AWS Systems Manager FAQs

AWS Systems Manager helps you centrally view, manage, and operate nodes at scale in AWS, on-premises, and multicloud environments. Systems Manager provides various tools to help you complete common node tasks. These tools include:

• Use Patch Manager to apply patches to nodes such as security updates.
• Session Manager provides secure node management without the need to open inbound ports, maintain bastion hosts, or manage SSH keys.
• Using Run Command you can remotely and securely manage the configuration of your managed nodes. A managed node is any Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance or non-EC2 machine in your hybrid and multicloud environment that has been configured for Systems Manager.

You can use Systems Manager to manage nodes such as Amazon EC2 instances, Virtual Machines on other clouds, on-premises servers, and other devices with a CPU. A managed node means the SSM Agent is installed on the machine and the agent can communicate with the Systems Manager service. Once managed, you can leverage the full suite of Systems Manager tools to patch nodes with security updates, securely connect to nodes without managing SSH keys or bastion hosts, automate operational commands at scale, and gain comprehensive visibility across your entire fleet.

Yes - you will still have access to the existing tools and capabilities such as Patch Manager, Session Manager, and Automation. Learn more by visiting Systems Manager Documentation.

Systems Manager helps you scale operational efficiency by simplifying node management, making it easier to manage nodes running anywhere. Easily install software, apply patches, remediate issues, and gain full visibility across your entire fleet.

To get started managing nodes in hybrid and multicloud environments, customers need to set up Systems Manager and install the SSM Agent on non-AWS nodes. You can refer to Documentation to follow the setup process.

Yes, whatever nodes you have, including EC2 instances and hybrid servers (see the full list above), AWS Systems Manager gives you a comprehensive, centralized view to easily manage all of your nodes at scale. To set up Systems Manager for an AWS Organizations, you must have access to the management account for your organization and another account in your organization to use as a delegated administrator. To manage your nodes, you'll use the delegated administrator account.