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AWS accounts

Give learners access to AWS accounts.
This guide explains how to access an Amazon Web Services (AWS) account from Instruqt.
An AWS account is a container for your AWS resources. You create and manage your AWS resources in an AWS account, and the AWS account provides administrative capabilities for access and billing.
— AWS documentation​

Before you begin

You must have already built a track to which you can add access to an AWS account.
Service Limits AWS accounts have built in service limits. If you plan to deploy complex network infrastructure check to make sure you do not exceed the EC2 service quota defaults.

Access AWS accounts

It is best to add the Instruqt Cloud Client container to your track to give a learner access to an AWS account. Because the Instruqt Cloud Client container:
  • Exposes links to the AWS Console for the resources configured in the config.yml file, with the credentials required to log in.
  • Includes the aws CLI, pre-configured with the required credentials.
The AWS Console and the aws CLI make it easy for content developers and learners to access AWS resources from the sandbox.
It takes the following steps to give learners access to an AWS account:
  1. 1.
    Add an Instruqt Cloud Client container to your track.
  2. 2.
    Add an AWS account to your track.
  3. 3.
    Add tabs to your challenges where you want to expose the AWS console or aws CLI.
Additionally, you can use:
  • A set of environment variables that are available in the aws CLI.
  • IAM policies and permissions.
Use the AWS Cloud Account template
Instead of building the track yourself, you can create a track with the AWS Cloud Template. The template includes:
  • The Instruqt Cloud Client container
  • A pre-defined AWS account
  • A challenge with tabs for AWS console and aws CLI

Step 1: Add an Instruqt Cloud Client container to your track

🌐 Web UI
💻 Instruqt CLI
  1. 1.
    Open your browser and go to play.instruqt.com. ↳ Instruqt shows your content.
  2. 2.
    Click the TRACK_NAME of the track where you want to add AWS account access. ↳ Instruqt shows the corresponding Track overview page.
  3. 3.
    Click Track details followed by Sandbox to open the Sandbox page.
  4. 4.
    Click Add container +. ↳ The Create container page opens.
  5. 5.
    Enter/select these values:
    Field
    Value
    Name
    cloud-client
    Image
    gcr.io/instruqt/cloud-client
    Ports
    80
    Shell
    /bin/bash
  6. 6.
    Click Save to add the container. ↳ On the Sandbox page, you will see the new container.
  1. 1.
    Open the file config.yml in your code editor.
  2. 2.
    Copy and paste the following code under the containers property:
    - name: cloud-client
    image: gcr.io/instruqt/cloud-client
    ports: [80]
    shell: /bin/bash

Step 2: Add an AWS account to your track

🌐 Web UI
💻 Instruqt CLI
  1. 1.
    Click Add AWS account + on the Sandbox page. ↳ The Create AWS account page opens.
  2. 2.
    In the Name field, enter awsaccount.
  3. 3.
    In the IAM Policy field, enter the following JSON:
    {
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
    {
    "Sid":"EC2DefaultAllow",
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Action": "ec2:*",
    "Resource": "*"
    }
    ]
    }
  4. 4.
    In the SCP Policy field, enter the following JSON:
    {
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
    {
    "Sid": "RequireLessThanXLInstanceType",
    "Effect": "Deny",
    "Action": "ec2:RunInstances",
    "Resource": "arn:aws:ec2:::instance/*",
    "Condition": {
    "StringNotEquals": {
    "ec2:InstanceType": [
    "t2.nano"
    ]
    }
    }
    }
    ]
    }
  5. 5.
    Click Save to add the AWS account. ↳ On the Sandbox page, you will see the new AWS account.
  6. 6.
    Click Back to return to the Track overview page.
  1. 1.
    Copy and paste the following code into config.yml:
    aws_accounts:
    - name: awsaccount
    managed_policies: []
    ↳ Your config.yml file should be similar to this now:
    version: "3"
    containers:
    - name: cloud-client
    image: gcr.io/instruqt/cloud-client
    ports: [80]
    shell: /bin/bash
    aws_accounts:
    - name: awsaccount
    managed_policies: []

Step 3: Add tabs to expose the AWS console and aws CLI

🌐 Web UI
💻 Instruqt CLI
  1. 1.
    Click Add Challenge on the Track overview page. ↳ The New challenge page opens.
  2. 2.
    Enter/select these values:
    Field
    Value
    Title
    AWS account
    Slug
    aws-ec2
    Assignment > Editor tab
    Markdown text of your liking
    Teaser
    Learn to work with an AWS account
  3. 3.
    Click Save to add the challenge. ↳ On the Track overview page, you will see the new challenge.
  4. 4.
    Click Edit on the new challenge.
  5. 5.
    Click Tabs followed by New tab. ↳ The New tab page opens.
  6. 6.
    Enter/select these values to set the AWS console:
    Field
    Value
    Title
    AWS console
    Type
    Service
    Host
    cloud-client
    Path
    /
    Port
    80
  7. 7.
    Click Save to add the tab.
  8. 8.
    Click New tab again.
  9. 9.
    Enter/select these values to set the aws CLI:
    Field
    Value
    Title
    aws CLI
    Type
    Terminal
    Host
    cloud-client
  10. 10.
    Click Save to add the tab. ↳ On the Challenge tabs page, you will see the new tabs.
  11. 11.
    Click Back followed by Build track.
  12. 12.
    Click Start track and test your AWS account track.
  1. 1.
    Open a terminal and move to your track directory.
  2. 2.
    Enter the following command to create a new challenge:
    instruqt challenge create --title "AWSaccount"
    ↳ Instruqt CLI created a directory for the challenge. And an assignment.md file inside the challenge directory.
  3. 3.
    Open the assignment.md file in your code editor.
  4. 4.
    Copy and paste the following code into assignment.md to set the AWS console and aws CLI:
    ---
    slug: aws-ec2
    type: challenge
    title: AWS account
    teaser: Learn to work with an AWS account
    tabs:
    - title: AWS Console
    type: service
    hostname: cloud-client
    path: /
    port: 80
    - title: aws CLI
    type: terminal
    hostname: cloud-client
    difficulty: basic
    timelimit: 600
    ---
    ⇨ You can add the assignment text of your liking in Markdown after line 17.
  5. 5.
    Save file assignment.md.
  6. 6.
    Push the track to the Instruqt platform:
    instruqt track push
  7. 7.
    Play and test the track:
    instruqt track open
    ↳ Your browser opens, showing the Track overview page. Click Start track to play the track.

Using environment variables

Adding an AWS account to your track also sets a list of environment variables that you can use in commands and scripts:
Environment variable
Description
INSTRUQT_AWS_ACCOUNTS
A comma-separated list of project names that can be used to fill ${NAME} in the variables below
INSTRUQT_AWS_ACCOUNT_${NAME}_ACCOUNT_NAME
This injects the account display name
INSTRUQT_AWS_ACCOUNT_${NAME}_ACCOUNT_ID
This injects the account ID
INSTRUQT_AWS_ACCOUNT_${NAME}_USERNAME
This injects the username that can be used to sign in to the IAM user
INSTRUQT_AWS_ACCOUNT_${NAME}_PASSWORD
This injects the password that can be used to sign in to the IAM user
INSTRUQT_AWS_ACCOUNT_${NAME}_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
This injects the access key id for this account
INSTRUQT_AWS_ACCOUNT_${NAME}_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
This injects the secret access key for this account

Example

This example shows the id of the AWS account from a terminal by using two environment variables. The value of the INSTRUQT_AWS_ACCOUNTS environment variable is inserted in the INSTRUQT_AWS_ACCOUNT_${NAME}_ACCOUNT_ID environment variable.
To follow along:
  1. 1.
    Start your AWS account track and start the first challenge.
  2. 2.
    Move over to the Cloud CLI terminal and enter the following command:
    eval echo "\${INSTRUQT_AWS_ACCOUNT_${INSTRUQT_AWS_ACCOUNTS}_ACCOUNT_ID}"
    ↳ The terminal shows the id of your AWS account project.

Setting policies and permissions

AWS accounts have the following settings to configure policies and permissions:
  • Managed policies
  • Identity And Access (IAM) policies
  • Service control policies (SCP) policies

Setting managed policies

An AWS managed policy is a standalone policy that is created and administered by AWS.
— AWS documentation​
The managed policies method is easier than the IAM and SCP policies but may grant learners more than the minimum access required to complete a track. The following example grants Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) administrator access, which allows learners to create and manage VPC networks:
🌐 Web UI
💻 Instruqt CLI
Update your AWS account by entering the following in the Managed Policies field:
arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonVPCFullAccess
And clicking Add.
Edit your config.yml file to include this content:
aws_accounts:
- name: awsaccount
managed_policies:
- arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonVPCFullAccess
See AWS managed policies on the AWS docs site for more information.

Setting IAM policies

IAM policies define permissions for an action regardless of the method that you use to perform the operation.
— AWS documentation​
For more fine-grained control, you can set IAM policies. The following example sets a managed policy that limits the EC2 instance types to only several t2 and t3 instances. Note the use of the pipe symbol | to indicate that a multi-line JSON policy will follow.
🌐 Web UI
💻 Instruqt CLI
Update your AWS account by entering the following in the IAM policy field:
|
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "RequireLessThanXLInstanceType",
"Effect": "Deny",
"Action": "ec2:RunInstances",
"Resource": "arn:aws:ec2:::instance/*",
"Condition": {
"StringNotEquals": {
"ec2:InstanceType": [
"t2.nano",
"t2.micro",
"t2.small",
"t2.medium",
"t2.large",
"t3.nano",
"t3.micro",
"t3.small",
"t3.medium",
"t3.large"
]
}
}
}
]
}
Edit your config.yml file to include this content:
aws_accounts:
- name: awsaccount
iam_policy: |
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "RequireLessThanXLInstanceType",
"Effect": "Deny",
"Action": "ec2:RunInstances",
"Resource": "arn:aws:ec2:::instance/*",
"Condition": {
"StringNotEquals": {
"ec2:InstanceType": [
"t2.nano",
"t2.micro",
"t2.small",
"t2.medium",
"t2.large",
"t3.nano",
"t3.micro",
"t3.small",
"t3.medium",
"t3.large"
]
}
}
}
]
}
See IAM on the AWS docs site for more information.

Setting SCP policies

Service control policies (SCPs) are a type of organization policy that you can use to manage permissions in your organization.
— AWS documentation​
For more fine-grained control, you can also set SCP policies. The following example disallows large EC2 instance types:
🌐 Web UI
💻 Instruqt CLI
Update your AWS account by entering the following in the SCP policy field:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "RequireLessThanXLInstanceType",
"Effect": "Deny",
"Action": "ec2:RunInstances",
"Resource": "arn:aws:ec2:::instance/*",
"Condition": {
"StringNotEquals": {
"ec2:InstanceType": [
"t2.large"
]
}
}
}
]
}
Edit your config.yml file to include this content:
aws_accounts:
- name: awsaccount
scp_policy: |-
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "RequireLessThanXLInstanceType",
"Effect": "Deny",
"Action": "ec2:RunInstances",
"Resource": "arn:aws:ec2:::instance/*",
"Condition": {
"StringNotEquals": {
"ec2:InstanceType": [
"t2.large"
]
}
}
}
]
}
See Service control policies on the AWS docs site for more information.
Awesome! Your learners can now access AWS accounts. But there is more. You can also give them access to:
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Last modified 5mo ago