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Tutorials › AWS Solutions Architect › IAM Identity Center — Single Sign-On

IAM Identity Center — Single Sign-On

4 min read
Set up IAM Identity Center for single sign-on across multiple AWS accounts and integrate with existing identity providers.

IAM Identity Center — One Login for Everything

IAM Identity Center (formerly AWS SSO) provides single sign-on access to multiple AWS accounts and business applications. Users log in once and access everything they need without managing separate IAM users in each account.

Teacher Note: Without IAM Identity Center, a developer working in 5 AWS accounts needs 5 separate IAM users with 5 separate passwords. With Identity Center, they log in ONCE with their corporate email and get a menu showing all 5 accounts — click and go. Like a master key that opens multiple doors.

How IAM Identity Center Works

Employee logs into Identity Center portal (mycompany.awsapps.com/start)
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[Identity Provider authentication]
  - AWS Identity Center (built-in directory)
  - Active Directory (on-premises or AWS Directory Service)
  - Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspace (external IdP via SAML 2.0)
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User sees their portal:
  - AWS Account: Production (Developer permissions)
  - AWS Account: Development (Admin permissions)
  - AWS Account: Staging (Read-only permissions)
  - App: Salesforce
  - App: Jira
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  v
Click on account --> Temporary credentials automatically provisioned

Permission Sets

Permission Sets are like templates for what a user can do in an account. Assign a Permission Set to a user + account combination.

Permission SetWhat It AllowsAssigned To
ReadOnlyView all resources, no changesAll developers in production
DeveloperFull access except IAMDevelopers in development account
DatabaseAdminRDS, DynamoDB management onlyDatabase team in all accounts
NetworkAdminVPC, Route 53, Direct ConnectNetwork team
Exam Tip: IAM Identity Center is the recommended approach for multi-account environments. It centralises user management, provides temporary credentials, enforces MFA, and creates audit trails. Much simpler than managing individual IAM users in each account.