# Set up your Amazon Web Services account
<a name="setting-up-cloudfront"></a>

This topic describes preliminary steps, such as creating an Amazon Web Services account, to prepare you to use Amazon CloudFront.

**Topics**
+ [Sign up for an Amazon Web Services account](#sign-up-for-aws)
+ [Secure IAM users](#secure-an-admin)
+ [Choose how to access CloudFront](#introduction-accessing-cloudfront)

## 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)

## Choose how to access CloudFront
<a name="introduction-accessing-cloudfront"></a>

You can access Amazon CloudFront in the following ways:
+ **Amazon Web Services Management Console** – The procedures throughout this guide explain how to use the Amazon Web Services Management Console to perform tasks.
+ **Amazon SDKs** – If you're using a programming language that Amazon provides an SDK for, you can use an SDK to access CloudFront. SDKs simplify authentication, integrate easily with your development environment, and provide access to CloudFront commands. For more information, see [Using CloudFront with an Amazon SDK](sdk-general-information-section.md).
+ **CloudFront API** – If you're using a programming language that an SDK isn't available for, see the [Amazon CloudFront API Reference](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/cloudfront/latest/APIReference/Welcome.html) for information about API actions and about how to make API requests.
+ **Amazon CLI** – The Amazon Command Line Interface (Amazon CLI) is a unified tool for managing Amazon Web Services services. For information about how to install and configure the Amazon CLI, see [Install or update to the latest version of the Amazon CLI](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html) in the *Amazon Command Line Interface User Guide*.
+ **Tools for Windows PowerShell** – If you have experience with Windows PowerShell, you might prefer to use Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell. For more information, see [Installing the Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/powershell/latest/userguide/pstools-getting-set-up.html) in the *Amazon Tools for PowerShell User Guide*.