Basic setup to work with AWS services

Overview Sign-in ability to the AWS access portal Set up shared configuration files Install a Java Development Environment

To successfully develop applications that access AWS services using the AWS SDK for Java, the following conditions are required:

You must be able to sign in to the AWS access portal available in the AWS IAM Identity Center.
The permissions of the IAM role configured for the SDK must allow access to the AWS services that your application requires. The permissions associated with the PowerUserAccess AWS managed policy are sufficient for most development needs.
A development environment with the following elements:
- Shared configuration files that are set up in the following way:
  - The config file contains a default profile that specifies an AWS Region.
  - The credentials file contains temporary credentials as part of a default profile.
- A suitable installation of Java.
- A build automation tool such as Maven or Gradle.
- A text editor to work with code.
- (Optional, but recommended) An IDE (integrated development environment) such as IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, or NetBeans.
  
  When you use an IDE, you can also integrate AWS Toolkits to more easily work with AWS services. The AWS Toolkit for IntelliJ and AWS Toolkit for Eclipse are two toolkits that you can use for Java development.

Important

The instructions in this setup section assume that you or organization uses IAM Identity Center. If your organization uses an external identity provider that works independently of IAM Identity Center, find out how you can get temporary credentials for the SDK for Java to use. Follow these instructions to add temporary credentials to the ~/.aws/credentials file.

If your identity provider adds temporary credentials automatically to the ~/.aws/credentials file, make sure that the profile name is [default] so that you do not need to provide a profile name to the SDK or AWS CLI.

Sign-in ability to the AWS access portal

The AWS access portal is the web location where you manually sign in to the IAM Identity Center. The format of the URL is d-xxxxxxxxxx.awsapps.com/startor your_subdomain.awsapps.com/start.

If you are not familiar with the AWS access portal, follow the guidance for account access in Step 1 of the IAM Identity Center authentication topic in the AWS SDKs and Tools Reference Guide. Do not follow the Step 2 because the AWS SDK for Java 1.x does not support automatic token refresh and automatic retrieval of temporary credentials for the SDK that Step 2 describes.

Set up shared configuration files

The shared configuration files reside on your development workstation and contain basic settings used by all AWS SDKs and the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI). The shared configuration files can contain a number of settings, but these instructions set up the basic elements that are required to work with the SDK.

Set up the shared `config` file

The following example shows content of a shared config file.


[default]
region=us-east-1
output=json

For development purposes, use the AWS Region nearest to where you plan to run your code. For a listing of region codes to use in the config file see the Amazon Web Services General Reference guide. The json setting for the output format is one of several possible values.

Follow the guidance in this section to create the config file.

Set up temporary credentials for the SDK

After you have access to an AWS account and IAM role through the AWS access portal, configure your development environment with temporary credentials for the SDK to access.

Steps to set up a local `credentials` file with temporary credentials

Create a shared credentials file.

In the credentials file, paste the following placeholder text until you paste in working temporary credentials.


[default]
aws_access_key_id=<value from AWS access portal>
aws_secret_access_key=<value from AWS access portal>
aws_session_token=<value from AWS access portal>

Save the file. The file ~/.aws/credentials should now exist on your local development system. This file contains the [default] profile that the SDK for Java uses if a specific named profile is not specified.
Sign in to the AWS access portal.
Follow these instructions under the Manual credential refresh heading to copy IAM role credentials from the AWS access portal.
1. For step 4 in the linked instructions, choose the IAM role name that grants access for your development needs. This role typically has a name like PowerUserAccess or Developer.
2. For step 7, select the Manually add a profile to your AWS credentials file option and copy the contents.

Paste the copied credentials into your local credentials file and remove any profile name that was pasted. Your file should resemble the following:


[default]
aws_access_key_id=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
aws_secret_access_key=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
aws_session_token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2IQoJb3JpZ2luX2IQoJb3JpZ2luX2IQoJb3JpZ2luX2IQoJb3JpZVERYLONGSTRINGEXAMPLE

Save the credentials file

The SDK for Java will access these temporary credentials when it create a service client and use them for each request. The settings for the IAM role chosen in step 5a determine how long the temporary credentials are valid. The maximum duration is twelve hours.

After the temporary credentials expire, repeat steps 4 through 7.

Install a Java Development Environment

The AWS SDK for Java V1 requires a Java 7 JDK or newer. If you use version 1.12.767 or earlier of the SDK, you can use Java 7, but if you use version 1.12.768 or newer of the SDK, Java 8 is required. The Maven central repository lists the latest version of the SDK for Java.

The AWS SDK for Java works with the Oracle Java SE Development Kit and with distributions of Open Java Development Kit (OpenJDK) such as Amazon Corretto, Red Hat OpenJDK, and Adoptium.

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Getting Started

Ways to get the AWS SDK for Java