AWS Resource Lister – Shell Script for DevOps Beginners

Hey there!
This is a companion script to my blog post where I documented my journey of writing a real-world shell script that interacts with AWS.

Goal:
List active AWS resources (like EC2, S3, Lambda, etc.) for a given region and service — in a simple, beginner-friendly way.

This may look like a small script, but it reflects a common DevOps use case — scripts like this often run daily via cron to track infrastructure usage and cost.

---

What This Script Does

• ✅ Accepts a region and service name as input
• ✅ Validates the input and environment
• ✅ Checks if AWS CLI is installed and configured
• ✅ Lists live resources for supported AWS services
• ✅ Provides clear and helpful messages for beginners

---

Supported AWS Services

You can use the script to list active resources for the following:

• ec2 – EC2 Instances
• s3 – S3 Buckets
• rds – RDS Databases
• dynamodb – DynamoDB Tables
• iam – IAM Users
• cloudformation – Stacks
• vpc – Virtual Private Clouds
• lambda – Lambda Functions
• sns – SNS Topics
• sqs – SQS Queues

---

Example Usage

./aws_resource_list.sh us-east-1 ec2
./aws_resource_list.sh ap-south-1 s3

---

Prerequisites

Before using this script, make sure:

• ✅ AWS CLI is installed
• ✅ You've configured your credentials using aws configure
• ✅ You have the required permissions for the AWS services you're querying

---

Script Overview

Here’s what the script checks for:

1. Are two arguments passed? (region & service)
2. Is AWS CLI installed?
3. Is AWS CLI configured? (i.e., ~/.aws directory exists)
4. Is the service supported? If yes → run the relevant AWS CLI command

Each service has a specific command under the hood, like:

aws ec2 describe-instances --region "$1"
aws s3 ls --region "$1"
aws rds describe-db-instances --region "$1"

---

File Permissions

To make the script executable:

chmod +x aws_resource_list.sh

For shared environments, you may also restrict read/edit access:

chmod 771 aws_resource_list.sh

This means:

• Owner and group can read, write, and execute
• Others can only execute (no read/edit)

---

Why This Matters

This project is about more than just scripting.

It’s about:

• Moving from learning syntax → to building something real
• Thinking about usability, validation, and reliability
• Practicing DevOps habits — clarity, structure, and automation

Even a small script like this can save hours, reduce confusion, and improve visibility into your cloud resources.

---

📘 Blog Post

Want the full breakdown — with every line explained?

👉 Read the full blog on Hashnode

---

💬 Feedback

If you're learning DevOps or shell scripting and this helped, feel free to:

⭐ Drop a star
🍴 Fork it
📬 Or reach out on GitHub or LinkedIn

I'm learning too — always happy to connect with others on the same path.

---

Thanks for stopping by!
— Arnab