> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.plerion.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Service account prerequisites

> Prepare your AWS account for use as a Plerion service account by verifying regions, enabling availability, and ensuring EC2 quotas can support appliance deployment.

## Before you begin

Choose which AWS account to use as your service account:

* **Recommended:** Create a new AWS account specifically for the service account to isolate costs and avoid impacting existing workloads.
* **Alternative:** You can use an existing AWS account.

***

## Prerequisites

<Warning>
  New AWS accounts may not have all regions enabled by default, and manual activation may be required. Check and activate regions as needed before installing the service account infrastructure.
</Warning>

### Verify AWS region availability

<Steps>
  <Step title="Sign in to the AWS Management Console" />

  <Step title="Check region settings">
    * Open the region selector in the top-right corner and choose `Manage regions`.
    * Enable the regions you plan to use.

    <Frame>
      <img src="https://mintcdn.com/pleriondocs/2HBIdIEF_iUoBKh-/images/service-account/region-enabled.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=2HBIdIEF_iUoBKh-&q=85&s=c0d77652e4f5fb387521ec163640913f" alt="AWS Manage regions page showing enabled regions" width="3346" height="1632" data-path="images/service-account/region-enabled.png" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Test if the region is active">
    * Open the **EC2 service** in your target region.
    * Try to launch **10 t3.micro** instances or **1 large instance**.
    * If the region is inactive, you’ll see an error message:

    <Frame>
      <img src="https://mintcdn.com/pleriondocs/2HBIdIEF_iUoBKh-/images/service-account/region-activation-error.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=2HBIdIEF_iUoBKh-&q=85&s=733b8a33872ac7eda391464cf5bbb146" alt="Region activation error message in AWS console" width="2028" height="547" data-path="images/service-account/region-activation-error.png" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Wait for activation or contact AWS support">
    * AWS typically activates a region within 10–15 minutes and sends a confirmation email.
    * If no email arrives, raise a support ticket in the [AWS Support Center](https://console.aws.amazon.com/support/home#/).

    <Frame>
      <img src="https://mintcdn.com/pleriondocs/kZep2o9T0iPastk9/images/service-account/activate-message.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=kZep2o9T0iPastk9&q=85&s=f6915124154704a9ee3fba2807be54fa" alt="Example AWS email confirming region activation" width="1626" height="1314" data-path="images/service-account/activate-message.png" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  Remember to terminate the EC2 instances after testing region activation.
</Warning>

***

### Verify AWS service quotas

The AWS service account deploys appliances as EC2 instances to perform CWPP scans. By default, these appliances use the `c7i.xlarge` instance type in supported regions. If `c7i.xlarge` is not available in a region, the service account will fall back to using `t3.large`.

* c7i.xlarge: 4 vCPUs, 8 GiB memory
* t3.large: 2 vCPUs, 8 GiB memory

A service account will deploy up to **10 appliances** in a region. To support this, ensure the EC2 quota **Running On-Demand Standard (A, C, D, H, I, M, R, T, Z) instances** is **at least 40**.

Default EC2 quotas are often set below the required threshold. To ensure service account appliances can be deployed, you may need to request a quota increase in each region you plan to use.

Follow these steps to check your current quota and request an increase if needed:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Sign in to the AWS Management Console" />

  <Step title="Select the target region">
    Use the region selector in the top-right corner to confirm you’re in the correct region.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open the Service Quotas service" />

  <Step title="Search for EC2 quotas">
    In the navigation pane, choose `AWS services`, then search for `EC2` and select `Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2)`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Find the On-Demand Standard instances quota">
    Enter `Running On-Demand Standard (A, C, D, H, I, M, R, T, Z) instances` in the search field and select the matching quota.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review the applied quota value">
    * The minimum required for a service account is **40**.
    * If your applied value is lower, continue with a quota increase request.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Request a quota increase">
    * On the quota details page, click `Request quota increase`.
    * Confirm the quota name is **Running On-Demand Standard (A, C, D, H, I, M, R, T, Z) instances** and the region is correct.
    * Enter a new value of `40 or higher` and submit the request.
    * A confirmation message should appear at the top of the screen.
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Next step

Once you’ve confirmed regions and quotas, continue with service account setup:

* [Getting started with an AWS service account](/guides/integrations/aws/service-account/getting-started-with-aws-service-account)