This document provides instructions for signing up for an Amazon Web Services account. It explains that users can sign up as either an existing or new Amazon user and must accept the AWS Customer Agreement. The process includes verifying identity by entering a PIN received in a phone call. Once signed up, the user can subscribe to AWS services like EC2, S3, and VPC and will receive email confirmation once their subscription is activated.

1. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, ShareAlike 2.5 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ Last update for this document: May 8th, 2010 How to sign up for Amazon Web Services By Simone Brunozzi Technology Evangelist for Amazon Web Services Asia Pacific (APAC) http://aws.amazon.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/simon Linkedin: Simone Brunozzi http://bit.ly/aws-signup

2. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, ShareAlike 2.5 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ This “how to” is intended as an unofficial guide, to help customers in the signup process for Amazon Web Services. It doesn't replace other documents, or has any legal value. Please contact Simone Brunozzi for questions/comments: simoneb @ amazon . com Disclaimer

3. Go to http://aws.amazon.com Click the “Sign up now” button.

4. EXISTING AMAZON USER: select “I am a returning user”, and then enter your email and password.

5. NEW AMAZON USER: Enter your email and select “I am a new user”, and then sign in.

6. NEW AMAZON USER: You need to register, entering email address and password twice.

7. EXISTING AMAZON USER: you're signing up for Amazon Web Services. Read the AWS Customer Agreement, then check the box, and click Continue.

8. NEW AMAZON USER: read the AWS Customer Agreement, check the box, and perform a security check.

9. You can enter your VAT number, or provide it later. Don't know what VAT is? Check this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_added_tax

10. You will receive an email to confirm the creation of your Amazon Web Services account.

11. From here, you have to subscribe to the services you want to use. We start from Amazon EC2: Elastic Compute Cloud, virtual servers on demand.

12. On the main Amazon EC2 page ( http://aws.amazon.com/ec2 ) you can sign up for Amazon EC2, clicking the button on the right.

13. This page shows a long list of prices for Amazon EC2. At the bottom, you have to select a payment method. AT THIS POINT, YOU WILL NOT BE CHARGED. NEW AMAZON USER: enter your credit/debit card details.

14. EXISTING AMAZON USER: you can use your usual credit card, or enter a new one.

15. IMPORTANT NOTE: You will not be charged until you start using the services. Therefore, you can still proceed in the subscription process.

16. You are required to provide a telephone number at this point. Then, an automated system will call you.

17. The system will attempt to call you, and you have to provide this PIN number for verification.

18. Your phone will ring. Answer, and dial the PIN code you just received. Alternatively, you can dictate the PIN code with your voice.

19. Identity verification is complete. Click continue. If the process failed for some reasons, please try it again.

20. Now you can complete the signup for Amazon EC2 (and Amazon S3 and VPC). At this point, you can also consider signing up for the AWS Premium Support. Details and prices here: http://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/

21. If you scroll down, you can also see details for Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), as well as payment details.

22. In a short time, your AWS subscription will be activated.

23. You will receive email confirmation as soon as your subscription is activated.

24. Now visit the management console: https://console.aws.amazon.com/ After login, you can pick the Region you want (Asia Pacific in this case), and Launch an instance. If you have AWS Credits to redeem, click on Account.

25. (you can reach this page from: http://aws.amazon.com/account ) Click on “Payment Method”.

26. Do you want to redeem an AWS Credit Coupon? Click the link highlighted by the blue arrow.

27. Enter your AWS Coupon Code, and click “Redeem”.

28. Et voilà! You now have some credits to use. Amazon Web Services will consume these credits before charging anything on your credit card.

29. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, ShareAlike 2.5 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ How to sign up for Amazon Web Services By Simone Brunozzi Technology Evangelist for Amazon Web Services Asia Pacific (APAC) http://aws.amazon.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/simon Linkedin: Simone Brunozzi http://bit.ly/aws-signup