Set up for AWS Launch Wizard for Active Directory - AWS Launch Wizard

Set up for AWS Launch Wizard for Active Directory

Verify the following prerequisites to deploy self-managed domain controllers with AWS Launch Wizard.

Specialized knowledge

This deployment requires a moderate level of familiarity with AWS services. If you’re new to AWS, see Getting Started Resource Center and AWS Training and Certification. These sites provide materials for learning how to design, deploy, and operate your infrastructure and applications on the AWS Cloud.

This Launch Wizard deployment assumes familiarity with Active Directory concepts and usage.

Amazon Web Services account

Sign up for an AWS account

If you do not have an AWS account, complete the following steps to create one.

To sign up for an AWS account
  1. Open https://portal.aws.amazon.com/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 AWS account, an AWS account root user is created. The root user has access to all AWS services and resources in the account. As a security best practice, assign administrative access to an administrative user, and use only the root user to perform tasks that require root user access.

AWS sends you a confirmation email after the sign-up process is complete. At any time, you can view your current account activity and manage your account by going to https://aws.amazon.com/ and choosing My Account.

Create an administrative user

After you sign up for an AWS account, secure your AWS account root user, enable AWS IAM Identity Center, and create an administrative user so that you don't use the root user for everyday tasks.

Secure your AWS account root user
  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console as the account owner by choosing Root user and entering your AWS account email address. On the next page, enter your password.

    For help signing in by using root user, see Signing in as the root user in the AWS Sign-In User Guide.

  2. Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) for your root user.

    For instructions, see Enable a virtual MFA device for your AWS account root user (console) in the IAM User Guide.

Create an administrative user
  1. Enable IAM Identity Center.

    For instructions, see Enabling AWS IAM Identity Center in the AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide.

  2. In IAM Identity Center, grant administrative access to an administrative user.

    For a tutorial about using the IAM Identity Center directory as your identity source, see Configure user access with the default IAM Identity Center directory in the AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide.

Sign in as the administrative user
  • To sign in with your IAM Identity Center user, use the sign-in URL that was sent to your email address when you created the IAM Identity Center user.

    For help signing in using an IAM Identity Center user, see Signing in to the AWS access portal in the AWS Sign-In User Guide.

Technical requirements

Before you start the Launch Wizard deployment, review the following information and make sure that your account is properly configured. Otherwise, deployment might fail.

Service Quotas

If necessary, request service quota increases for the resources deployed by Launch Wizard. You might need to request increases if your existing deployment currently uses these resources and if this Launch Wizard deployment could result in exceeding the default quotas. The Service Quotas console displays your usage and quotas for some aspects of some services. For more information, see What is Service Quotas? and AWS service quotas.

IAM permissions

Before deploying the Launch Wizard application, you must sign in to the AWS Management Console with IAM permissions for the resources that the templates deploy. The AdministratorAccess managed policy within IAM provides sufficient permissions, although your organization may choose to use a custom policy with more restrictions. For more information, see AWS managed policies for job functions.

Active Directory deployment options

This section contains information on what configuration is performed for deployment of domain controllers into a new or existing VPC. You can deploy a new Active Directory infrastructure on Amazon EC2, deploy a new AWS Managed Microsoft AD, or extend an existing on-premises Active Directory into the AWS Cloud.

Active Directory configurations

When you use Launch Wizard to deploy Active Directory, the following key operations are performed. These operations result in the creation of new records or entries in Active Directory.

  • When you create a new Active Directory domain, Launch Wizard creates two new Amazon EC2 instances and promotes the servers to domain controllers in your domain.

  • When you extend an existing Active Directory domain, Launch Wizard creates two new Amazon EC2 instances and optionally joins them to the domain.

  • When you create an AWS Managed Microsoft AD, Launch Wizard deploys the managed directory.

  • All deployment types create ingress and egress rules to communicate with your domain controllers.

On-premises Active Directory through AWS Direct Connect

If you are deploying domain controllers to extend an on-premises Active Directory into an existing VPC, ensure that the following prerequisites are in place.

  • Make sure that you have connectivity between your AWS account and your on-premises network. You can establish a dedicated network connection from your on-premises network to your AWS account with AWS Direct Connect. For more information, see the AWS Direct Connect documentation.

  • The domain functional level of your Active Directory domain controller must be Windows Server 2012 or later.

  • The IP addresses of your DNS server must be either in the same VPC CIDR range as the one in which your Launch Wizard domain controllers will be created, or in the private IP address range.

  • The firewall on the Active Directory domain controllers should allow the connections from the Amazon VPC from which you will create the Launch Wizard deployment. At a minimum, your configuration should include the ports mentioned in How to configure a firewall for Active Directory domains and trusts.

You can optionally perform the following step.