This assumes you have already configured the aws command line tool. If not, check out my article on Getting Started with the AWS CLI.

• An IAM Policy allows certain actions (such create) on certain resources (such as EC2)
• An IAM User is typically a users account (such as john.doe) that contains an IAM Identity-Based Policy that allows certain actions (such as list) on certain resources (such S3)
• An IAM Role contains an IAM Policy that allows certain actions (such create) on certain resources (such as EC2) - Let's say the Identity-Based Policy attached to john.doe does NOT allow create S3 - john.doe could Assume a Role that allows create S3
  • Assume Role or Switch Role using Python boto3
  • Assume Role or Switch Role using Terraform
  • Assume Role or Switch Role using the AWS CLI
  • Often, a Role will have two Policies:
    • Trust Relationship
    • Permission Policy

The aws iam list-instance-profiles command can be used to list all of the IAM profiles.

aws iam list-instance-profiles

And here is an example of how to limit the output using the --query option.

aws iam list-instance-profiles --query 'InstanceProfiles[?InstanceProfileName==`AmazonSSMRoleForInstancesQuickSetup`]'

Something like this should be returned.

{
    "InstanceProfiles": [
        {
            "Path": "/",
            "InstanceProfileName": "my-foo-profile",
            "InstanceProfileId": "ABCDEFG123456789",
            "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:instance-profile/my-foo-profile",
            "CreateDate": "2021-09-09T13:29:20+00:00",
            "Roles": []
        },
        {
            "Path": "/",
            "InstanceProfileName": "my-bar-profile",
            "InstanceProfileId": "123456789ABCDEFG",
            "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:instance-profile/my-bar-profile",
            "CreateDate": "2021-09-09T13:29:20+00:00",
            "Roles": []
        }
    ]
}