Using AWS CloudShell to access Amazon Keyspaces - Amazon Keyspaces (for Apache Cassandra)
AWS CloudShell integration optionsPrerequisitesGetting started with AWS CloudShellObtaining IAM permissions for AWS CloudShellInstalling the cqlsh clientConfiguring TLS certificatesConnecting to Amazon KeyspacesUsing CQLSH with Amazon KeyspacesPersisting data in AWS CloudShellBest practicesTroubleshootingExample: How to interact with Amazon Keyspaces using AWS CloudShell

Using AWS CloudShell to access Amazon Keyspaces

AWS CloudShell is a browser-based, pre-authenticated shell that you can launch directly from the AWS Management Console. You can run AWS CLI commands against AWS services using your preferred shell (Bash, PowerShell or Z shell). AWS CloudShell comes pre-authenticated with your console credentials and includes common tools for working with AWS services, including the AWS CLI, Python, and Node.js.

You launch AWS CloudShell from the AWS Management Console, and the AWS credentials you used to sign in to the console are automatically available in a new shell session. This pre-authentication of AWS CloudShell users allows you to skip configuring credentials when interacting with AWS services such as Amazon Keyspaces using cqlsh or AWS CLI version 2 (pre-installed on the shell's compute environment).

AWS CloudShell integration options

Amazon Keyspaces offers two ways to use AWS CloudShell:

  1. Integrated AWS CloudShell experience - A streamlined connection method available directly from the Amazon Keyspaces console that automatically initializes the cqlsh-expansion and connects to a specific keyspace. For complete instructions on using this integrated experience, see Connect to Amazon Keyspaces using AWS CloudShell from the console.

  2. Manual AWS CloudShell setup - Manually install and configure cqlsh in AWS CloudShell. The steps are described in the following sections and provides more control over the setup process and enable custom configurations.

Prerequisites

Before using Amazon Keyspaces with AWS CloudShell, ensure you have:

  • An AWS account with access to Amazon Keyspaces and AWS CloudShell

  • Appropriate IAM permissions to use both services

  • Basic familiarity with Cassandra Query Language (CQL)

Getting started with AWS CloudShell

To access AWS CloudShell:

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console

  2. Launch AWS CloudShell by choosing the AWS CloudShell icon in the navigation bar at the top of the console, or by navigating to https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudshell/

  3. Wait for the AWS CloudShell environment to initialize

Obtaining IAM permissions for AWS CloudShell

Using the access management resources provided by AWS Identity and Access Management, administrators can grant permissions to IAM users so they can access AWS CloudShell and use the environment's features.

The quickest way for an administrator to grant access to users is through an AWS managed policy. An AWS managed policy is a standalone policy that's created and administered by AWS. The following AWS managed policy for CloudShell can be attached to IAM identities:

  • AWSCloudShellFullAccess: Grants permission to use AWS CloudShell with full access to all features.

If you want to limit the scope of actions that an IAM user can perform with AWS CloudShell, you can create a custom policy that uses the AWSCloudShellFullAccess managed policy as a template. For more information about limiting the actions that are available to users in CloudShell, see Managing AWS CloudShell access and usage with IAM policies in the AWS CloudShell User Guide.

Note

Your IAM identity also requires a policy that grants permission to make calls to Amazon Keyspaces.

You can use an AWS managed policy to give your IAM identity access you Amazon Keyspaces, or start with the managed policy as a template and remove the permissions that you don't need. You can also limit access to specific keyspaces and tables to create a custom policy. The following managed policy for Amazon Keyspaces can be attached to IAM identities:

For a detailed explanation of the actions defined in the managed policy, see AWS managed policies for Amazon Keyspaces.

For more information about how to restrict actions or limit access to specific resources in Amazon Keyspaces, see How Amazon Keyspaces works with IAM.

Installing the cqlsh client

AWS CloudShell does not come with cqlsh pre-installed. You need to install it to interact with Amazon Keyspaces. You can install the Amazon Keyspaces-specific version of cqlsh. For cqlsh-expansion installation instructions, see Using the cqlsh-expansion to connect to Amazon Keyspaces.

Configuring TLS certificates

To connect to Amazon Keyspaces using a TLS connection, you need to download the required Amazon digital certificates. For detailed instructions on downloading and configuring the SSL certificate, see How to manually configure cqlsh connections for TLS.

Connecting to Amazon Keyspaces

You can connect to Amazon Keyspaces using either IAM credentials (recommended) or service-specific credentials.

Connecting with IAM credentials (recommended)

AWS CloudShell is already authenticated with your IAM credentials. To connect using these credentials, you can use the SigV4 authentication plugin. For detailed instructions on using IAM credentials with cqlsh, see Using the cqlsh-expansion to connect to Amazon Keyspaces.

Connecting with service-specific credentials

If you have created service-specific credentials for Amazon Keyspaces, you can use them to connect. For information about creating and using service-specific credentials, see Create service-specific credentials for programmatic access to Amazon Keyspaces.

Using CQLSH with Amazon Keyspaces

When connected, you can use standard CQL commands to interact with your keyspaces and tables. For detailed information about supported CQL commands and operations, see Using the cqlsh-expansion to connect to Amazon Keyspaces.

Persisting data in AWS CloudShell

AWS CloudShell provides 1 GB of persistent storage in your home directory. This means scripts, certificates, and configuration files you create remain available across sessions. You can create a configuration file for cqlsh to simplify connections.

With a configuration file, you can run cqlsh without specifying additional parameters. For more information about creating and using cqlsh configuration files, see Using the cqlsh-expansion to connect to Amazon Keyspaces.

Best practices

When using Amazon Keyspaces with AWS CloudShell, we recommend the following best practices:

  • Create scripts for repetitive tasks and store them in your persistent home directory.

  • Use environment variables for sensitive information rather than hardcoding them.

  • Remember that AWS CloudShell sessions may time out after inactivity.

  • Be mindful of the AWS CloudShell service quotas and limitations.

  • Consider using the AWS CLI for automated operations with Amazon Keyspaces.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues when connecting to Amazon Keyspaces from AWS CloudShell:

  • Verify your IAM permissions include the necessary Amazon Keyspaces actions.

  • Ensure that you are using the correct endpoint for your Region.

  • Check that the SSL certificates are correctly downloaded and referenced.

  • Verify that your service-specific credentials are correct and not expired.

  • If using a cqlshrc file, check its formatting and permissions.

Example: How to interact with Amazon Keyspaces using AWS CloudShell

After you launch AWS CloudShell from the AWS Management Console, you can immediately start to interact with Amazon Keyspaces using cqlsh or the command line interface. If you haven't already installed the cqlsh-expansion, see Using the cqlsh-expansion to connect to Amazon Keyspaces for detailed steps.

Note

When using the cqlsh-expansion in AWS CloudShell, you don't need to configure credentials before making calls, because you're already authenticated within the shell.

Connect to Amazon Keyspaces and create a new keyspace. Then read from a system table to confirm that the keyspace was created using AWS CloudShell

  1. From the AWS Management Console, you can launch CloudShell by choosing the following options available on the navigation bar:

    • Choose the CloudShell icon.

    • Start typing cloudshell in the search box and then choose the CloudShell option.

  2. You can establish a connection to Amazon Keyspaces using the following command. Make sure to replace cassandra.us-east-1.amazonaws.com with the correct endpoint for your Region.

    cqlsh-expansion cassandra.us-east-1.amazonaws.com 9142 --ssl

    If the connection is successful, you should see output similar to the following example.

    Connected to Amazon Keyspaces at cassandra.us-east-1.amazonaws.com:9142
[cqlsh 6.1.0 | Cassandra 3.11.2 | CQL spec 3.4.4 | Native protocol v4]
Use HELP for help.
cqlsh current consistency level is ONE.
cqlsh>

  3. Create a new keyspace with the name mykeyspace. You can use the following command to do that.

    CREATE KEYSPACE mykeyspace WITH REPLICATION = {'class': 'SingleRegionStrategy'};

  4. To confirm that the keyspace was created, you can read from a system table using the following command.

    SELECT * FROM system_schema_mcs.keyspaces WHERE keyspace_name = 'mykeyspace';

    If the call is successful, the command line displays a response from the service similar to the following output:

     keyspace_name  | durable_writes | replication
----------------+----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 mykeyspace     |           True | {'class': 'org.apache.cassandra.locator.SimpleStrategy', 'replication_factor': '3'}

(1 rows)