Store access keys for programmatic access

As a best practice, we recommend that you don't embed access keys directly into code. The AWS SDKs and the AWS Command Line Tools enable you to put access keys in known locations so that you do not have to keep them in code. Put access keys in one of the following locations:

• Environment variables – On a multitenant system, choose user environment variables, not system environment variables.

• CLI credentials file – The credentials and config file are updated when you run the command aws configure. The credentials file is located at ~/.aws/credentials on Linux, macOS, or Unix, or at C:\Users\USERNAME\.aws\credentials on Windows. This file can contain the credential details for the default profile and any named profiles.

• CLI configuration file – The credentials and config file are updated when you run the command aws configure. The config file is located at ~/.aws/config on Linux, macOS, or Unix, or at C:\Users\USERNAME\.aws\config on Windows. This file contains the configuration settings for the default profile and any named profiles.

Storing access keys as environment variables is a prerequisite for the Step-by-step tutorial to connect to Amazon Keyspaces using the 4.x DataStax Java driver for Apache Cassandra and the SigV4 authentication plugin. Note that this includes the default AWS Region. The client searches for credentials using the default credentials provider chain, and access keys stored as environment variables take precedent over all other locations, for example configuration files. For more information, see Configuration settings and precedence.

The following examples show how you can configure environment variables for the default user.

Linux, macOS, or Unix

$ export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
$ export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
$ export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=AQoDYXdzEJr...<remainder of security token>
$ export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=aws-region

Setting the environment variable changes the value used until the end of your shell session, or until you set the variable to a different value. You can make the variables persistent across future sessions by setting them in your shell's startup script.

Windows Command Prompt

C:\> setx AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
C:\> setx AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
C:\> setx AWS_SESSION_TOKEN AQoDYXdzEJr...<remainder of security token>
C:\> setx AWS_DEFAULT_REGION aws-region

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. 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.

PowerShell

PS C:\> $Env:AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE"
PS C:\> $Env:AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY"
PS C:\> $Env:AWS_SESSION_TOKEN="AQoDYXdzEJr...<remainder of security token>"
PS C:\> $Env:AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="aws-region"

If you set an environment variable at the PowerShell prompt as shown in the previous examples, it saves the value for only the duration of the current session. To make the environment variable setting persistent across all PowerShell and Command Prompt sessions, store it by using the System application in Control Panel. Alternatively, you can set the variable for all future PowerShell sessions by adding it to your PowerShell profile. See the PowerShell documentation for more information about storing environment variables or persisting them across sessions.