Prerequisites

This tutorial requires the Aerospike Graph repository and several tools to work with AWS infrastructure. Before proceeding, install the following:

Required

Docker

Docker is used to run local services if needed during development. Download and install Docker Desktop from the Docker website.

After installation, verify Docker is running:

docker --version

You should see output similar to:

Docker version 24.0.0, build abc1234

AWS Account

You need an active AWS account with appropriate permissions to:

Create and manage EC2 instances
Create and manage S3 buckets
Create and manage EMR clusters
Create VPCs, subnets, and security groups

Ensure your IAM user or role has the necessary permissions. The AWS managed policies AmazonEC2FullAccess, AmazonS3FullAccess, and AmazonEMRFullAccess provide sufficient access for this tutorial.

AWS CLI

The AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) allows you to interact with AWS services from your terminal. Install the AWS CLI following the instructions at the AWS CLI installation guide.

After installation, verify the AWS CLI is available:

aws --version

You should see output similar to:

aws-cli/2.31.37 Python/3.13.9 Darwin/25.1.0 exe/arm64

Choose one of the following methods to configure your AWS credentials:

AWS SSO
Access keys

If your organization uses AWS IAM Identity Center (SSO), configure an SSO profile:

Configure the SSO profile (replace YOUR_PROFILE_NAME with your desired profile name):
Terminal window
```
aws configure sso --profile YOUR_PROFILE_NAME
```
Follow the prompts to set your SSO start URL, SSO region, and default output format.
Log in to your SSO session:
Terminal window
```
aws sso login --profile YOUR_PROFILE_NAME
```
This opens a browser window where you complete the SSO authentication.
Verify the session is active:
Terminal window
```
aws sts get-caller-identity --profile YOUR_PROFILE_NAME
```
You should see output containing your AWS account ID and identity information, confirming the credentials are working.

For personal accounts or when SSO is not available, use access keys:

aws configure

Provide your AWS Access Key ID, Secret Access Key, default region (for example, us-east-1), and output format (for example, json).

For step-by-step instructions on creating an Access Key ID and Secret Access Key, follow the AWS IAM guide for access keys.

Aerolab

Aerolab is a command-line tool for managing Aerospike clusters on various cloud providers. It simplifies cluster creation, configuration, and management on AWS.

Install Aerolab by following the instructions at the Aerolab GitHub repository.

After installation, verify Aerolab is available:

aerolab version

You should see output showing the Aerolab version.

Optional

Git

While not strictly required, Git makes it easier to clone the repository. If you do not have Git installed, you can download the repository as a ZIP file from GitHub instead.

Install Git from git-scm.com.