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What is AWS environment variables?

Last updated on September 25, 2022 @ 6:18 pm

AWS environment variables are a way to store key-value pairs that can be accessed by your code running in an AWS environment. They’re a convenient way to declare settings that you want to be globally available to your code, without having to create and manage a configuration file.

Here are some examples of common uses for environment variables in AWS:

Setting the AWS region: AWS_REGION

Setting the AWS instance type: AWS_INSTANCE_TYPE

Setting the AWS credentials: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

Setting the AWS access key for an IAM user: IAM_ACCESS_KEY

Setting the AWS access key for an EC2 instance: EC2_ACCESS_KEY

PRO TIP: If you are not familiar with AWS environment variables, do not attempt to set them without first consulting Amazon’s documentation. Incorrectly configured environment variables can cause your AWS resources to become inaccessible or cause unexpected charges.

You can also use environment variables to store configuration information for your AWS applications. For example, you might use environment variables to store the port number that your application uses to connect to AWS, or the name of the Amazon S3 bucket that your application stores its data in.

The best way to learn about and use environment variables in AWS is to explore the AWS documentation. You can also ask questions on the AWS Forums, or join the AWS Developer Community to get help from other developers.

When you declare an environment variable in your code, you need to provide a name for the variable and a value that you want to set it to. You can also use environment variables in your AWS applications to store data that is specific to your application.

For example, you might use an environment variable to store the path to your application’s configuration file.

When you run your code in an AWS environment, you can access the environment variables that you’ve declared by using the AWS_* environment variables. For example, you can use the AWS_REGION environment variable to get the AWS region that your code is running in.

You can also use the AWS_* environment variables to get information about the resources that your code is running in. For example, you can use the AWS_INSTANCE_TYPE environment variable to get the type of AWS instance that your code is running on, or the AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID environment variable to get the access key ID for an IAM user.

Finally, you can use the AWS_* environment variables to get information about the resources that your code is running in. For example, you can use the AWS_INSTANCE_NAME environment variable to get the name of the AWS instance that your code is running on, or the AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY environment variable to get the secret access key for an IAM user.

Drew Clemente

Drew Clemente

Devops & Sysadmin engineer. I basically build infrastructure online.