User guide
Getting Started with the AWS SDK
for .NET
To get started with the AWS SDK for .NET, set up the following:
• AWS Account and Credentials
• .NET Development Environment
• SDK for .NET
AWS Account and Credentials
To access AWS, you need an AWS account.
To sign up for an AWS account
1. Go to http://amazonaws.cn, and then click Sign Up.
2. Follow the on-screen instructions.
Part of the sign-up procedure involves receiving a phone call and entering a PIN using the phone
keypad.
AWS sends you a confirmation email after the sign-up process is complete. At any time, you can view
your current account activity and manage your account by going to http://amazonaws.cn and clicking My
Account/Console.
To use the SDK for .NET, you must have a set of valid AWS credentials, which consist of an access key
and a secret key. These keys are used to sign programmatic web service requests and enable AWS to
verify that the request comes from an authorized source.You can obtain a set of account credentials
when you create your account. However, we recommend that you do not use these credentials with SDK
for .NET. Instead, create one or more IAM users, and use those credentials. For applications that run on
EC2 instances, you can use instance roles to provide temporary credentials.
The preferred approach for handling credentials is to create a profile for each set of credentials in the
SDK Store.You can create and manage profiles with the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio, PowerShell
cmdlets, or programmatically with the SDK for .NET.These credentials are encrypted and stored separately
from any project.You then reference the profile by name in your application, and the credentials are
Version v2.0.0
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AWS SDK for .NET Developer Guide
AWS Account and Credentials