Set up an AWS account
To start using Amazon GameLift, create and set up your AWS account. There's no charge to create an AWS account. This section walks you through creating your account, setting up your users, and configuring permissions.
Topics
Sign up for an AWS account
If you do not have an AWS account, complete the following steps to create one.
To sign up for an AWS account
Open https://portal.aws.amazon.com/billing/signup
. Follow the online instructions.
Part of the sign-up procedure involves receiving a phone call and entering a verification code on the phone keypad.
When you sign up for an AWS account, an AWS account root user is created. The root user has access to all AWS services and resources in the account. As a security best practice, assign administrative access to a user, and use only the root user to perform tasks that require root user access.
AWS sends you a confirmation email after the sign-up process is
complete. At any time, you can view your current account activity and manage your account by
going to https://aws.amazon.com/
Create a user with administrative access
After you sign up for an AWS account, secure your AWS account root user, enable AWS IAM Identity Center, and create an administrative user so that you don't use the root user for everyday tasks.
Secure your AWS account root user
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Sign in to the AWS Management Console
as the account owner by choosing Root user and entering your AWS account email address. On the next page, enter your password. For help signing in by using root user, see Signing in as the root user in the AWS Sign-In User Guide.
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Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) for your root user.
For instructions, see Enable a virtual MFA device for your AWS account root user (console) in the IAM User Guide.
Create a user with administrative access
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Enable IAM Identity Center.
For instructions, see Enabling AWS IAM Identity Center in the AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide.
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In IAM Identity Center, grant administrative access to a user.
For a tutorial about using the IAM Identity Center directory as your identity source, see Configure user access with the default IAM Identity Center directory in the AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide.
Sign in as the user with administrative access
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To sign in with your IAM Identity Center user, use the sign-in URL that was sent to your email address when you created the IAM Identity Center user.
For help signing in using an IAM Identity Center user, see Signing in to the AWS access portal in the AWS Sign-In User Guide.
Assign access to additional users
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In IAM Identity Center, create a permission set that follows the best practice of applying least-privilege permissions.
For instructions, see Create a permission set in the AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide.
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Assign users to a group, and then assign single sign-on access to the group.
For instructions, see Add groups in the AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide.
Set user permissions for Amazon GameLift
Create additional users or extend access permissions to existing users as needed for your Amazon GameLift resources. As a best practice ( Security best practices in IAM), apply least-privilege permissions for all users. For guidance on permissions syntax, see IAM permission examples for Amazon GameLift.
Use following instructions to set user permissions based on how you manage the users in your AWS account.
To provide access, add permissions to your users, groups, or roles:
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Users and groups in AWS IAM Identity Center:
Create a permission set. Follow the instructions in Create a permission set in the AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide.
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Users managed in IAM through an identity provider:
Create a role for identity federation. Follow the instructions in Create a role for a third-party identity provider (federation) in the IAM User Guide.
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IAM users:
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Create a role that your user can assume. Follow the instructions in Create a role for an IAM user in the IAM User Guide.
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(Not recommended) Attach a policy directly to a user or add a user to a user group. Follow the instructions in Adding permissions to a user (console) in the IAM User Guide.
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When working with IAM users, as a best practice always attach permissions to roles or user groups, not individual users.
Set up programmatic access for users
Users need programmatic access if they want to interact with AWS outside of the AWS Management Console. The way to grant programmatic access depends on the type of user that's accessing AWS.
To grant users programmatic access, choose one of the following options.
| Which user needs programmatic access? | To | By |
|---|---|---|
|
Workforce identity (Users managed in IAM Identity Center) |
Use temporary credentials to sign programmatic requests to the AWS CLI, AWS SDKs, or AWS APIs. |
Following the instructions for the interface that you want to use.
|
| IAM | Use temporary credentials to sign programmatic requests to the AWS CLI, AWS SDKs, or AWS APIs. | Following the instructions in Using temporary credentials with AWS resources in the IAM User Guide. |
| IAM | (Not recommended) Use long-term credentials to sign programmatic requests to the AWS CLI, AWS SDKs, or AWS APIs. |
Following the instructions for the interface that you want to use.
|
If you use access keys, see Best practices for managing AWS access keys.
Set up programmatic access for your game
Most games use backend services to communicate with Amazon GameLift using the AWS SDKs. Use a backend service (acting for a game client) to request game sessions, place players into games, and other tasks. These services need programmatic access and security credentials to authenticate calls to Amazon GameLift service APIs.
For Amazon GameLift, you manage this access by creating a player user in AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). Manage player user permissions through one of the following options:
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Create an IAM role with player user permissions and allow the player user to assume the role when needed. The backend service must include code to assume this role before making requests to Amazon GameLift. In accordance with security best practices, roles provide limited, temporary access. You can use roles for workloads running on AWS resources (IAM roles) or outside of AWS (IAM Roles Anywhere).
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Create an IAM user group with player user permissions and add your player user to the group. This option gives your player user long-term credentials, which the backend service must store and use when communicating with Amazon GameLift.
For permissions policy syntax, see Player user permission examples.
For more information on managing permissions for use by a workload, see IAM Identities: Temporary credentials in IAM.
