AWS, minus the hunting around.

Short, practical answers to everyday AWS questions: how to do it in the console, how to do it with the AWS CLI, and what to watch out for.

• How to list all your Lambda functions across every AWS region

  The Lambda console only shows one region at a time. Here's how to see every function you have, in the console, with one AWS CLI loop, or in a single list.

  3 min read

• How to find which AWS region an EC2 instance (or anything else) is in

  You have an instance ID, an IP address or a name, and the AWS console only searches one region. Here's how to find where it actually lives.

  3 min read

• How to see a Lambda function's logs and recent errors

  Where Lambda's logs actually live, how to read the last hour of them, and how to find just the errors, in the AWS console and with the AWS CLI.

  4 min read

• What "AccessDenied when calling the AssumeRole operation" means, and how to fix it

  Using an IAM role takes two yeses, the role's trust policy and your own permissions. Here's how to find which one said no, and the usual culprits.

  4 min read

• How to find out what's costing money in your AWS account

  Your AWS bill went up and you don't know why. Here's how to break it down by service and region, and the usual suspects to check first.

  4 min read

• How to download a file from S3, or share it with a link that expires

  Download one file or a whole folder from an S3 bucket, and make a temporary link someone without AWS access can use, in the console or with the AWS CLI.

  2 min read

• How to clear (invalidate) a CloudFront cache

  You deployed a fix but visitors still see the old file. Here's how to tell CloudFront to fetch fresh copies, what it costs, and how to stop needing to.

  2 min read

• How to see a Lambda function's environment variable names without showing their values

  The Lambda console and API show environment variable values in plain text. Here's how to list just the names, and why IAM can't hide the values.

  2 min read