Basic Tab
Obtaining the Access Key
To obtain the credentials for an IAM user, follow the steps below:
1. Sign into the IAM console.
2. In the navigation pane, select Users.
3. To create or manage the access keys for a user, select the user and then select the Security Credentials tab.
To obtain the credentials for your AWS root account, follow the steps below:
1. Sign into the AWS Management console with the credentials for your root account.
2. Select your account name or number and select My Security Credentials in the menu that is displayed.
3. Click Continue to Security Credentials and expand the Access Keys section to manage or create root account access keys.
Authenticating with Root Credentials
To authenticate using account root credentials, set the following:
• AWSAccessKey: The access key associated with the AWS root account.
• AWSSecretKey: The secret key associated with the AWS root account.
Note: Use of this authentication scheme is discouraged by Amazon for anything but simple tests. The account root credentials have the full permissions of the user, making this the least secure authentication method.
Authenticating with Temporary Credentials
To authenticate using temporary credentials, specify the following:
• AuthScheme: Set this to TemporaryCredentials.
• AWSAccessKey: The access key of the IAM user to assume the role for.
• AWSSecretKey: The secret key of the IAM user to assume the role for.
• AWSSessionToken: Your AWS session token. This will have been provided alongside your temporary credentials.
The adapter can now request resources using the same permissions provided by long-term credentials (such as IAM user credentials) for the lifespan of the temporary credentials.
If you are also using an IAM role to authenticate, you must additionally specify the following:
• AWSRoleARN: Specify the Role ARN for the role you'd like to authenticate with. This will cause the adapter to attempt to retrieve credentials for the specified role.
• AWSExternalId: Only if required when you assume a role in another account.
Authenticating from an EC2 Instance
If you are using the adapter from an EC2 Instance and have an IAM Role assigned to the instance, you can use the IAM Role to authenticate. To do so, set the following properties to authenticate:
• AuthScheme: Set this to AwsEC2Roles.
Leave AWSAccessKey and AWSSecretKey empty. The adapter will automatically obtain your IAM Role credentials and authenticate with them.
If you are also using an IAM role to authenticate, you must additionally specify the following:
• AWSRoleARN: Specify the Role ARN for the role you'd like to authenticate with. This will cause the adapter to attempt to retrieve credentials for the specified role.
• AWSExternalId: Only if required when you assume a role in another account.
Authenticating as an AWS Role
In many situations it may be preferable to use an IAM role for authentication instead of the direct security credentials of an AWS root user.
To authenticate as an AWS role, set the following:
• AuthScheme: Set this to AwsIAMRoles.
• AWSRoleARN: Specify the Role ARN for the role you'd like to authenticate with. This will cause the adapter to attempt to retrieve credentials for the specified role.
• AWSExternalId: Only if required when you assume a role in another account.
If you are connecting to AWS (instead of already being connected such as on an EC2 instance), you must additionally specify the following:
• AWSAccessKey: The access key of the IAM user to assume the role for.
• AWSSecretKey: The secret key of the IAM user to assume the role for.
Note: Roles may not be used when specifying the AWSAccessKey and AWSSecretKey of an AWS root user.
Authenticating with MFA
For users and roles that require Multi-factor Authentication, specify the following to authenticate:
• AuthScheme: Set this to AwsMFA.
• CredentialsLocation: The location of the settings file where MFA credentials are saved. See the Credentials File Location page under Connection String Options for more information.
• MFASerialNumber: The serial number of the MFA device if one is being used.
• MFAToken: The temporary token available from your MFA device.
If you are connecting to AWS (instead of already being connected such as on an EC2 instance), you must additionally specify the following:
• AWSAccessKey: The access key of the IAM user for whom MFA will be issued.
• AWSSecretKey: The secret key of the IAM user whom MFA will be issued.
If you are also using an IAM role to authenticate, you must additionally specify the following:
• AWSRoleARN: Specify the Role ARN for the role you'd like to authenticate with. This will cause the adapter to attempt to retrieve credentials for the specified role using MFA.
• AWSExternalId: Only if required when you assume a role in another account.
This will cause the adapter to submit the MFA credentials in a request to retrieve temporary authentication credentials.
Note that the duration of the temporary credentials may be controlled via the TemporaryTokenDuration property (default 3600 seconds).
Connecting to DynamoDB
Once you have configured the adapter for your desired authentication method, you can optionally set the following to refine data access:
• Domain: Set this if you want to use a domain name you have associated with AWS.
• AWSRegion: Set this to the region where your Amazon DynamoDB data is hosted.