AWS Control Tower is a powerful service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows users to build and govern multi-account environments in the cloud. With AWS Control Tower, organizations can ensure consistent security, compliance, and operations across multiple AWS accounts. The recent availability of AWS Control Tower in the Asia Pacific (Melbourne) Region has expanded its reach, offering more users the opportunity to leverage its benefits.
In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the features, benefits, and technical aspects of AWS Control Tower. We will explore its capabilities and provide valuable insights into optimizing its usage while focusing on search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. Whether you are new to AWS Control Tower or have prior experience, this guide will equip you with the knowledge to effectively utilize this service.
Table of Contents¶
- Introduction to AWS Control Tower
- Key Features of AWS Control Tower
- Benefits of AWS Control Tower
- Getting Started with AWS Control Tower
- Launching AWS Control Tower
- Extending Governance to New Regions
- Adding New Regions to AWS Control Tower
- Updating Landing Zone and Accounts
- Best Practices for Optimizing AWS Control Tower
- SEO Strategies for AWS Control Tower
- Advanced Features and Techniques
- Troubleshooting AWS Control Tower
- Conclusion
Key Features of AWS Control Tower¶
AWS Control Tower provides a range of features that ensure the governance and management of multi-account environments at scale. Let’s explore some of the key features that make AWS Control Tower a valuable tool:
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Account Provisioning: AWS Control Tower automates the creation of multiple AWS accounts following predefined best practices, enabling organizations to quickly establish new accounts with standardized configurations.
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Account Vending Machine (AVM): The AVM feature provides a self-service portal that allows users to request new AWS accounts within the established governance framework. This streamlines the account creation process, reducing administrative overhead.
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Centralized Account Management: AWS Control Tower provides a centralized dashboard to manage and monitor multiple AWS accounts. Administrators can access detailed account information, resource utilization, security compliance, and operational metrics from a single location.
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Guardrails: Guardrails are predefined policies and rules that help organizations enforce compliance, security, and operational practices across AWS accounts. AWS Control Tower provides a set of guardrails that administrators can customize to fit specific organizational requirements.
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Continuous Compliance: AWS Control Tower constantly monitors and evaluates the compliance posture of AWS accounts. It automatically remediates non-compliant resources and provides notifications to administrators, ensuring ongoing adherence to organizational policies.
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Audit and Compliance Reporting: AWS Control Tower offers comprehensive audit and compliance reporting capabilities, allowing organizations to generate detailed reports on account activity, provisioning history, and compliance status. These reports can be used for internal audits, regulatory compliance, and operational reviews.
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Integration with AWS Organizations: AWS Control Tower seamlessly integrates with AWS Organizations, a service that simplifies managing multiple AWS accounts. This integration enables effective hierarchical structuring and organization-wide management of accounts, ensuring consistent governance across all levels.
Benefits of AWS Control Tower¶
As organizations embrace the cloud and adopt AWS services, they face challenges in managing multiple accounts, ensuring security and compliance, and maintaining operational consistency across their cloud infrastructure. AWS Control Tower addresses these challenges and offers several benefits:
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Standardized Account Provisioning: AWS Control Tower provides a standardized framework for creating AWS accounts, ensuring consistency in configurations, resource provisioning, and security settings. This accelerates the account creation process and reduces the risk of misconfigurations.
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Automated Guardrail Enforcement: AWS Control Tower’s guardrail policies help organizations enforce compliance and security practices consistently across all AWS accounts. By automating the application of these guardrails, organizations can proactively prevent potential security vulnerabilities and ensure adherence to regulatory requirements.
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Streamlined Multi-Account Management: With AWS Control Tower, managing multiple AWS accounts becomes more efficient. The centralized dashboard allows administrators to gain a holistic view of account activity, operational metrics, and compliance status. This streamlines monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimization processes.
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Enhanced Security and Compliance: AWS Control Tower incorporates best practices for security and compliance into its guardrail policies. By default, AWS Control Tower ensures AWS accounts adhere to these standards, reducing the risk of security breaches and ensuring regulatory compliance.
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Simplified Account Lifecycle Management: AWS Control Tower simplifies the lifecycle management of AWS accounts. From creation to termination, administrators can track and manage accounts effectively using the built-in features and monitoring capabilities provided by AWS Control Tower.
Getting Started with AWS Control Tower¶
To begin utilizing the capabilities of AWS Control Tower, users must first launch it in their preferred region. AWS Control Tower’s availability in the Asia Pacific (Melbourne) Region expands its reach, offering users in this region the chance to leverage its benefits. Let’s dive into the process of launching AWS Control Tower in any supported region:
Launching AWS Control Tower¶
- Log in to your AWS Management Console.
- Navigate to the AWS Control Tower service.
- Click on the “Launch Control Tower” button.
- Select the preferred region, such as Asia Pacific (Melbourne).
- Choose the desired configuration options, such as the naming prefix and email notification settings.
- Review the configuration details and confirm the launch.
- AWS Control Tower will automate the setup process, creating core accounts and necessary resources according to best practices.
- Once the setup is complete, administrators can access the AWS Control Tower dashboard to start managing and governing their multi-account environment.
Congratulations! You have successfully launched AWS Control Tower and are ready to experience its capabilities firsthand.
Extending Governance to New Regions¶
As AWS Control Tower expands its availability to new regions, organizations may want to extend its governance features to those regions. This ensures consistent security, compliance, and operational practices across the entire cloud infrastructure. Let’s explore how to add new regions to AWS Control Tower and update the landing zone:
Adding New Regions to AWS Control Tower¶
- Access the AWS Control Tower dashboard.
- Go to the “Settings” page.
- Select the desired new region, such as Asia Pacific (Melbourne).
- Update the landing zone configuration to include the new region.
- Confirm the changes and proceed.
- AWS Control Tower will automatically apply the necessary configurations to incorporate the new region into the governance framework.
- Once the process is complete, the entire landing zone, including all accounts and organizational units (OUs), will be under governance in the new region(s).
By following these steps, organizations can seamlessly extend the governance capabilities of AWS Control Tower to new regions without disrupting existing account structures.
Updating Landing Zone and Accounts¶
To ensure proper governance and alignment with organizational policies, it is essential to update the landing zone and accounts governed by AWS Control Tower. Let’s explore the process of updating the landing zone and associated accounts:
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