Setting up access for Amazon SNS

Before you can use Amazon SNS, you must complete the following steps.

Step 1: Create an AWS account and an IAM administrator user

To access any AWS service, you must first create an AWS account. You can use your AWS account to view your activity and usage reports and to manage authentication and access.

1. Navigate to the AWS home page, and then choose Create an AWS Account.

2. Follow the instructions.

   Part of the sign-up procedure involves receiving a phone call and entering a PIN using the phone keypad.

3. When you finish creating your AWS account, follow the instructions in the IAM User Guide to create your first IAM administrator user and group.

Step 2: Create an IAM user and get your AWS credentials

To avoid using your IAM administrator user for Amazon SNS operations, it is a best practice to create an IAM user for each person who needs administrative access to Amazon SNS.

To work with Amazon SNS, you need the AmazonSNSFullAccess policy and AWS credentials that are associated with your IAM user. These credentials are comprised of an access key ID and a secret access key. For more information, see What Is IAM? in the IAM User Guide and AWS Security Credentials in the AWS General Reference.

1. Sign in to the AWS Identity and Access Management console.

2. Choose Users, Add user.

3. Type a User name, such as AmazonSNSAdmin.

4. Select Programmatic access and AWS Management Console access.

5. Set a Console password and then choose Next: Permissions.

6. On the Set permissions page, choose Attach existing policies directly.

7. Type AmazonSNS into the filter, choose AmazonSNSFullAccess, and then choose Next: Tags.

8. On the Add tags (optional) page, choose Next: Review.

9. On the Review page, choose Create user.

   The IAM user is created and the Access key ID is displayed, for example:

   AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE

10. To display your Secret access key, choose Show, for example:

    wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY

    Important

    You can view or download your secret access key only when you create your credentials (however, you can create new credentials at any time).

11. To download your credentials, choose Download .csv. Keep this file in a secure location.

Next steps

Now that you're prepared to work with Amazon SNS, get started by creating a topic, creating a subscription for the topic, publishing a message to the topic, and deleting the subscription and topic.