AWS Administration - Cookbook - CLI

A practical cookbook of complete, runnable AWS scripts for real admin tasks—IAM and access, EC2, VPC networking, S3, cost management, governance, monitoring, and automation. CLI-first with boto3 for heavier jobs, plus a standout Azure↔AWS concept map for admins crossing over.

AWS Administration Cookbook is a cookbook, not a certification guide. Every recipe is a complete, runnable script for something AWS administrators actually do—delivered with the permissions it needs, the output it produces, and an explanation of why it works so you can adapt it to your own estate. If you manage AWS and want to automate real tasks rather than wade through exam objectives, this book is built for you.

Every Recipe Is Complete and Runnable

There are no fragments here and no "…and adapt as needed." Every recipe follows the same practical shape: the goal in one sentence; what you'll need (roles, values, and prerequisites); the script, complete and runnable, never a fragment; what you get, showing real output so you know it worked; how it works, explaining the reasoning behind the code; and variations, pointing to the next thing you'll want to do. Substitute your own values and each recipe runs as written.

CLI-First, with boto3 for the Heavy Lifting

The recipes lead with the AWS CLI for clarity and speed, then reach for boto3 (Python) where scripts get more involved—like right-sizing analysis, nightly automation, and production-grade patterns. A PowerShell equivalents appendix is included too, so the approach fits however your team works.

Built-In Protection Against Costly Mistakes

The most expensive mistake in AWS scripting is running a destructive command against the wrong account. This book builds good habits from the start—making an identity check with aws sts get-caller-identity a reflex before every script—and threads that same production-minded caution through its automation, with safeguards like confirmation prompts and dry-run defaults in the production template. These are the practical protections an experienced admin writes, not a textbook.

Coming from Azure? Most of What You Know Transfers

If you're crossing over from Azure, the core concepts—scopes, identity, network segmentation, tagging, cost control—are the same; it's the vocabulary and a handful of structural assumptions that differ. This book makes that transition its standout feature. A dedicated Azure↔AWS concept map translates the two clouds concept by concept, and the book surfaces the key differences that trip people up: there's no resource group (tags and CloudFormation stacks do that job), the account is the boundary and organizations run many of them, IAM policies are JSON documents you write rather than role names you pick, and Elastic IPs bill when idle—the opposite of the Azure intuition.

What You'll Automate

The recipes span the full range of everyday and advanced AWS administration:

• IAM and access — how a policy is evaluated, creating and using roles instead of access keys, and auditing users, keys, and permissions
• EC2 instances — launching with secure defaults, stopping payment for idle instances, and finding right-sizing candidates from CloudWatch
• VPC and networking — what makes a subnet public, security groups versus NACLs, building a VPC with public and private subnets, and diagnosing blocked traffic
• S3 storage — the security defaults that changed in your favor, creating buckets with proper security, syncing data with lifecycle cost rules, and auditing buckets for public access
• Cost management — where the money actually goes, breaking down spend, and setting budgets while finding the classic waste
• Governance and tagging — enforcing tagging, finding what's untagged, restricting regions, and protecting resources
• Monitoring and backup — querying logs, creating useful alarms, and backing up with AWS Backup while proving the restore works
• Automation — scheduling a Lambda to stop idle instances nightly, and the production script pattern in boto3

Find Real Money in an Afternoon

AWS cost sprawl is real, and this book treats it practically. Dedicated cost recipes—breaking down spend, setting budgets, stopping idle instances—target the classic waste: unattached EBS volumes, idle Elastic IPs, old snapshots, and the invisible one, unfinished multipart uploads. They're designed to find real money in an afternoon, and the governance recipes for tag enforcement and region restriction keep your estate controlled going forward.

Grounded in Current AWS Security Defaults

The recipes reflect how AWS actually behaves today, including the modern security defaults that now protect you by default—so the buckets you create and the instances you launch start from a secure baseline rather than a risky one.

Suggested Paths for Your Situation

The book adapts to where you are. New to AWS automation? Read the setup and IAM sections in order, then jump to whichever service you work with most. Under cost pressure? Head straight to the EC2 and cost recipes. Running a security review? The IAM audit, networking, and cost sections answer most audit questions. Coming from Azure? Read the concept map first, then the setup section.

Reference Material You'll Keep Open

The appendices are built for daily use: a CLI command reference, PowerShell equivalents, the Azure↔AWS concept map, a troubleshooting reference, and a glossary.

Why This Book

Certification guides teach you to pass an exam; this cookbook teaches you to get real work done. With complete, runnable scripts grounded in actual admin tasks, built-in safeguards, current security defaults, and a genuinely useful bridge from Azure, it's the practical companion for anyone administering AWS day to day. Check your identity, run the recipe, and get back to work.