# Set up your AWS account
<a name="setting-up-cloudfront"></a>

This topic describes preliminary steps, such as creating an AWS account, to prepare you to use Amazon CloudFront.

**Topics**
+ [Sign up for an AWS account](#sign-up-for-aws)
+ [Choose how to access CloudFront](#introduction-accessing-cloudfront)

## Sign up for an AWS account
<a name="sign-up-for-aws"></a>

To get started with AWS, you need an AWS account. There are two ways to sign up for AWS. If you want complete control over account configuration and where your content is stored, or if you have regulated workloads such as HIPAA or FedRAMP, use [Sign up for AWS (advanced)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/accounts/latest/reference/getting-started.html). If you are a new user and want to use a login you already own to sign in to AWS and create an AWS environment with preconfigured defaults in select [AWS Regions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/accounts/latest/reference/project-regions.html), use [Sign up for AWS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/accounts/latest/reference/sign-in-new.html).

## Choose how to access CloudFront
<a name="introduction-accessing-cloudfront"></a>

You can access Amazon CloudFront in the following ways:
+ **AWS Management Console** – The procedures throughout this guide explain how to use the AWS Management Console to perform tasks.
+ **AWS SDKs** – If you're using a programming language that AWS provides an SDK for, you can use an SDK to access CloudFront. SDKs simplify authentication, integrate easily with your development environment, and provide access to CloudFront commands. For more information, see [Using CloudFront with an AWS SDK](sdk-general-information-section.md).
+ **CloudFront API** – If you're using a programming language that an SDK isn't available for, see the [Amazon CloudFront API Reference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/latest/APIReference/Welcome.html) for information about API actions and about how to make API requests.
+ **AWS CLI** – The AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) is a unified tool for managing AWS services. For information about how to install and configure the AWS CLI, see [Install or update to the latest version of the AWS CLI](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html) in the *AWS Command Line Interface User Guide*.
+ **Tools for Windows PowerShell** – If you have experience with Windows PowerShell, you might prefer to use AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell. For more information, see [Installing the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/latest/userguide/pstools-getting-set-up.html) in the *AWS Tools for PowerShell User Guide*.