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The AWS Management Console is a web-based graphical user interface (GUI) that lets you access and manage all AWS services from a browser. For beginners, it is the most approachable way to explore, configure, and monitor your cloud resources.
You reach the console at https://console.aws.amazon.com. There are two sign-in paths:
| Sign-In Type | Who Uses It | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Root user | The account owner | Signs in with the email address used to create the AWS account. Has unrestricted access. |
| IAM user | Team members | Signs in with an account ID (or alias), a username, and a password. Permissions are granted via IAM policies. |
Never use the root user for day-to-day work. Create IAM users (or use AWS IAM Identity Center) with only the permissions they need. Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) on the root account immediately.
When you log in, the console presents several key areas:
The navigation bar runs across the top and contains:
Below the navigation bar you will see a list of services you have recently used, making it easy to jump back to them.
Each service has its own dashboard. For example, the EC2 dashboard shows:
The Console Home widget page provides customisable cards showing:
| Panel | Contents |
|---|---|
| Cost & Usage | Month-to-date costs |
| Recently Visited | EC2, S3, Lambda, RDS |
| Trusted Advisor | Open recommendations |
| Health Dashboard | Service health events |
| Favourites | Pinned services |
| Build a Solution | Tutorials & guides |
You can add, remove, and rearrange these widgets.
AWS has over 200 services. The console offers several ways to find what you need:
The unified search bar is the fastest way. Type part of a service name (e.g., "lamb" finds Lambda) or a resource ID.
Services are grouped logically:
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