# Set up, administrative, and programmatic access
<a name="setting-up"></a>

If you've already signed up for Amazon Web Services, you can start using Amazon Athena immediately. If you haven't signed up for AWS or need assistance getting started, be sure to complete the following tasks.

## Sign up for an AWS account
<a name="sign-up-for-aws"></a>

If you do not have an AWS account, complete the following steps to create one.

**To sign up for an AWS account**

1. Open [https://portal.aws.amazon.com/billing/signup](https://portal.aws.amazon.com/billing/signup).

1. Follow the online instructions.

   Part of the sign-up procedure involves receiving a phone call or text message and entering a verification code on the phone keypad.

   When you sign up for an AWS account, an *AWS account root user* is created. The root user has access to all AWS services and resources in the account. As a security best practice, assign administrative access to a user, and use only the root user to perform [tasks that require root user access](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_root-user.html#root-user-tasks).

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 [https://aws.amazon.com/](https://aws.amazon.com/) and choosing **My Account**.

## Create a user with administrative access
<a name="create-an-admin"></a>

After you sign up for an AWS account, secure your AWS account root user, enable AWS IAM Identity Center, and create an administrative user so that you don't use the root user for everyday tasks.

**Secure your AWS account root user**

1.  Sign in to the [AWS Management Console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/) as the account owner by choosing **Root user** and entering your AWS account email address. On the next page, enter your password.

   For help signing in by using root user, see [Signing in as the root user](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/signin/latest/userguide/console-sign-in-tutorials.html#introduction-to-root-user-sign-in-tutorial) in the *AWS Sign-In User Guide*.

1. Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) for your root user.

   For instructions, see [Enable a virtual MFA device for your AWS account root user (console)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/enable-virt-mfa-for-root.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

**Create a user with administrative access**

1. Enable IAM Identity Center.

   For instructions, see [Enabling AWS IAM Identity Center](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//singlesignon/latest/userguide/get-set-up-for-idc.html) in the *AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide*.

1. In IAM Identity Center, grant administrative access to a user.

   For a tutorial about using the IAM Identity Center directory as your identity source, see [ Configure user access with the default IAM Identity Center directory](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//singlesignon/latest/userguide/quick-start-default-idc.html) in the *AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide*.

**Sign in as the user with administrative access**
+ To sign in with your IAM Identity Center user, use the sign-in URL that was sent to your email address when you created the IAM Identity Center user.

  For help signing in using an IAM Identity Center user, see [Signing in to the AWS access portal](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/signin/latest/userguide/iam-id-center-sign-in-tutorial.html) in the *AWS Sign-In User Guide*.

**Assign access to additional users**

1. In IAM Identity Center, create a permission set that follows the best practice of applying least-privilege permissions.

   For instructions, see [ Create a permission set](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//singlesignon/latest/userguide/get-started-create-a-permission-set.html) in the *AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide*.

1. Assign users to a group, and then assign single sign-on access to the group.

   For instructions, see [ Add groups](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//singlesignon/latest/userguide/addgroups.html) in the *AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide*.

## Grant programmatic access
<a name="setting-up-grant-programmatic-access"></a>

Users need programmatic access if they want to interact with AWS outside of the AWS Management Console. The way to grant programmatic access depends on the type of user that's accessing AWS.

To grant users programmatic access, choose one of the following options.


****  

| Which user needs programmatic access? | To | By | 
| --- | --- | --- | 
| IAM | (Recommended) Use console credentials as temporary credentials to sign programmatic requests to the AWS CLI, AWS SDKs, or AWS APIs. |  Following the instructions for the interface that you want to use. [See the AWS documentation website for more details](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/athena/latest/ug/setting-up.html)  | 
|  Workforce identity (Users managed in IAM Identity Center)  | Use temporary credentials to sign programmatic requests to the AWS CLI, AWS SDKs, or AWS APIs. |  Following the instructions for the interface that you want to use. [See the AWS documentation website for more details](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/athena/latest/ug/setting-up.html)  | 
| IAM | Use temporary credentials to sign programmatic requests to the AWS CLI, AWS SDKs, or AWS APIs. | Following the instructions in [Using temporary credentials with AWS resources](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_credentials_temp_use-resources.html) in the IAM User Guide. | 
| IAM | (Not recommended)Use long-term credentials to sign programmatic requests to the AWS CLI, AWS SDKs, or AWS APIs. |  Following the instructions for the interface that you want to use. [See the AWS documentation website for more details](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/athena/latest/ug/setting-up.html)  | 

## Attach managed policies for Athena
<a name="setting-up-attach-managed-policies-for-athena"></a>

Athena managed policies grant permissions to use Athena features. You can attach these managed policies to one or more IAM roles that users can assume in order to use Athena.

 An [IAM role](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles.html) is an IAM identity that you can create in your account that has specific permissions. An IAM role is similar to an IAM user in that it is an AWS identity with permissions policies that determine what the identity can and cannot do in AWS. However, instead of being uniquely associated with one person, a role is intended to be assumable by anyone who needs it. Also, a role does not have standard long-term credentials such as a password or access keys associated with it. Instead, when you assume a role, it provides you with temporary security credentials for your role session. 

For more information about roles, see [IAM roles](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles.html) and [Creating IAM roles](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_create.html) in the *IAM User Guide*. 

To create a role that grants access to Athena, you attach Athena managed policies to the role. There are two managed policies for Athena: `AmazonAthenaFullAccess` and `AWSQuicksightAthenaAccess`. These policies grant permissions to Athena to query Amazon S3 and to write the results of your queries to a separate bucket on your behalf. To see the contents of these policies for Athena, see [AWS managed policies for Amazon Athena](security-iam-awsmanpol.md). 

For steps to attach the Athena managed policies to a role, follow [Adding IAM identity permissions (console)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_manage-attach-detach.html#add-policies-console) in the *IAM User Guide* and add the `AmazonAthenaFullAccess` and `AWSQuicksightAthenaAccess` managed policies to the role that you created.

**Note**  
You may need additional permissions to access the underlying dataset in Amazon S3. If you are not the account owner or otherwise have restricted access to a bucket, contact the bucket owner to grant access using a resource-based bucket policy, or contact your account administrator to grant access using a role-based policy. For more information, see [Control access to Amazon S3 from Athena](s3-permissions.md). If the dataset or Athena query results are encrypted, you may need additional permissions. For more information, see [Encryption at rest](encryption.md).