Create IAM Group | Engineering Notes

🎯 Objective

Create an IAM Group to manage permissions for multiple users efficiently in Amazon Web Services.

🧠 What is an IAM Group?

An IAM Group is a collection of IAM users with shared permissions.

👉 Benefits:

Assign permissions once → apply to many users

Easier access management

Follows least privilege principle

📊 IAM Structure

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IAM User → IAM Group → IAM Policy → AWS Resources

🛠️ Step 1: Open IAM Dashboard

1. Go to AWS Console

1. Search → IAM

1. Click User Groups

➕ Step 2: Create IAM Group

1. Click Create group

1. Enter:

Group Name → Developers

Click Next

🔐 Step 3: Attach Permissions

Attach policies to define access.

Example Policies:

AmazonEC2FullAccess

AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess

👉 Select required policies → Click Create group

👥 Step 4: Add Users to Group

1. Open the created group

1. Click Add users

1. Select users → Add

🧪 Step 5: Verify Permissions

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aws ec2 describe-instances
aws s3ls

🧾 AWS CLI (Optional)

Create Group

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aws iam create-group--group-name Developers

Attach Policy

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aws iam attach-group-policy \
--group-name Developers \
--policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonEC2FullAccess

Add User to Group

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aws iam add-user-to-group \
--user-name <username> \
--group-name Developers

📌 Key Concepts

🔐 IAM Policy

🧩 Why Use Groups?

Avoid assigning policies per user

Centralized permission control

Easier scaling for teams

🔐 Best Practices

Follow least privilege principle

Avoid full access policies in production

Use separate groups:

Admins

Developers

ReadOnly

🔁 IAM Group vs Role

🧾 Command Summary

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aws iam create-group--group-name Developers

aws iam attach-group-policy \
--group-name Developers \
--policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonEC2FullAccess

aws iam add-user-to-group \
--user-name <username> \
--group-name Developers

✅ Outcome

IAM Group created

Policies attached

Users added to group

Centralized permission management enabled