AWS Resource Listing with Shell Scripting

As cloud environments grow more complex, it becomes increasingly important to efficiently manage resources. Automation can simplify resource tracking and management, especially in AWS where various services are actively used. One effective way to streamline this process is by using shell scripting in combination with AWS CLI to list all active resources in an AWS account.

In this blog, I'll walk you through a shell script I created to automate the process of listing AWS resources such as EC2 instances, S3 buckets, VPCs, EBS volumes, and more.

Prerequisites

Before you proceed, ensure that you have:

1. AWS CLI installed on your local machine.

2. Configured AWS CLI with appropriate credentials and access.

Script: aws-resource-list.sh

Here’s the script that automates listing resources across multiple AWS services. It accepts two command-line arguments: the AWS region and the AWS service you want to query.

Following command list s3 resources in ap-south-1 region.

./aws-resource-list.sh ap-south-1 s3

How It Works

1. AWS CLI Check: The script first checks whether the AWS CLI is installed and properly configured. If either is missing, the script exits with a relevant error message.

2. Argument Handling: It accepts two arguments: the AWS region (e.g., ap-south-1) and the AWS service you want to query (e.g., ec2).

3. Service-Specific Commands: Depending on the service argument, the script calls the corresponding AWS CLI command to list resources.

This script provides a simple yet powerful way to automate the task of listing AWS resources. As your infrastructure grows, such scripts can be invaluable in maintaining visibility over your cloud environment.