AWS Organizations

• A tool to manage multiple AWS accounts efficiently, mainly for larger businesses.

• Reduces costs and administrative overhead.

🌳 Structure of AWS Organizations

• Hierarchical structure like an inverted tree.

• Root (top-level container) holds:

  • AWS accounts (management & member accounts).

  • Organizational Units (OUs) – sub-containers within the root.

• OUs can contain:

  • Other AWS accounts.

  • Nested OUs (multi-level hierarchy).

💳 Billing

• Consolidated Billing:

  • One single monthly bill for the entire organization.

  • All costs are consolidated under the management account.

  • Greatly reduces financial admin for large companies.

🛡️ Security & Control

• Service Control Policies (SCPs):

  • Set permission boundaries for what accounts can or cannot do.

  • Apply at the OU or account level.

🔄 Account Management

• You can:

  • Invite existing AWS accounts.

  • Create new accounts directly in the organization (requires only a unique email).

  • No need for an invite process if account is created directly.

🔐 Identity & Access Management

• Avoid IAM users in every account.

• Use IAM roles to allow access across accounts.

• Use identity federation with on-premise systems:

  • Use a central identity account.

  • Authenticate once, then switch roles to other member accounts.