AWS Nuke: Everything Need To Know

 

AWS Nuke is an open-source solution to cleaning up your cluttered AWS environments. This tool identifies and removes repetitive resources to help you regain control, reduce costs, and increase the security of your AWS environment. Let us show you how to set up, use, and optimize AWS Nuke for optimal cloud management. We also quickly share other crucial aspects of AWS Nuke that you need to know. So, let's get started!

How Does AWS Nuke Work?

AWS Nuke uses the AWS SDK (Software Development Kit) to interact with your AWS account to identify and delete specified resources. It supports various AWS services, including EC2 instances, S3 buckets, RDS databases, etc. One of the primary features of AWS Nuke is its ability to perform dry runs. Dry runs allow you to preview which resources will be deleted before executing the cleanup process. This helps prevent accidental deletion of essential resources.

How to Get Started with AWS Nuke?

Start with AWS Nuke by installing the tool on your system or server. Primarily, two ways to install AWS Nuke: via Python & Golang.

How to install AWS Nuke using Golang?

Prerequisites

You must have Go installed on your system. You can download and install Go from the official website - www.golang.org - if you don't already have it.

Download AWS Nuke

Once Go is installed, you can download the AWS Nuke source code from its GitHub repository. You can do this using the below git clone command:

bash

git clone https://github.com/rebuy-de/aws-nuke.git

Build AWS Nuke

Navigate to the directory where you cloned the AWS Nuke repository and build the binary using the go build command:

bash

cd aws-nuke

go build

Install AWS Nuke

After building the binary, you can move it to a directory in your system's PATH to make it accessible from anywhere. For example:

bash

sudo mv aws-nuke /usr/local/bin/

Verify Installation

To verify that AWS Nuke is installed correctly, you can run the following command to check the version:

bash

aws-nuke --version

How to install AWS Nuke using Python?

Requirements

Before installing AWS Nuke via Python, you must have Python installed on your system. You can download and install Python from the official website - www.python.org - if you don't already have it.

Install AWS Nuke via pip

You can install AWS Nuke directly from the Python Package Index (PyPI) using pip, the Python package manager. Run the command below:

bash

pip install aws-nuke

Verify Installation

Verify that AWS Nuke is installed correctly by running the below command to check the version:

bash

aws-nuke --version

Once you have AWS Nuke installed, configure it with the appropriate AWS credentials to allow it to access your AWS account. Create an IAM (Identity and Access Management) user with the necessary permissions and enable AWS Nuke to use these credentials.

How to Safely Use AWS Nuke?

No doubt, AWS Nuke is a helpful tool as it cleans up your AWS environment; however, it's essential to use it carefully to avoid unintended deletion. Here is what you can do while using AWS Nuke for safety:

Perform Dry Runs

Always perform dry runs before executing the cleanup process to check which resources will be deleted before beginning the deleting process. This helps prevent accidental deletion of critical resources.

Use Filters

AWS Nuke allows you to set filters to delete resources based on tags, resource type, or age. Use these filters to target particular resources for deletion and avoid deleting the still-in-use matter.

Verify Permissions

Double-check the permissions assigned to the IAM user used by AWS Nuke to ensure it only has access to the resources it needs to delete. Restricting permissions helps minimize the risk of unauthorized deletions.

Examples

Let us show you some examples to help you understand better how AWS Nuke can be used:

Example 1: Deleting Unused EC2 Instances

bash

aws-nuke --profile my-profile --regions us-east-1 --force --no-dry-run ec2

This command will delete all unused EC2 instances in the specified AWS region ("us-east-1") without performing a dry run. Replace "my-profile" with the name of your AWS CLI profile.

Example 2: Deleting Unused S3 Buckets

bash

aws-nuke --profile my-profile --regions us-east-1 --force --no-dry-run s3

This command will delete all unused S3 buckets in the specified AWS region (“us-east-1”) without performing a dry run.

Conclusion

AWS Nuke is a valuable tool for cleaning your AWS environment and optimizing resource usage. You can streamline your AWS infrastructure with this tool. Give AWS Nuke a try and see how it can benefit your server environment - all you gotta do is use it carefully.

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Manish Lakhera

Best Server Support Management Company

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