Effective Strategies for Managing AWS Organizations Efficiently
Written on
Chapter 1: Introduction to AWS Organizations
AWS Organizations is a powerful service from Amazon Web Services that streamlines account management.
According to AWS documentation, "AWS Organizations is an account management service that enables you to consolidate multiple AWS accounts into an organization that you create and centrally manage."
Imagine the challenges of managing a company with numerous AWS accounts—administration could quickly become a daunting task filled with potential errors. For those needing to unify billing across accounts, establish policies for account activities, and manage access, AWS Organizations is a valuable solution.
Let's delve into some best practices that can help you maximize efficiency and minimize costs and headaches.
Section 1.1: Securing Your Root Account
In your organization, the root account serves as the primary control point, allowing you to manage Organizational Units (OUs) and associated accounts. It's crucial to secure this account with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and restrict access to a select group of individuals essential to your organization.
Always prioritize security in your designs and creations. Moreover, limit the use of the root account to essential tasks only. For other activities, create specific users or roles for logging in.
Subsection 1.1.1: Choosing the Right Feature Set
AWS Organizations offers two main feature sets:
- Consolidated Billing Features: Provides basic management tools for centralizing account management, with all costs charged to the root account.
- All Features: This comprehensive option includes Consolidated Billing along with advanced account management capabilities, such as integration with other AWS services and organizational management policies (e.g., Service Control Policies).
Section 1.2: Managing Service Control Policies (SCPs)
SCPs are unique to AWS Organizations, allowing you to establish "guardrails" that dictate what different OUs and accounts are permitted to do. While SCPs do not grant permissions, they limit actions that can be taken.
The organizational structure flows from the root account to OUs and then to individual accounts. If you apply SCPs to the root account, they will cascade down to all levels, potentially causing conflicts when configuring policies for your OUs.
Chapter 2: Streamlining Operations
In the video "AWS re:Invent 2022 - Best practices for organizing and operating on AWS (COP305)," experts discuss effective strategies for organizing AWS accounts and highlight key practices that can save time and resources.
Section 2.1: Predefining SCPs for OUs
When integrating a new account into your organization, it’s inefficient to manually assign permissions and policies. Instead, place the account into an existing OU, allowing it to inherit the relevant SCPs already applied to that OU—similar to how IAM users inherit permissions from groups.
Section 2.2: Reducing Operational Overhead
Avoid using nested OUs, as this can complicate SCP inheritance. It’s advisable to apply SCPs at the OU level for easier management. Automate as much as possible within your Organization's structure and be clear about the purpose of each OU. Organize OUs based on function (e.g., production, testing, security) to apply consistent policies across accounts.
Section 2.3: Naming and Structuring OUs
Ensure that your OUs have meaningful names that reflect their purpose. Some examples of useful OUs might include:
- Infrastructure: For networking and IT services.
- Security: For security-related access and services.
- Sandbox: For training purposes.
- Suspended: For accounts pending deletion.
- Transitional: For temporary accounts.
- Deployments: For CI/CD-related accounts.
Always prioritize security.
The security of your organization is critical; it allows for effective monitoring and tracking of changes. AWS Organizations integrates seamlessly with two key services:
- CloudWatch: Monitors your infrastructure.
- CloudTrail: Tracks user activity.
Don't wait for incidents to activate logging; implement these services from the start. You can set lifecycle policies to manage log retention and costs effectively.
Final Thoughts
AWS Organizations is an invaluable tool for account management, though its primary role is monitoring. For a more proactive approach to managing your account infrastructure, consider AWS Control Tower.
Ultimately, leveraging a centralized service for managing multiple accounts not only saves time and money but also minimizes administrative burdens, allowing you to focus on your core business activities.
For more insights, visit PlainEnglish.io and subscribe to our free weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Discord.
In the video "Set Up a Multi-Account AWS Environment that Uses Best Practices for AWS Organizations," experts share strategies for establishing a multi-account environment that adheres to best practices, enhancing security and efficiency.