Key valid for ELB tools, Invalid for RDS tools

Question

I'm getting the following error when I run RDS cli tools:

$ rds-describe-db-snapshots
rds-describe-db-snapshots:  Malformed input-The content of the file:
  /path/to/my-key.pem, is not a valid private key

This is the key I use for the ELB tools, and it is the value of EC2_PRIVATE_KEY. I can run ec2-describe-instances and get results right away as normal.

What could lead to my key being rejected by RDS tools when it's accepted by ELB tools?

Answer 1

The "old" command line tools all used different auth mechanisms - some pulled from env vars, others wanted one type of config file or another, etc. I know very early tools allowed you to use an X.509 certificate, but have never used that. I don't believe that the X.509 cert is the same key that you use to launch instances.

I would recommend using the new "unified" aws cli tools, which have a single config file, and allow you to store multiple profiles in that file.