AWS CLI

The AWS CLI provides direct terminal access to all AWS services for management, scripting, and automation.

Installation and Configuration

# Install AWS CLI v2 on Linux
curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"
unzip awscliv2.zip && sudo ./aws/install

# Configure credentials
aws configure
# AWS Access Key ID: AKIA...
# AWS Secret Access Key: ...
# Default region name: us-east-1
# Default output format: json

# Use named profiles
aws configure --profile production
aws s3 ls --profile production

# Set profile via environment variable
export AWS_PROFILE=production

S3 Operations

# S3 bucket and object management
aws s3 mb s3://my-bucket-name --region us-east-1
aws s3 ls s3://my-bucket/
aws s3 cp file.txt s3://my-bucket/path/
aws s3 sync ./local-dir s3://my-bucket/remote-dir/ --delete
aws s3 rm s3://my-bucket/path/ --recursive

# Presigned URLs for temporary access
aws s3 presign s3://my-bucket/file.pdf --expires-in 3600

# Copy between buckets with filters
aws s3 sync s3://source-bucket s3://dest-bucket \
  --exclude "*.tmp" --include "*.json"

# Enable versioning
aws s3api put-bucket-versioning --bucket my-bucket \
  --versioning-configuration Status=Enabled

EC2 Management

# Launch an instance
aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id ami-0abcdef1234567890 \
  --instance-type t3.medium \
  --key-name my-key \
  --subnet-id subnet-abc123 \
  --security-group-ids sg-abc123 \
  --count 1 \
  --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=web-server}]'

# List instances with filters
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --filters "Name=tag:Environment,Values=production" \
  --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].{ID:InstanceId,Type:InstanceType,State:State.Name,IP:PublicIpAddress}' \
  --output table

# Stop, start, terminate
aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0
aws ec2 start-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0
aws ec2 terminate-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0

# Security groups
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \
  --group-id sg-abc123 \
  --protocol tcp --port 443 --cidr 0.0.0.0/0

Lambda Functions

# Create a Lambda function
aws lambda create-function \
  --function-name my-function \
  --runtime python3.12 \
  --handler lambda_function.handler \
  --role arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/lambda-role \
  --zip-file fileb://function.zip

# Invoke function
aws lambda invoke --function-name my-function \
  --payload '{"key": "value"}' output.json

# Update function code
aws lambda update-function-code \
  --function-name my-function \
  --zip-file fileb://function.zip

# List functions and view logs
aws lambda list-functions --query 'Functions[].{Name:FunctionName,Runtime:Runtime}'
aws logs tail /aws/lambda/my-function --follow

CloudWatch

# View metrics
aws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics \
  --namespace AWS/EC2 \
  --metric-name CPUUtilization \
  --dimensions Name=InstanceId,Value=i-1234567890abcdef0 \
  --start-time 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z \
  --end-time 2024-01-02T00:00:00Z \
  --period 3600 --statistics Average

# Create alarm
aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
  --alarm-name high-cpu \
  --metric-name CPUUtilization \
  --namespace AWS/EC2 \
  --statistic Average \
  --period 300 --threshold 80 \
  --comparison-operator GreaterThanThreshold \
  --evaluation-periods 2 \
  --alarm-actions arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:alerts

# Query logs with Insights
aws logs start-query \
  --log-group-name /aws/lambda/my-function \
  --start-time $(date -d '1 hour ago' +%s) \
  --end-time $(date +%s) \
  --query-string 'fields @timestamp, @message | filter @message like /ERROR/ | sort @timestamp desc | limit 50'

IAM Management

# Create user and access keys
aws iam create-user --user-name deploy-bot
aws iam create-access-key --user-name deploy-bot

# Attach policies
aws iam attach-user-policy --user-name deploy-bot \
  --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess

# Create role
aws iam create-role --role-name app-role \
  --assume-role-policy-document file://trust-policy.json

# List and inspect
aws iam list-users --query 'Users[].{Name:UserName,Created:CreateDate}'
aws iam list-attached-user-policies --user-name deploy-bot
aws sts get-caller-identity

Useful Patterns

# Wait for resource state changes
aws ec2 wait instance-running --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0

# Output as text for scripting
INSTANCE_ID=$(aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id ami-abc123 --instance-type t3.micro \
  --query 'Instances[0].InstanceId' --output text)

# Paginate through all results
aws s3api list-objects-v2 --bucket my-bucket --max-items 1000

# SSM Session Manager (no SSH keys needed)
aws ssm start-session --target i-1234567890abcdef0

# Cost Explorer
aws ce get-cost-and-usage \
  --time-period Start=2024-01-01,End=2024-02-01 \
  --granularity MONTHLY --metrics BlendedCost \
  --group-by Type=DIMENSION,Key=SERVICE