A step-by-step guide to eliminating shared database accounts by integrating Okta with AWS IAM Identity Center and Amazon RDS IAM authentication. The setup uses SAML 2.0 to pass user attributes (department, project, environment) as session tags, enabling attribute-based access control (ABAC) that automatically maps individual Okta identities to database permissions. Users authenticate via Okta MFA, receive a short-lived 15-minute token, and connect to RDS for MySQL (or PostgreSQL/Aurora) without a password. Key benefits include individual audit trails, passwordless access, dynamic least-privilege enforcement, and centralized identity management. The post covers full implementation: connecting Okta to IAM Identity Center, configuring custom SAML attributes, creating ABAC permission sets, enabling RDS IAM auth, and troubleshooting common issues.
