Cloud CLI Basics

Learning Objectives

• Understand cloud resource management principles
• Learn to interact with cloud providers programmatically
• Develop skills in cloud resource inventory and reporting
• Implement secure credential management
• Create reusable cloud automation scripts

Requirements

You are required to create an AWS CLI automation toolkit:

1. AWS CLI Setup and Authentication
   • Install the AWS CLI and verify (aws --version)
   • Configure credentials (aws configure)
   • Implement secure credential handling (never hardcode secrets)
   • Create a configuration validation test
   • Document the setup process
2. Resource Inventory Script: aws-report.sh
   • List S3 buckets (aws s3 ls)
   • Describe EC2 instances with details (aws ec2 describe-instances)
   • List IAM users (aws iam list-users)
   • Inventory security groups (aws ec2 describe-security-groups)
   • List EBS volumes and attachment status (aws ec2 describe-volumes)
   • Format output as structured JSON or table files
   • Include timestamp and AWS account ID in reports
   • Implement error handling for API calls
3. Analysis and Reporting
   • Create summary statistics (counts, sizes, states)
   • Flag potential issues (unattached volumes, unused security groups)
   • Generate reports in JSON, CSV, and text formats
4. Resource Management
   • Commands to start/stop EC2 instances
   • Create/delete S3 buckets
   • Include usage examples for each operation

Stretch Goals

• Add multi-region support with comparison
• Implement resource tagging validation
• Create cost optimization recommendations
• Generate an HTML dashboard from collected data

Deliverables

• aws-setup.sh for CLI installation and configuration
• aws-report.sh implementing all resource reporting
• Sample outputs with sensitive information redacted
• Documentation covering prerequisites, usage, output format, and troubleshooting

References

• AWS CLI Official Documentation
• AWS CLI Configuration Guide
• AWS CLI Examples for S3
• AWS CLI Examples for EC2
• AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials
• AWS Pricing Calculator

Once you complete this task you will know how to manage cloud resources programmatically using the AWS CLI - a fundamental skill for any DevOps engineer working with cloud infrastructure.