How to Set Up an AWS Free Tier Account and Console

AWS offers a Free Tier account, which provides a limited amount of resources for free to help you get started with AWS services. Here are the steps to create and navigate an AWS Free Tier account:

Creating an AWS Free Tier Account

1. Sign Up:

   • Go to the AWS Free Tier page.

   • Click on the "Create a Free Account" button.

   • Follow the instructions to enter your email address, password, and account name.

2. Contact Information:

   • Enter your contact information, including your address and phone number.

   • Choose the account type (Personal or Professional).

3. Payment Information:

   • Enter your credit card details. AWS requires a credit card for identity verification, but you won't be charged as long as you stay within the Free Tier limits.

4. Identity Verification:

   • Complete the phone verification process by entering your phone number and the verification code sent to you.

5. Support Plan:

   • Select the "Basic" support plan, which is free.

6. Confirmation:

   • Review your account information and confirm your account.

Accessing the AWS Management Console

1. Login:

   • Once your account is created, go to the AWS Management Console.

   • Log in with your email address and password.

2. Navigating the Console:

   • The console homepage provides access to various AWS services.

   • You can use the search bar at the top to quickly find a service.

   • On the left, there is a navigation pane where you can access different categories of services such as Compute, Storage, Database, etc.

AWS Free Tier Services

The Free Tier offers various services with free usage limits. Here are some popular ones:

• Amazon EC2: 750 hours of t2.micro or t3.micro instances per month for 12 months.

• Amazon S3: 5 GB of Standard Storage.

• Amazon RDS: 750 hours of db.t2.micro or db.t3.micro instances for databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.

• AWS Lambda: 1 million free requests per month.

Monitoring Your Usage

To ensure you stay within the Free Tier limits:

1. Billing and Cost Management:

   • Go to the "Billing and Cost Management" dashboard from the console.

   • Set up billing alerts to get notified if your usage exceeds the Free Tier limits.

2. Free Tier Usage Alerts:

   • AWS provides alerts for Free Tier usage. You can set these up in the "Budgets" section of the console.

By following these steps, you can effectively use your AWS Free Tier account and navigate the AWS Management Console.