AWS IAM Role Setup for EC2 - Cloud Bridge Marlow Project

Project Overview

This project demonstrates secure IAM role configuration for EC2 instances, following AWS best practices. It showcases my ability to implement least-privilege access controls - a critical requirement for Cloud Support Engineers at Cloud Bridge.

Implementation Steps

Step 1: Navigate to IAM in AWS Console

Sign in to AWS Management Console
Search for "IAM" in the services search bar

Step 2: Create a New IAM Role

1. Click "Roles" in the left navigation
2. Click "Create Role" (top right)
3. Select "AWS service" as trusted entity type
4. Choose "EC2" as the service that will use this role
5. Click "Next" to proceed to permissions

Step 3: Attach Permissions Policies

Following the principle of least privilege:

AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess - For read-only S3 access
CloudWatchAgentServerPolicy - For monitoring
AWS managed policies or create custom policies as needed

Step 4: Name & Review the Role

1. Name: "CloudBridge-EC2-Role"
2. Description: "Allows EC2 to access S3 and CloudWatch"
3. Review all settings
4. Click "Create Role"

Security Note: Avoid using wildcard permissions (*) in production environments.

Step 5: Attach Role to EC2 Instance

1. Navigate to EC2 Dashboard
2. Select your instance
3. Click "Actions" > "Security" > "Modify IAM Role"
4. Select your newly created role
5. Click "Update IAM Role"

Step 6: Verify Security Credentials

1. SSH into your EC2 instance
2. Run: aws sts get-caller-identity
3. Verify output shows correct IAM Role
4. Check permissions with test commands

Security Best Practices Implemented

Least Privilege Principle: Only granted necessary permissions
AWS Managed Policies: Used instead of custom policies where possible
No Hardcoded Credentials: Using IAM roles eliminates need for access keys
Clear Naming Convention: Descriptive role name and description
Documentation: Detailed all steps for team reference

Next Steps

Implement fine-grained S3 bucket policies for additional security
Set up CloudWatch alarms for monitoring
Create custom IAM policies with proper access controls
Implement permission boundaries for advanced use cases

This demonstration shows my ability to implement secure AWS IAM configurations following Cloud Bridge Marlow's security standards.