Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a web service for securely controlling\naccess to Amazon Web Services services. With IAM, you can centrally manage users, security credentials\nsuch as access keys, and permissions that control which Amazon Web Services resources users and\napplications can access. For more information about IAM, see Identity and Access Management (IAM) and the Identity and Access Management User Guide.
\n\nProgrammatic access to IAM\n
\nWe recommend that you use the Amazon Web Services SDKs to make programmatic API calls to IAM. The Amazon Web Services\nSDKs consist of libraries and sample code for various programming languages and platforms\n(for example, Java, Ruby, .NET, iOS, and Android). The SDKs provide a convenient way to\ncreate programmatic access to IAM and Amazon Web Services. For example, the SDKs take care of tasks such as\ncryptographically signing requests, managing errors, and retrying requests automatically.\nFor more information, see Tools to build on\nAmazon Web Services.
\nAlternatively, you can also use the IAM Query API to make direct calls to the IAM\nservice. For more information about calling the IAM Query API, see Making query\nrequests in the Identity and Access Management User Guide. IAM supports GET and\nPOST requests for all actions. That is, the API does not require you to use GET for some\nactions and POST for others. However, GET requests are subject to the limitation size of a\nURL. Therefore, for operations that require larger sizes, use a POST request.
\n\nSigning requests\n
\nRequests must be signed using an access key ID and a secret access key. We strongly\nrecommend that you do not use your Amazon Web Services account access key ID and secret access key for\neveryday work with IAM. You can use the access key ID and secret access key for an\nIAM user or you can use the Security Token Service to generate temporary security credentials and use\nthose to sign requests.
\nTo sign requests, we recommend that you use Signature Version 4. If you have an\nexisting application that uses Signature Version 2, you do not have to update it to use\nSignature Version 4. However, some operations now require Signature Version 4. The\ndocumentation for operations that require version 4 indicate this requirement.
\n\nAdditional resources\n
\n\nAmazon Web Services\nsecurity credentials. This topic provides general information about the types of\ncredentials used for accessing Amazon Web Services.
\n\nIAM best\npractices. This topic presents a list of suggestions for using the IAM service\nto help secure your Amazon Web Services resources.
\n\nSigning\nAmazon Web Services API requests. This set of topics walk you through the process of signing a\nrequest using an access key ID and secret access key.
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