aurora DB cluster. Use the **Security Group** option on the VPC console or the Amazon CLI to create VPC security groups. For information, see [Step 3: Create a VPC security group](USER_VPC.WorkingWithRDSInstanceinaVPC.md#USER_VPC.CreateVPCSecurityGroup).
    + You must specify the default DB subnet group. If this is the first DB cluster you have created in the Amazon Region, Amazon RDS will create the default DB subnet group when it creates the DB cluster.
  + **User-defined VPC** — If you want to specify a user-defined VPC when you create a DB cluster:
    + Make sure to create a *VPC security group* that authorizes connections from the application or service to the Aurora DB cluster. Use the **Security Group** option on the VPC console or the Amazon CLI to create VPC security groups. For information, see [Step 3: Create a VPC security group](USER_VPC.WorkingWithRDSInstanceinaVPC.md#USER_VPC.CreateVPCSecurityGroup).
    + The VPC must meet certain requirements in order to host DB clusters, such as having at least two subnets, each in a separate availability zone. For information, see [Amazon VPC and Amazon Aurora](USER_VPC.md).
    + You must specify a DB subnet group that defines which subnets in that VPC can be used by the DB cluster. For information, see the DB Subnet Group section in [Working with a DB cluster in a VPC](USER_VPC.WorkingWithRDSInstanceinaVPC.md#Overview.RDSVPC.Create).
+ **High availability: **Do you need failover support? On Aurora, a Multi-AZ deployment creates a primary instance and Aurora Replicas. You can configure the primary instance and Aurora Replicas to be in different Availability Zones for failover support. We recommend Multi-AZ deployments for production workloads to maintain high availability. For development and test purposes, you can use a non-Multi-AZ deployment. For more information, see [High availability for Amazon Aurora](Concepts.AuroraHighAvailability.md). 
+ **IAM policies: **Does your Amazon account have policies that grant the permissions needed to perform Amazon RDS operations? If you are connecting to Amazon using IAM credentials, your IAM account must have IAM policies that grant the permissions required to perform Amazon RDS operations. For more information, see [Identity and access management for Amazon Aurora](UsingWithRDS.IAM.md).
+ **Open ports: **What TCP/IP port will your database be listening on? The firewall at some companies might block connections to the default port for your database engine. If your company firewall blocks the default port, choose another port for the new DB cluster. Note that once you create a DB cluster that listens on a port you specify, you can change the port by modifying the DB cluster.
+ **Amazon Region: **What Amazon Region do you want your database in? Having the database close in proximity to the application or web service could reduce network latency. For more information, see [Regions and Availability Zones](Concepts.RegionsAndAvailabilityZones.md).

Once you have the information you need to create the security group and the DB cluster, continue to the next step.

## Provide access to the DB cluster in the VPC by creating a security group
<a name="CHAP_SettingUp_Aurora.SecurityGroup"></a>

Your DB cluster will be created in a VPC. Security groups provide access to the DB cluster in the VPC. They act as a firewall for the associated DB cluster, controlling both inbound and outbound traffic at the cluster level. DB clusters are created by default with a firewall and a default security group that prevents access to the DB cluster. You must therefore add rules to a security group that enable you to connect to your DB cluster. Use the network and configuration information you determined in the previous step to create rules to allow access to your DB cluster.

For example, if you have an application that will access a database on your DB cluster in a VPC, you must add a custom TCP rule that specifies the port range and IP addresses that application will use to access the database. If you have an application on an Amazon EC2 instance, you can use the VPC security group you set up for the Amazon EC2 instance.

You can configure connectivity between an Amazon EC2 instance a DB cluster when you create the DB cluster. For more information, see [Configure automatic network connectivity with an EC2 instance](Aurora.CreateInstance.md#Aurora.CreateInstance.Prerequisites.VPC.Automatic).

**Tip**  
You can set up network connectivity between an Amazon EC2 instance and a DB cluster automatically when you create the DB cluster. For more information, see [Configure automatic network connectivity with an EC2 instance](Aurora.CreateInstance.md#Aurora.CreateInstance.Prerequisites.VPC.Automatic).

For information about how to connect resources in Amazon Lightsail to your DB clusters, see [ Connect Lightsail resources to Amazon Web Services services using VPC peering](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/lightsail/latest/userguide/using-lightsail-with-other-aws-services.html).

For more information about creating a VPC for use with Aurora, see [Tutorial: Create a VPC for use with a DB cluster (IPv4 only)](CHAP_Tutorials.WebServerDB.CreateVPC.md). For information about common scenarios for accessing a DB instance, see [Scenarios for accessing a DB cluster in a VPC](USER_VPC.Scenarios.md).

**To create a VPC security group**

1. Sign in to the Amazon Web Services Management Console and open the Amazon VPC console at [https://console.amazonaws.cn/vpc](https://console.amazonaws.cn/vpc).
**Note**  
Make sure you are in the VPC console, not the RDS console.

1. In the Amazon Web Services Management Console, choose the Amazon Region where you want to create your VPC security group and DB cluster. In the list of Amazon VPC resources for that Amazon Region, you should see at least one VPC and several subnets. If you don't, you don't have a default VPC in that Amazon Region.

1. In the navigation pane, choose **Security Groups**.

1. Choose **Create security group**.

   The **Create security group** page appears.

1. In **Basic details**, enter the **Security group name** and **Description**. For **VPC**, choose the VPC that you want to create your DB cluster in.

1. In **Inbound rules**, choose **Add rule**.

   1. For **Type**, choose **Custom TCP**.

   1. For **Port range**, enter the port value to use for your DB cluster.

   1. For **Source**, choose a security group name or type the IP address range (CIDR value) from where you access the DB cluster. If you choose **My IP**, this allows access to the DB cluster from the IP address detected in your browser.

1. If you need to add more IP addresses or different port ranges, choose **Add rule** and enter the information for the rule.

1. (Optional) In **Outbound rules**, add rules for outbound traffic. By default, all outbound traffic is allowed.

1. Choose **Create security group**.

You can use the VPC security group you just created as the security group for your DB cluster when you create it.

**Note**  
If you use a default VPC, a default subnet group spanning all of the VPC's subnets is created for you. When you create a DB cluster, you can select the default VPC and use **default** for **DB Subnet Group**.

Once you have completed the setup requirements, you can create a DB cluster using your requirements and security group by following the instructions in [Creating an Amazon Aurora DB cluster](Aurora.CreateInstance.md). For information about getting started by creating a DB cluster that uses a specific DB engine, see [Getting started with Amazon Aurora](CHAP_GettingStartedAurora.md).