# Step 2: Create a user and policy
<a name="DAX.client.create-user-policy"></a>

In this step, you create a user with a policy that grants access to your Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) cluster and to DynamoDB using AWS Identity and Access Management. You can then run applications that interact with your DAX cluster.

## Sign up for an AWS account
<a name="sign-up-for-aws"></a>

To get started with AWS, you need an AWS account. For information about creating an AWS account, see [Getting started with an AWS account](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//accounts/latest/reference/getting-started.html) in the *AWS Account Management Reference Guide*.

To provide access, add permissions to your users, groups, or roles:
+ Users and groups in AWS IAM Identity Center:

  Create a permission set. Follow the instructions in [Create a permission set](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//singlesignon/latest/userguide/howtocreatepermissionset.html) in the *AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide*.
+ Users managed in IAM through an identity provider:

  Create a role for identity federation. Follow the instructions in [Create a role for a third-party identity provider (federation)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_create_for-idp.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ IAM users:
  + Create a role that your user can assume. Follow the instructions in [Create a role for an IAM user](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_create_for-user.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
  + (Not recommended) Attach a policy directly to a user or add a user to a user group. Follow the instructions in [Adding permissions to a user (console)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_users_change-permissions.html#users_change_permissions-add-console) in the *IAM User Guide*.

**To use the JSON policy editor to create a policy**

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the IAM console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/).

1. In the navigation pane on the left, choose **Policies**. 

   If this is your first time choosing **Policies**, the **Welcome to Managed Policies** page appears. Choose **Get Started**.

1. At the top of the page, choose **Create policy**.

1. In the **Policy editor** section, choose the **JSON** option.

1. Enter or paste a JSON policy document. For details about the IAM policy language, see [IAM JSON policy reference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies.html).

1. Resolve any security warnings, errors, or general warnings generated during [policy validation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_policy-validator.html), and then choose **Next**. 
**Note**  
You can switch between the **Visual** and **JSON** editor options anytime. However, if you make changes or choose **Next** in the **Visual** editor, IAM might restructure your policy to optimize it for the visual editor. For more information, see [Policy restructuring](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/troubleshoot_policies.html#troubleshoot_viseditor-restructure) in the *IAM User Guide*.

1. (Optional) When you create or edit a policy in the AWS Management Console, you can generate a JSON or YAML policy template that you can use in CloudFormation templates.

   To do this, in the **Policy editor** choose **Actions**, and then choose **Generate CloudFormation template**. To learn more about CloudFormation, see [AWS Identity and Access Management resource type reference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/AWS_IAM.html) in the *AWS CloudFormation User Guide*.

1. When you are finished adding permissions to the policy, choose **Next**.

1. On the **Review and create** page, enter a **Policy name** and a **Description** (optional) for the policy that you are creating. Review **Permissions defined in this policy** to see the permissions that are granted by your policy.

1. (Optional) Add metadata to the policy by attaching tags as key-value pairs. For more information about using tags in IAM, see [Tags for AWS Identity and Access Management resources](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_tags.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

1. Choose **Create policy** to save your new policy.

 **Policy document** – Copy and paste the following document to create the JSON policy.

------
#### [ JSON ]

****  

```
{
    "Version":"2012-10-17",		 	 	 
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Action": [
                "dax:*"
            ],
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Resource": [
                "*"
            ]
        },
        {
            "Action": [
                "dynamodb:*"
            ],
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Resource": [
                "*"
            ]
        }
    ]
}
```

------