CloudShell - The forgotten tool
Have you gotten a new laptop, haven't migrated your AWS config, and needed to access that AWS console? Have you gone out just with your iPad or at a friend's place and are required to access AWS quickly without all your standard tools?
All is not lost! Have a look at AWS CloudShell. I call CloudShell the forgotten tool. It just sits there, unobtrusively waiting for you to notice it. I don't use it too often, but when I do, I love it. So many people don't even know it exists.
So, what is AWS CloudShell? It's an Amazon Linux 2 environment in the cloud with many pre-installed tools. Sorry, Windows folk, there's no GUI, but it does have PowerShell. AWS CloudShell launched in Dec 2020 and came to Sydney in Apr 2021. It is not currently in Melbourne.
Since you need to log in to the AWS Console to access CloudShell, anything you do within Cloudshell uses your IAM permissions. You don't need to create an AWS config file if you want to use the AWS CLI from your CloudShell. You can also use a secure file transfer to upload or download files to/from your computer.
Have I got your interest? What are the included tools, you ask? ALL THE CLIs! AWS CLI v2, Amazon ECS CLI, AWS SAM CLI, EB CLI, AWS Tools for PowerShell. AWS CloudShell also has Python3 and Node.js installed, plus the SDKs. Git and CodCommit utility for Git, plus kubectl, are installed by default. There is also SSH. If that doesn't do it for you, install what you need.
At the time of writing, CloudShell is using Amazon Linux 2, but September will see this changed to Amazon Linux 2023.
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I'm sold; how do I get to it? There are three ways to access CloudShell and two ways to use it. For a full-screen environment, go to your Services, look under Developer Tool, or type CloudShell in the search bar.
You can also use CloudShell as a toolbar under the console window. You can access that via the CloudShell icons at the console's top right or bottom left.
To wrap up, AWS CloudShell is a great way to access your AWS environments quickly. The 1GB of persistent storage lets you retain extra config files, scripts, or whatever else you need.