Using an HTTP proxy for the Amazon CLI - Amazon Command Line Interface
Using the examplesAuthenticating to a proxyUsing a proxy on Amazon EC2 instancesTroubleshooting
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).

This documentation is for Version 1 of the Amazon CLI only. For documentation related to Version 2 of the Amazon CLI, see the Version 2 User Guide.

Using an HTTP proxy for the Amazon CLI

To access Amazon through proxy servers, you can configure the HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY environment variables with either the DNS domain names or IP addresses and port numbers that your proxy servers use.

Using the examples

Note

The following examples show the environment variable name in all uppercase letters. However, if you specify a variable twice using different cases, the lowercase letters take precedence. We recommend that you define each variable only once to avoid system confusion and unexpected behavior.

The following examples show how you can use either the explicit IP address of your proxy or a DNS name that resolves to the IP address of your proxy. Either can be followed by a colon and the port number to which queries should be sent.

Linux or macOS
$ export HTTP_PROXY=http://10.15.20.25:1234
$ export HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:1234
$ export HTTPS_PROXY=http://10.15.20.25:5678
$ export HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:5678
Windows Command Prompt

To set for all sessions

C:\> setx HTTP_PROXY http://10.15.20.25:1234
C:\> setx HTTP_PROXY http://proxy.example.com:1234
C:\> setx HTTPS_PROXY http://10.15.20.25:5678
C:\> setx HTTPS_PROXY http://proxy.example.com:5678

Using setx to set an environment variable changes the value used in both the current command prompt session and all command prompt sessions that you create after running the command. It does not affect other command shells that are already running at the time you run the command.

To set for current session only

Using set to set an environment variable changes the value used until the end of the current command prompt session, or until you set the variable to a different value. 

C:\> set HTTP_PROXY=http://10.15.20.25:1234
C:\> set HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:1234
C:\> set HTTPS_PROXY=http://10.15.20.25:5678
C:\> set HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:5678

Authenticating to a proxy

Note

The Amazon CLI doesn't support NTLM proxies. If you use an NTLM or Kerberos protocol proxy, you might be able to connect through an authentication proxy like Cntlm.

The Amazon CLI supports HTTP Basic authentication. Specify the username and password in the proxy URL, as follows.

Linux or macOS
$ export HTTP_PROXY=http://username:password@proxy.example.com:1234
$ export HTTPS_PROXY=http://username:password@proxy.example.com:5678
Windows Command Prompt

To set for all sessions

C:\> setx HTTP_PROXY http://username:password@proxy.example.com:1234
C:\> setx HTTPS_PROXY http://username:password@proxy.example.com:5678

To set for current session only

C:\> set HTTP_PROXY=http://username:password@proxy.example.com:1234
C:\> set HTTPS_PROXY=http://username:password@proxy.example.com:5678

Using a proxy on Amazon EC2 instances

If you configure a proxy on an Amazon EC2 instance launched with an attached IAM role, ensure that you exempt the address used to access the instance metadata. To do this, set the NO_PROXY environment variable to the IP address of the instance metadata service, 169.254.169.254. This address does not vary.

Linux or macOS
$ export NO_PROXY=169.254.169.254
Windows Command Prompt

To set for all sessions

C:\> setx NO_PROXY 169.254.169.254

To set for current session only

C:\> set NO_PROXY=169.254.169.254

Troubleshooting

If you come across issues with the Amazon CLI, see Troubleshooting errors for the Amazon CLI for troubleshooting steps. For the most relevant troubleshooting steps, see SSL certificate errors.