Setting up Amazon for the first time - Amazon Backup
Sign up for AmazonCreate an IAM userCreate an IAM role
Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Setting up Amazon for the first time

Before you use Amazon Backup for the first time, complete the following tasks:

  1. Sign up for Amazon

  2. Create an IAM user

  3. Create an IAM role

Sign up for Amazon

When you sign up for Amazon Web Services (Amazon), your Amazon Web Services account is automatically signed up for all services in Amazon, including Amazon Backup. You are charged only for the services that you use.

For more information about Amazon Backup usage rates, see the Amazon Backup Pricing page.

If you have an Amazon Web Services account already, skip to the next task. If you don't have an Amazon account, use the following procedure to create one.

To create an Amazon Web Services account

  1. Open https://portal.amazonaws.cn/billing/signup.

  2. Follow the online instructions.

    Part of the sign-up procedure involves receiving a phone call and entering a verification code on the phone keypad.

    When you sign up for an Amazon Web Services account, an Amazon Web Services account root user is created. The root user has access to all Amazon Web Services and resources in the account. As a security best practice, assign administrative access to a user, and use only the root user to perform tasks that require root user access.

Note your Amazon Web Services account number, because you'll need it for the next task.

Create an IAM user

Services in Amazon, such as Amazon Backup, require that you provide credentials when you access them, so that the service can determine whether you have permissions to access its resources. Amazon recommends that you do not use the Amazon Web Services account root user to make requests. Instead, create an IAM user, and grant that user full access. We refer to these users as administrator users. You can use the admin user credentials, instead of the Amazon Web Services account root user credentials, to interact with Amazon and perform tasks, such as create a bucket, create users, and grant them permissions. For more information, see Amazon Web Services account Root User Credentials vs. IAM User Credentials in the Amazon General Reference and IAM Best Practices in the IAM User Guide.

If you signed up for Amazon but have not created an IAM user for yourself, you can create one using the IAM console.

Secure IAM users

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) 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:

To sign in as this new IAM user, sign out of the Amazon Web Services Management Console. Then use the following URL, where your_aws_account_id is your Amazon Web Services account number without the hyphens (for example, if your Amazon Web Services account number is 1234-5678-9012, your Amazon Web Services account ID is 123456789012):

https://your_aws_account_id.signin.www.amazonaws.cn/console/

Enter the IAM user name and password that you just created. When you're signed in, the navigation bar displays your_user_name@your_aws_account_id.

If you don't want the URL for your sign-in page to contain your Amazon Web Services account ID, you can create an account alias. From the IAM dashboard, click Create Account Alias and enter an alias, such as your company name. To sign in after you create an account alias, use the following URL:

https://your_account_alias.signin.www.amazonaws.cn/console/

To verify the sign-in link for IAM users for your account, open the IAM console and check under Amazon Web Services account Alias on the dashboard.

Create an IAM role

You can use the IAM console to create an IAM role that grants Amazon Backup permissions to access supported resources. After you create the IAM role, you will create and attach policies to the role.

To create an IAM role with the console

  1. Sign in to the Amazon Management Console and open the IAM console.

  2. In the IAM console, choose Roles in the navigation pane, and choose Create role.

  3. Choose Amazon Service Roles, and then choose Select for Amazon Backup. Choose Next: Permissions.

  4. On the Attach permissions policies page, check both AWSBackupServiceRolePolicyForBackup, and AWSBackupServiceRolePolicyForRestores. These Amazon managed policies grant Amazon Backup permission to back up and restore all supported Amazon resources. To learn more about managed policies and view examples, see Managed Policies.

    Then, choose Next: Tags.

  5. Choose Next: Review.

  6. For Role Name, type a name that describes the purpose of this role. Role names must be unique within your Amazon Web Services account. Because various entities might reference the role, you cannot edit the name of the role after you create it.

    Choose Create Role.

  7. On the Roles page, choose the role that you created to open its details page.