Simplifying Resource Sharing with AWS RAM: A Hands-On Demo

Introduction

In this article, I’ll walk you through a practical demonstration of the AWS Resource Access Manager (AWS RAM) console—a powerful tool designed to streamline the sharing of AWS resources across accounts and organizations. AWS RAM makes resource sharing more accessible and secure. In this hands-on demo, we’ll show you how to use it to share a subnet and launch resources across multiple AWS accounts within the same organization.

Understanding AWS Resource Access Manager (AWS RAM)

AWS Resource Access Manager (AWS RAM) is the latest addition to the AWS ecosystem. It simplifies the sharing of AWS resources with other AWS accounts, both within and outside your organization. Whether you’re dealing with multiple AWS accounts or a complex organizational structure, AWS RAM provides a centralized solution for sharing resources such as Amazon EC2 instances, Amazon RDS databases, Amazon Redshift clusters, and AWS Lambda functions.

Enabling Resource Sharing within Your AWS Organization

To initiate resource sharing within your organization, you must first enable sharing through the AWS RAM console:

1. Access the AWS RAM console.
2. From the left menu, click on “Settings.”
3. Choose “Enable sharing within your AWS organization.”
4. Save your settings.

Creating a Resource Share

With sharing enabled in your organization, you’re now ready to create a resource share. In our demonstration, we’ll share a subnet with other accounts in the same organization. Follow these steps:

1. In the AWS RAM console, navigate to “Resource shares” in the left menu.
2. Select “Create resource share.”
3. Assign a name to the resource share (e.g., “Shared Subnet”).
4. Confirm that “Subnets” is the selected resource type.
5. Pick one or more subnets for sharing.
6. Under “Principals,” enable the “Allow external accounts” option. Note that this option is necessary to share resources beyond your organization.
7. Optionally, add tags to the share.
8. Confirm by creating the resource share.

Sharing Resources with Other Accounts

Once the resource share is created, you can now share the subnet with individual accounts or entire organizational units. The AWS RAM console provides flexible sharing options to meet your specific needs. You can also opt to share resources with accounts outside your organization if necessary.

Accessing Shared Resources

Now, let’s log in to one of the accounts to which we’ve shared the subnet. In the “Share with me” section of the AWS RAM console, you can locate the shared subnet. For our example, we’ll demonstrate launching an Amazon EC2 instance within the shared subnet. Here’s how:

1. Select an Amazon Machine Image (AMI).
2. Choose an instance type.
3. In the instance details, pick the shared subnet.
4. Launch the instance.

Additional Resources

To delve deeper into AWS RAM and expand your knowledge, explore these resources:

1. AWS RAM Home Page: Visit the official AWS RAM page for detailed information.
2. AWS RAM Documentation: Access comprehensive documentation to master AWS RAM.
3. AWS Cloud Security: Ensure the security and compliance of your AWS resources with AWS’s robust cloud security services.

Conclusion

AWS Resource Access Manager (AWS RAM) is a robust tool that simplifies resource sharing across accounts and organizations. With its user-friendly console and versatile sharing options, you can efficiently manage resource sharing within your AWS ecosystem. This hands-on demo showcased how to enable sharing, create resource shares, and access shared resources. AWS RAM is a valuable addition to your cloud management toolkit. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of AWS RAM’s capabilities.