Get started with AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory, also known as AWS Managed Microsoft AD.
Once your directory is configured, you will be able to domain join Amazon EC2 Linux and Microsoft Windows instances to your directory, which enables you and your end users to authenticate to applications and resources with a single set of credentials. AWS Managed Microsoft AD also enables you to migrate your directory-aware workloads to the AWS cloud, including custom .NET and SQL Server applications.
Getting started is easy. You can follow the steps below to launch a directory.
Set up AWS Managed Microsoft AD
- Sign up for a new account or sign in to your existing account
- Launch a free AWS Managed Microsoft AD directory
- Create users and groups
- Join an Amazon EC2 instance to your domain
- Test single sign-on to a domain joined EC2 instance
Documentation
AWS Directory Service offers a comprehensive set of directory options to support your cloud workloads. Learn about the best practices, choosing the best directory option for your use case, developer and administration guide in the AWS Directory Service documentation.
Videos
AWS Directory Service offers a comprehensive set of directory options to support your cloud workloads. Watch the videos below to quickly get started with AWS Directory Service, learn best practices and choose the right directory option for your use case.
Tutorials and Guides
Get started with AWS Managed Microsoft AD quickly using the following tutorials and guides.
- Whitepaper: Active Directory on AWS - design and planning guide.
- Getting Started: How to create your AWS Managed Microsoft AD directory.
- How to manage users and groups in AWS Managed Microsoft AD.
- How to seamlessly domain join Amazon EC2 instances to a single AWS Managed Microsoft AD Directory from multiple accounts and VPCs.
- How to use Amazon EC2 Systems Manager to join an instance to your AWS Directory Service domain.
- How to monitor your AWS Managed Microsoft AD using Amazon CloudWatch Logs.
- How to connect to your existing Active Directory infrastructure.
- How to enable DHCP options set for your AWS directory.
Using the AWS Directory Service API
You can use the Directory Service API to programmatically automate the provisioning and configuration of directories. You can also use the EC2 API to programmatically join both EC2 Linux and Windows instances to a domain.

Get started building with AWS Directory Service in the AWS Console.