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AWS CLI Cheatsheet

A comprehensive cheatsheet covering essential AWS CLI commands, configuration, and usage examples for managing AWS services.

Core Commands & Configuration

Basic AWS CLI Usage

aws <command> <subcommand> [options] [parameters] - General command structure.

Example:
aws s3 ls s3://mybucket

aws --version - Check AWS CLI version.
aws help - Get help on AWS CLI usage.
aws <command> help - Get help on specific command.

aws configure - Configure AWS credentials, region, and output format.

Example:

aws configure
AWS Access Key ID [None]: AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
AWS Secret Access Key [None]: wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
Default region name [None]: us-west-2
Default output format [None]: json

aws configure list - List current AWS CLI configuration.

aws configure get region - Get the configured region.

Configuration Profiles

Creating profiles

aws configure --profile project1
aws configure --profile project2

Using profiles

aws s3 ls s3://mybucket --profile project1

Setting environment variables

export AWS_PROFILE=project1

Output Options

--output <value>

Specify the output format: json, text, table

Example:
aws ec2 describe-instances --output table

--query <expression>

Filter output using JMESPath expressions.

Example:
aws ec2 describe-instances --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].InstanceId'

EC2 Management

Instance Operations

aws ec2 describe-instances - Describe EC2 instances.

aws ec2 describe-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0 - Describe specific instance.

aws ec2 start-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0 - Start EC2 instance.

aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0 - Stop EC2 instance.

aws ec2 terminate-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0 - Terminate EC2 instance.

aws ec2 reboot-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0 - Reboot EC2 instance.

Security Groups

aws ec2 describe-security-groups

Describe security groups.

aws ec2 create-security-group

Create a new security group.

aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress

Add ingress rule to a security group.

aws ec2 revoke-security-group-ingress

Remove ingress rule from a security group.

Key Pairs

aws ec2 describe-key-pairs

Describe key pairs.

aws ec2 create-key-pair --key-name MyKeyPair

Create a new key pair.

aws ec2 delete-key-pair --key-name MyKeyPair

Delete a key pair.

S3 Bucket Management

Basic S3 Operations

aws s3 ls s3://mybucket - List objects in S3 bucket.

aws s3 cp myfile.txt s3://mybucket/ - Copy file to S3 bucket.

aws s3 cp s3://mybucket/myfile.txt . - Copy file from S3 bucket to current directory.

aws s3 mv s3://mybucket/oldfile.txt s3://mybucket/newfile.txt - Move object in S3 bucket.

aws s3 rm s3://mybucket/myfile.txt - Remove object from S3 bucket.

Recursive Operations & Sync

Recursive remove

aws s3 rm s3://mybucket/folder --recursive

Recursive copy

aws s3 cp myfolder s3://mybucket/folder --recursive

Sync local folder with S3 bucket

aws s3 sync myfolder s3://mybucket/folder
aws s3 sync myfolder s3://mybucket/folder --exclude *.tmp

Bucket Management

aws s3api create-bucket --bucket mybucket --region us-west-2

Create a new S3 bucket.

aws s3api delete-bucket --bucket mybucket --region us-west-2

Delete an empty S3 bucket.

aws s3api put-bucket-acl --bucket mybucket --acl public-read

Set bucket ACL.

ECS & Elastic Beanstalk

ECS Cluster Management

aws ecs create-cluster --cluster-name mycluster - Create ECS cluster.

aws ecs describe-clusters --clusters mycluster - Describe ECS clusters.

aws ecs delete-cluster --cluster mycluster - Delete ECS cluster.

ECS Service Management

aws ecs create-service

Create ECS service. Requires cluster, task definition, etc.

aws ecs update-service

Update ECS service.

aws ecs delete-service

Delete ECS service.

Elastic Beanstalk Configuration

Configuration files:

.elasticbeanstalk/config.yml - Application config.
.elasticbeanstalk/dev-env.env.yml - Environment config.

eb config - Open environment configuration in editor.

ebextensions:

Customize containers.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk/latest/dg/customize-containers.html
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk/latest/dg/customize-containers-ec2.html
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