How to work with multiple AWS accounts using aws cli

It happens rather fast when the number of AWS accounts becomes grater then two. So question appears how to deal with such a situation, how to switch between multiple AWS accounts in a fast and convenient way? It is not so complicated. The answer is – we need to configure AWS named profiles. Below is a typical scenario for Linux systems. After installing and configuring aws-cli we are getting default aws profile. Lets assume that now we have to operate at second aws account which we will call “second-aws-account” – generally you may call it whatever you want :). To configure AWS profile we have to to 2 things:

1. Open ~/.aws/config file with some editor, e,g vim or nano, and add below [default] section new profile part, e.g:

[default]
region = eu-central-1

[profile second-aws-account] //Use the prefix "profile" here + profile name
region = eu-west-1
[default]
region = eu-central-1

[profile second-aws-account] //Use the prefix "profile" here + profile name
region = eu-west-1

2. Open ~/.aws/credentials file with some editor, e,g vim or nano, and add below [default] section credentials related to new profile:

[default]
aws_access_key_id=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
aws_secret_access_key=YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

[second-aws-account] // Do not use the prefix "profile" - only profile name
aws_access_key_id=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
aws_secret_access_key=YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
[default]
aws_access_key_id=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
aws_secret_access_key=YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

[second-aws-account] // Do not use the prefix "profile" - only profile name
aws_access_key_id=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
aws_secret_access_key=YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

Verify that the profile is successfully added by aws configure list-profiles. You should now see 2 profiles: default and second-aws-account. To see your current profile use aws configure list command or configure your bash prompt to display your active aws profile name, which is better option as for me

To switch between profiles use next commands e.g: export AWS_PROFILE=default or export AWS_PROFILE=second-aws-account

That’s all – now you can easily use multiple AWS accounts at one PC without any headache