AWS – Delegated Accounts | CAHNRS IT | Washington State University

Overview

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud-based technology provider that offers a self-service pay-as-you-go model for computing resources. The AWS model gives you the flexibility to manage your environment, and use and pay for exactly the services you need. WSU and AWS are finalizing our Enterprise Agreement, including agreements that will make AWS an ideal way to distribute data over Internet 2. Some examples of AWS tools and uses include

Prebuilt Machine Learning tools such as SageMaker
Big Data toolkits such as Elastic MapReduce
Security controls for managing regulated data with HIPPA, NIST, or other contract requirements
Cloud Virtual Desktops for distance students, teleworkers, or frequent travelers
Hosting datasets to be shared with Internet 2 partner institutions at up to 100Gbps

You can find a full list of AWS services on the AWS products listing.

Cost

AWS uses a pay-as-you-go model, meaning that each service has a price list based on utilization. For example, most EC2 (virtual machines) are paid for by the hour, though you can reserve capacity annually for a discount. Remember that when looking at service prices, most prices are going to have a unit of cost/(time*unit), e.g., $0.3/(Gb Month). AWS also provides a Simple Monthly Calculator to help you budget your anticipated expenses.

Many AWS services also have a free tier of service with size and time restrictions. For example, you can run a small EC2 instance (virtual machine) for up to a year for free. A full list of free tier offerings is listed on their Free Tier Details page. AWS free tier services are a great, no-cost way to familiarize yourself with AWS.

Each AWS account can also be configured with spending alerts, to help prevent spending more than you budgeted.

Requesting an Account

If you don’t have an account already, we can create one for you. If you would like an account to test the free-tier services, we can provide you with the account at no cost, and preconfigured with budget notifications to alert you if you start to incur any costs. If you know you would like to use the account for real WSU work right away or are ready to deploy services after testing with the free tier; then there is a small setup cost which covers the physical multi-factor key for the root login on the account.

Already have an account that you want to be rolled under the WSU contract, or have questions? Email cit.support@wsu.edu

Need an account created? Submit the following form:

AWS Account Request

Name of account owner*
Who is overseeing the use of this account?
First Last
Email of account owner*
Department*
Financial point of contact name*
This person must have expenditure authority within your department.
First Last
Financial point of contact email*
Program/Grant Account Number*

This is the account that will be used to reconcile all charges.
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Is this account for testing free tier services?
If your account is to be used to test AWS, then we will not require an MFA token for the root account and will configure budget alerts at $1. You can request that your account be reconfigured for full use later.
- Yes
- No
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Do you have, or will provide the physical MFA token for the root account?
If your account is not for testing purposes, then we need to configure a physical MFA token for the root login. You can purchase your own at https://www.amazon.com/SafeNet-IDProve-Time-based-6-Digit-Services/dp/B002CRN5X8 and send it to us, or we can purchase one and reconcile it to your account.
- Yes, I have my own token or will buy one
- No, please purchase a token for me
What is the budget-project you want the MFA token purchase reconciled to?
Please enter in the budget/project that you want the MFA token we purchase to be reconciled/billed to.
Next Steps
Once you submit the request someone will reach out to you shortly to create your account and perform the initial configuration.
Name
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.