# Identity and access management for Amazon Directory Service
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Access to Amazon Directory Service requires credentials that Amazon can use to authenticate your requests. Those credentials must have permissions to access Amazon resources, such as an Amazon Directory Service directory. The following sections provide details on how you can use [Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM)](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/IAM/latest/UserGuide/introduction.html) and Amazon Directory Service to help secure your resources by controlling who can access them:

 
+ [Authentication](#authentication)
+ [Access control](#access_control)

## Authentication
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Learn how to access Amazon using [IAM identities](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id.html).

## Access control
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You can have valid credentials to authenticate your requests, but unless you have permissions you cannot create or access Amazon Directory Service resources. For example, you must have permissions to create an Amazon Directory Service directory or to create a directory snapshot.

The following sections describe how to manage permissions for Amazon Directory Service. We recommend that you read the overview first.

 
+ [Overview of managing access permissions to your Amazon Directory Service resources](IAM_Auth_Access_Overview.md)
+  [Using identity-based policies (IAM policies) for Amazon Directory Service](IAM_Auth_Access_IdentityBased.md) 
+  [Amazon Directory Service API permissions: Actions, resources, and conditions reference](UsingWithDS_IAM_ResourcePermissions.md)