How to: AWS Configuration Management
The first way most people experiment with AWS is via its web interface, the AWS Console. But using the Console is a highly manual process, and often works against automation or flexibility.

So if you’re not going to manage your AWS configurations manually, what should you do? Sadly, there are no simple, universal answers — each approach has pros and cons, and the approaches taken by different companies vary widely, and include directly using APIs (and building tooling on top yourself), using command-line tools, and using third-party tools and services.