You can try AWS Directory Service at no additional charge through the Directory Service 30-day limited free trial. The Directory Service 30-day limited free trial provides you with 1,500 hours of use across all your Directory Service managed directories during your first 30 days as a Directory Service customer. The Directory Service 30-day limited free-trial hours are metered based on the type of managed directory and the number of domain controllers that you create.
The following types of managed directories are eligible for the AWS Directory Service 30-day limited free trial.
AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory
AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory (AWS Managed Microsoft AD) enables your directory-aware workloads and AWS resources to use managed Microsoft Active Directory in the AWS Cloud. AWS Managed Microsoft AD is built on actual Microsoft Active Directory and does not require you to synchronize or replicate data from your existing Microsoft Active Directory to the AWS Cloud.
Simple AD
Simple AD is a managed directory built on a Samba 4 Microsoft Active Directory–compatible server. It provides a subset of the functionality offered by Microsoft Active Directory and supports commonly used features such as user accounts, group memberships, joining Amazon EC2 instances to domains that run Linux and Windows, Kerberos-based single sign-on (SSO), and Group Policy.
AD Connector
AD Connector is a directory gateway designed to support user authentication for AWS Enterprise IT application and joining of Amazon EC2 instances to domains in your self-managed Microsoft Active Directory.
Metering of AWS Directory Service 30-day limited free-trial hours
The AWS Directory Service 30-day limited free-trial hours are metered based on the type of directory and the number of domain controllers that you create, as shown in the following table.
| Managed directory type | Limited free-trial hours used per hour of directory operation |
AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory with minimum 2 domain controllers |
2 |
AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory – each additional domain controller |
1 |
Simple AD small directory |
2 |
AD Connector small directory |
2 |
This 30-day free trial offer is limited to one Directory Service free trial per customer. Customers are not eligible for additional Directory Service free trials when creating new managed directories or trying a new type of managed directory.
Learn how to get started with AWS Directory Service