First time user tutorial for sending a message using AWS End User Messaging SMS

This section provides an overview of the tutorial designed to help you start using AWS End User Messaging SMS.

Intended Audience

This tutorial is designed for system administrators and developers responsible for setting up, testing, and deploying AWS End User Messaging SMS.

Features Used

This tutorial shows you how to use the AWS End User Messaging SMS console to:

• Create and configure a phone pool.

• Request an origination identity, which is either a phone number or sender ID.

• Create and configure a protect configuration.

• Send a test SMS message with the SMS simulator.

Time Required

It should take about 10–15 minutes to complete this tutorial.

Regional Restrictions

There are no country or regional restrictions associated with using this solution.

Resource Usage Costs

There's no charge for creating an AWS account. However, by implementing this solution, you might incur some or all of the costs that are listed in the following table.

Description	Cost (US dollars)
Message sending costs	You pay for each SMS message part that you send through AWS End User Messaging SMS. For more information about pricing, see AWS End User Messaging Pricing.
Monthly phone number lease cost	You pay a recurring monthly fee to lease each phone number or sender ID. The monthly fee varies depending on the type of phone number and sender ID. For more information about pricing, see AWS End User Messaging Pricing.

AWS account permissions

The account that you use to sign in to the AWS Management Console has to be able to perform the following tasks:

• Create a pool

• Create a configuration set

• Create an event destination

• Send SMS messages

For more information about account permissions, see Identity and access management for AWS End User Messaging SMS.

Step 1: Create a pool

The procedures in this section show you how to create a pool and add either a phone number or sender ID to the pool.

To create a pool

1. Open the AWS End User Messaging SMS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/sms-voice/.

2. In the navigation pane, under Overview, in the Quick start section, choose Create pool.

3. Under the Pool setup section, enter a name for your pool in Pool name.

4. Choose one of the following options:

   • Phone number – If you choose this option, under Phone numbers available for association, choose either:

     • Request simulator number, and in the Country dropdown list, choose the destination country and then Request number.

       Note

       A simulated phone number doesn't require registration. It generates realistic events and is used for testing. Messages sent from a simulator number can only be sent to other simulator destination numbers and aren't sent over the carrier network.

     • Choose a phone number that you've previously purchased.

   • Sender ID – If you choose this option, choose a sender ID from Sender IDs available for association.

5. Choose Create phone pool.

Step 2: Create a configuration set

The procedures in this section show you how to create a configuration set, add a CloudWatch Events, Amazon Data Firehose, or Amazon SNS destination and choose the event types.

1. Open the AWS End User Messaging SMS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/sms-voice/.

2. In the navigation pane, under Overview, in the Quick start section, choose Create set.

3. Under the Configuration set details section, enter a name in Configuration set name.

4. For Event destination setup, choose either:

   • Set up CloudFormation (Recommended) to have AWS CloudFormation create and configure CloudWatch, Amazon Data Firehose and Amazon SNS to log all events.

     • For Event destination name enter a name for the event destination.

     • Choose Launch stack.

     • A new browser window will open. Review the Quick create stack form and check any acknowledgements. Choose Create stack.

       Note

       Creating the AWS CloudFormation stack can take up to five minutes.

     • When the status indicator for the AWS CloudFormation stack on the Create configuration set page is Stack created, choose Create.

   • Setup event destination to manually set up the configuration set and event destination.

     • For Event destination name, enter a name for the event destination.

     • For Destination type, choose either CloudWatch, Amazon Data Firehose or Amazon SNS. For more information on how to setup these event destinations see Set up Amazon CloudWatch event destination, Set up Amazon Data Firehose event destination and Set upAmazon SNS event destination

     • Under Event types, choose the appropriate option:

       • All SMS events (Recommended) – Send all SMS events listed in Event types to the event destination.

       • Custom SMS events – Choose specific SMS events to send to the event destination. To edit the list of events choose Edit SMS event selection. In the Edit SMS event selection window choose only the events that you want to log. Choose Save selection.

       • All MMS events (Recommended) – Send all MMS events listed in Event types to the event destination.

       • Custom MMS events – Choose specific MMS events to send to the event destination. To edit the list of events choose Edit MMS event selection. In the Edit MMS event selection window choose only the events that you want to log. Choose Save selection.

       • All voice events (Recommended) – Send all voice events listed in Event types to the event destination.

       • Custom voice events – Choose specific voice events to send to the event destination. To edit the list of events, choose Edit voice event selection. In the Edit voice event selection window choose only the events the you want to log. Choose Save selection.

     • Choose Create.

5. Choose Create configuration set

Step 3: Create a protect configuration

The procedures in this section show you how to create a protect configuration to specify which countries AWS End User Messaging SMS can send messages to.

1. Open the AWS End User Messaging SMS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/sms-voice/.

2. In the navigation pane, under Overview, in the Quick start section, choose Create configuration.

3. Under Protect configuration details enter a friendly name for your protect configuration in Protect configuration name.

4. (Optional) We recommend you use protect configurations to control which destination countries AWS End User Messaging SMS can send messages to.

   Under SMS country rules, choose the countries to block sending messages to, by default all countries are allowed. After the countries are selected choose Block.

   Note

   Do not block the country that you are going to send a test message to in the next step.

5. In Protect configuration associates under Association type, choose Configuration set association. Under Configuration sets available for association, choose the configuration set you created in step 2.

6. Choose Create configuration.

Step 4: Send a test message with the SMS simulator

Note

To add a verified destination phone number you must have an originator that's status is Active, see View a phone number status and capabilities in AWS End User Messaging SMS. If you don't have an Active originator then use a simulator phone number and a simulator destination phone number to send and receive the test SMS message.

The procedures in this section show you how to send a test SMS message to verify your environment is correctly configured.

1. Open the AWS End User Messaging SMS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/sms-voice/.

2. In the navigation pane, under Overview, in the Quick start section, choose Test SMS sending.

3. For Originator, choose either Phone pool, Phone number or Sender ID as the type of originator to send the test message. You then need to select the originator identity from the dropdown list.

   1. (Optional) If you need a simulator phone number then choose Request simulator number. In the Request simulator number window choose a Country from the dropdown list and then choose Request number.

      Note

      Simulator phone numbers can only send to other simulator destination phone numbers however they behave like actual phone numbers without sending over the carrier network. For example, US simulator phone numbers can only send to US destination simulator phone numbers.

4. In the Destination number section, choose either Simulator number or Verified number and then select the number from the dropdown list.

   To view your current list of verified destination numbers choose Verified number then expand Manage verified destination number. If you don't have any verified destination phone numbers, or need to add a new verified destination phone number, do the following:

   1. To verify a new destination phone number, choose Verify new number.

   2. In the Add phone number window for Destination phone number, enter the phone number of the device to receive the test message. The phone number must start with a '+' and can't contain any spaces, hyphens, or parentheses. For example, [phone] is not in the correct format, but [phone] is.

   3. Choose Send verification code.

   4. The destination device will receive a verification code that is valid for 15 minutes. Enter the code the device received into the Verification code field.

   5. Choose Verify number.

5. For Configuration set, choose the event destination to receive the event data.

6. For Message body, enter a custom SMS message.

7. Choose Send test message.

8. For Event logs: CloudWatch, choose the refresh button to display the event log of the test message.

   Tip

   Wait at least at 10 seconds after sending the test SMS message before refreshing.

Next steps: Move from sandbox to production

After fully testing your SMS environment in the SMS sandbox, you can request to move to production.

1. Open the AWS End User Messaging SMS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/sms-voice/.

2. In the navigation pane, under Overview, in the Quick start section, choose Create request.

3. On the Support menu, choose Support Center.

4. In the Your support cases pane, choose Create case.

5. In the Looking for service quota increases? window choose Create a case instead.

6. Choose the Looking for service limit increases? link, then complete the following:

   • For Service, choose AWS End User Messaging SMS (Pinpoint).

   • (Optional) For Provide a link to the site or app which will be sending SMS messages, provide information about the website, application, or service that will send SMS messages.

   • (Optional) For What type of messages do you plan to send, choose the type of message that you plan to send by using your origination identity:

     • One Time Password – Messages that provide passwords that your customers use to authenticate with your website or application.

     • Promotional – Noncritical messages that promote your business or service, such as special offers or announcements.

     • Transactional – Important informational messages that support customer transactions, such as order confirmations or account alerts. Transactional messages must not contain promotional or marketing content.

   • (Optional) For Which AWS Region will you be sending messages from, choose the AWS Region that you will be sending messages from.

   • (Optional) For Which countries do you plan to send messages to, enter the country or region that you want to purchase short codes in.

   • (Optional) For How do your customers opt to receive messages from you, provide details about your opt-in process.

   • (Optional) For Please provide the message template that you plan to use to send messages to your customers, include the template that you will be using.

7. Under Requests, complete the following sections:

   • For the Region, choose the AWS Region from which you will be sending messages.

     Note

     The Region is required in the Requests section. Even if you provided this information in the Case details section, you must also include it here.

   • For Resource Type, choose General Limits.

   • For the Quota, choose SMS Production Access.

   • For New quota value, enter 1.

8. Under Case description, for Use case description, enter any relevant details about this request.

9. (Optional) If you want to submit any further requests, choose Add another request.

10. Under Contact options, for Preferred contact language, choose whether you want to receive communications for this case in English or Japanese.

11. When you finish, choose Submit.