Starting with an AWS Instance with API and AUTHPARAMS

Question

I tried to start an AMI using this same command like this

https://ec2.amazonaws.com/
?Action=StartInstances
&InstanceId.1=i-10a64379
&AUTHPARAMS

Like it was said in the documentation but I am unable to find what AUTHPARAMS refers to.
Can anyone please help me in this case , thanks in advance :)

Answer 1

The API is usually much easier to use than the direct REST calls especially the reasonably new Command Line Interface -- which is much more lightweight, and exceptionally easier to use as a result of the JSON integration, than the original by-product Command Line Tools

It's somewhere inside the documentation, but the following links seem to lead us toward an answer:

1) the high-level description of the "AUTHPARAMS" (as referenced frequently in the API documentation.)

AuthParams 

The parameters that are required to authenticate a Conditional request. Contains:

AWSAccessKeyID

SignatureVersion

Timestamp

Signature

Default: None

Required: Conditional

2) a step by step outline of the parameters needed for a REST request: 

3) the detailed outline of the method to derive the "signature" for the "AUTHPARAMS" 

This is the example in the documentation (I've added new lines to make it easier to read) 

https://elasticmapreduce.amazonaws.com?
AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE&
Action=DescribeJobFlows&
SignatureMethod=HmacSHA256&
SignatureVersion=2&
Timestamp=2011-10-03T15%3A19%3A30&
Version=2009-03-31&
Signature=i91nKc4PWAt0JJIdXwz9HxZCJDdiy6cf%2FMj6vPxyYIs%3D

Answer 2

First and foremost, to interact with the Amazon EC2 API, I highly recommend to use one of the available SDKs if possible - this will make your life much simpler, especially when also interacting with any of the many other AWS Products and Solutions over time, insofar the SDKs relief you from tedious boilerplate code and also harmonize cross services API usage in general and the authentication process you are asking about in particular.

Now, if you really want/need to handle authentication yourself, you'll find the required information in Query API Authentication, which links to Signature Version 2 Signing Process in turn (the signature version changes over time, which is one of the topics the SDKs abstract away for example).