Introduction to AWS Organizations


AWS Organizations is a service that enables you to consolidate and manage multiple AWS accounts centrally. In this guide, we'll explore the key concepts and features of AWS Organizations.


Key Concepts


Before we dive into AWS Organizations, let's understand some key concepts:


  • AWS Organizations: A service that allows you to consolidate multiple AWS accounts into an organization and manage them as a single entity.
  • Member Account: An AWS account that is part of an organization and can be managed centrally.
  • Master Account: The primary account in the organization that has consolidated billing and administrative control over member accounts.
  • Organizational Units (OUs): Logical groupings of member accounts within an organization for better organization and management.

Benefits of AWS Organizations


AWS Organizations provides several benefits for managing multiple AWS accounts:


  • Consolidated Billing: You can consolidate the billing of all member accounts under the master account, making cost management easier.
  • Centralized Management: You can centrally manage policies, access controls, and security settings across accounts.
  • Resource Sharing: You can share AWS resources (e.g., VPCs, Subnets) across accounts within the organization.
  • Cost Allocation Tags: You can apply tags to resources for better cost allocation and reporting.

Setting Up AWS Organizations


To set up AWS Organizations, follow these steps:


  1. Open the AWS Management Console and navigate to AWS Organizations.
  2. Create a new organization and designate an existing AWS account as the master account.
  3. Add member accounts to the organization, either by inviting existing accounts or creating new accounts.
  4. Organize member accounts into OUs for better management and resource sharing.

Managing Policies and Access Control


With AWS Organizations, you can create policies to manage access control, service control, and service control policies (SCPs). These policies help you enforce security and access requirements across your organization.


        {
            "Version": "2012-10-17",
            "Statement": [
                {
                    "Effect": "Allow",
                    "Action": "s3:*",
                    "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::example-bucket/*"
                },
                {
                    "Effect": "Deny",
                    "Action": "s3:DeleteObject",
                    "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::example-bucket/*"
                }
            ]
        }

Resource Sharing and Cross-Account Access


Within an organization, you can share AWS resources like VPCs, Subnets, and Route 53 hosted zones between accounts. Cross-account access can be managed through resource sharing settings.


Best Practices


When working with AWS Organizations, consider the following best practices:


  • Use separate accounts for development, testing, and production environments to isolate resources and costs.
  • Implement least privilege access control and regularly review policies to ensure security and compliance.
  • Leverage OUs to group accounts logically based on teams, projects, or business units.

Conclusion


AWS Organizations is a powerful service for managing multiple AWS accounts, enabling centralized billing, access control, and resource sharing. By understanding key concepts, setting up organizations, managing policies, and following best practices, you can effectively manage and secure your AWS accounts in a structured manner.