Working with the AWS Management Console

Welcome to the AWS Management Console. This guide provides a short introduction to working with the console. To learn how to work with individual services in the console, see AWS Documentation.

What is the AWS Management Console?

The AWS Management Console is a web application that comprises and refers to a broad collection of service consoles for managing Amazon Web Services. When you first sign in, you see the console home page.

The home page provides access to each service console as well as an intuitive user interface for exploring AWS and getting helpful tips. Among other things, the individual service consoles offer tools for working with Amazon S3 buckets, launching and connecting to Amazon EC2 instances, setting Amazon CloudWatch alarms, and getting information about your account and about billing.

Getting started with a service

The AWS Management Console provides multiple ways for navigating to individual service consoles.

To open a console for a service

Do one of the following:

• Enter the name of the service in the search box. Then choose the service that you want from the list of search results.

  

• Choose one of your recently visited services under the search box.

   

• Choose Services to open a full list of services. On the upper right of the page, choose Group to see the services listed by category or choose A–Z to see an alphabetical listing. Then choose the service that you want.

   

  

Adding and removing shortcuts

You can add shortcuts for the consoles that you use most.

To add a shortcut

1. On the navigation bar, choose the pushpin icon.

   

2. Drag a service from the menu to the navigation bar.

   You can add more shortcuts and drop them onto the navigation bar in any order that you want.

   

To remove a shortcut

1. On the navigation bar, choose the pushpin icon.

2. Drag the shortcut off the navigation bar.

Choosing a Region

For many services, you can choose a Region that specifies where your resources are managed. You do not choose a Region for the AWS Management Console or for some services, such as IAM.

To choose a Region

1. In the AWS Management Console, choose a service to go to that service's console.

2. On the navigation bar, choose the name of the currently displayed Region.

   

   When you choose a Region, that Region becomes the default in the console.

Note

If you have created AWS resources, but you don’t see those resources in the console, the console might be displaying resources from a different Region. Some resources (such as EC2 instances) are created in a specific Region. To see them, use the Region selector to choose the Region in which the resources were created.

Changing your password

If you are an account owner, you can change your AWS account password from the AWS Management Console.

To change your password

1. On the navigation bar, choose your account name.

   

2. Choose Security Credentials.

3. The page that you see varies with the type of account that you used to sign in. Follow the console instructions to get to the page for changing your password.

4. Enter your current password once and your new password twice.

   The new password must be at least eight characters long and must include a symbol, a number, an uppercase letter, and a lowercase letter.

5. When you've completed the password form, choose Change Password or Save changes.

Getting billing information

If you have the necessary permissions, you can get information about your AWS charges from the console.

To get your billing information

1. On the navigation bar, choose your account name.

2. Choose My Billing Dashboard.

3. Use the AWS Billing and Cost Management dashboard to find a summary and a breakdown of your monthly spending. To learn more, see the AWS Billing and Cost Management User Guide.

Using the device of your choice

The AWS Management Console has been designed to work on tablets as well as other kinds of devices:

• Horizontal and vertical space is maximized to show more on your screen.

   

• Buttons and selectors are larger for a better touch experience.

The AWS Management Console is also available as an app for Android and iOS. This app provides mobile-relevant tasks that are a good companion to the full web experience. For example, you can easily view and manage your existing Amazon EC2 instances and Amazon CloudWatch alarms from your phone.

You can download the AWS Console mobile app from Amazon Appstore, Google Play, or iTunes.

Resource Groups and Tag Editor

The AWS Management Console includes the Resource Groups menu, a feature for managing AWS resources such as an Amazon EC2 instance or an Amazon S3 bucket as a group. You can also use the Resource Groups menu to start Tag Editor, a tool for managing and applying labels, or tags, to organize your resources.

For more information on creating resource groups and using Tag Editor, see the following topics in the AWS Resource Groups and Tag Editor User Guide.

• What are AWS Resource Groups?

• How Tagging Works

• Tag Editor

Troubleshooting

Consult this section to find solutions to common problems with the AWS Management Console.

Fix page load issues with Internet Explorer 11

If you use the AWS Management Console with Internet Explorer 11, the browser might fail to load some pages of the console. This is a problem related to Internet Explorer's Compatibility View. To address this issue, in Internet Explorer, open Compatibility View Settings and disable Display intranet sites in Compatibility View.

For more information, see Fix site display problems with Compatibility View.