Create an AWS account - VertebrateResequencing/vr-pipe GitHub Wiki

Before you can use any of Amazon's cloud services you must create a free account. During the account creation process you will need to provide credit card details, but will not be charged until you use some services that cost money. This means you can create a personal account associated with your personal credit card, but then immediately transfer over payment responsibilities to your work-place's account, and never be charged anything on your personal credit card.

1. Go to http://aws.amazon.com/free/ and click the "get started for free" button.
2. On the following page, enter your email address, select "I am a new user", and click the "Sign in using our secure server" button.
3. Fill out the login credentials form and click the "Continue" button.
4. Fill in the contact information form, type the characters in the image to pass the security check, tick the box to agree to the AWS customer agreement, and click the "Create Account and Continue" button.
5. Enter your credit card details, select the billing address, and click the "Continue" button.
6. Depending on your billing address country, you may get a tax-related form. Fill it out as appropriate and click the "Continue" button.
7. Enter the number of a phone you can answer and then click the "Call Me Now" button. Once answered, listen to the automated massage and then type in the 4-digit code displayed on the web page. On success, hang up the phone and click the "Continue" button.
8. Wait for the email confirming your account has been created.
9. If some other account (eg. a work-place account) will handle billing, let the administrator know the email address you used to sign up for AWS in step 2. They will then send you a takeover request which you should accept. Your charges will then be billed to the other account under Amazon's "consolidated payment" mechanism. You can confirm it has worked by visiting your payment method page, which should look something like this: Lower down the same page (not shown in the screenshot) you will see your original personal credit card details as an "Alternate Payment Method". While this card will not be charged, you cannot remove it, and so it is not a good idea to share this account with anyone (eg. your work colleagues), since they would be able to see some parts of your credit card details.
10. You now have a working AWS account, and you can access all the various services from the AWS Console.