AWS systems-manager medium security documentation change
Summary
Updated documentation to introduce Default Host Management Configuration (DHMC), removed legacy State Manager association details, and added new configuration options for inventory collection and SSM Agent updates
Security assessment
The change introduces security-focused features: 1) DHMC automates IAM permissions management for EC2 instances, reducing misconfiguration risks. 2) Automatic SSM Agent updates ensure security patches are applied. 3) Inventory collection includes security-relevant metadata. The removal of the SystemAssociationForManagingInstances suggests moving to a more secure pattern that avoids potential IAM policy conflicts and CloudFormation drift issues.
Diff
diff --git a/systems-manager/latest/userguide/systems-manager-setting-up-single-account-region.md b/systems-manager/latest/userguide/systems-manager-setting-up-single-account-region.md index 32879d219..14796e1e0 100644 --- a//systems-manager/latest/userguide/systems-manager-setting-up-single-account-region.md +++ b//systems-manager/latest/userguide/systems-manager-setting-up-single-account-region.md @@ -4,0 +5,2 @@ +Unified console resourcesSet up the unified console + @@ -7 +9,5 @@ -To set up the Systems Manager unified console experience for a single AWS account and AWS Region you don't need to use Organizations or register a delegated administrator account. The setup process for the Systems Manager console experience completes many prerequisite tasks for you. This includes creating and attaching instance profiles with the required IAM permissions to your nodes and more. The following is a detailed list of the resources created by Systems Manager for the unified console. +To set up the Systems Manager unified console experience for a single AWS account and AWS Region you don't need to use Organizations or register a delegated administrator account. The setup process for the Systems Manager console experience completes many prerequisite tasks for you. Depending on the features you choose to configure, this includes enabling Default Host Management Configuration to provide the required IAM permissions to your nodes and more. The following is a detailed list of the resources created by Systems Manager for the unified console. + +## Unified console resources + +Depending on the features you choose to configure, some resources might not be created. @@ -30,12 +35,0 @@ State Manager associations - * `SystemAssociationForManagingInstances` – Runs at minimum every 30 days and each time a new instance is launched. Ensures the `AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore` policy is applied to instance profiles attached to your nodes. If no instance profile is attached to the node, Systems Manager creates an instance profile with the `AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore` policy and attaches it to the node. If your nodes already have an instance profile attached, the policy is appended to the instance profile. If the instance profile already contains the necessary permissions, no changes are made. - -If a node was launched by AWS CloudFormation, the changes Systems Manager makes to the instance profile might cause AWS CloudFormation to detect the resource as drifted. - -###### Important - -Each time a new instance is launched, this `SystemAssociationForManagingInstances` association runs. If your account routinely launches a high number of instances, this can lead to elevated costs being incurred if you surpass Automation's free tier maximum for Automation executions. - -For information about Automation pricing and free tier maximums, see [Pricing for Automation](https://aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/pricing/#Automation). - -For information about targeting frequency for State Manager associations, see [About target updates with Automation runbooks](./state-manager-about.html#runbook-target-updates). - @@ -70,0 +65,2 @@ Additionally, after the setup process completes you can select the **Diagnose an +## Set up the unified console + @@ -76,0 +73,39 @@ Additionally, after the setup process completes you can select the **Diagnose an + 3. In the **Feature configurations** section, choose the options that you want to enable for your configuration: + +**Enable Default Host Management Configuration (DHMC)** + + +Allows Systems Manager to configure DHMC. This feature allows Systems Manager to use an IAM role to ensure that all Amazon EC2 instances in the account and Region have the permissions necessary to be managed by Systems Manager. You can also specify the frequency of drift remediation. Configuration drift occurs whenever a user makes any change to a service or feature that conflicts with the selections made through your configuration. Systems Manager checks for configuration drift and attempts to remediate it based on the frequency you specify. You must specify a value between 1 and 31 days. If you've already configured DHMC in a Region, Systems Manager doesn't change the IAM role you previously selected. For more information about DHMC, see [Managing EC2 instances automatically with Default Host Management Configuration](./fleet-manager-default-host-management-configuration.html). + +DHMC makes it possible to manage Amazon EC2 instances without your having to manually create an AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) instance profile. We encourage you to choose this option to ensure that your EC2 instances have the permissions necessary to be managed by Systems Manager. + +**Enable inventory metadata collection** + + +Enables Systems Manager to configure collection of the following types of metadata from your nodes: + + * **AWS components** – EC2 driver, agents, versions, and more. + + * **Applications** – Application names, publishers, versions, and more. + + * **Node details** – System name, operating system (OS) name, OS version, last boot, DNS, domain, work group, OS architecture, and more. + + * **Network configuration** – IP address, MAC address, DNS, gateway, subnet mask, and more. + + * **Services** – Name, display name, status, dependent services, service type, start type, and more (Windows Server nodes only). + + * **Windows roles** – Name, display name, path, feature type, installed state, and more (Windows Server nodes only). + + * **Windows updates** – Hotfix ID, installed by, installed date, and more (Windows Server nodes only). + +Specify the frequency at which inventory is collected. You must specify a value between 1 and 744 hours. For more information about Inventory, a tool in AWS Systems Manager, see [AWS Systems Manager Inventory](./systems-manager-inventory.html). + +**Enable automatic Systems Manager (SSM) Agent updates** + + +Enables Systems Manager to check for a new version of the agent at the frequency you specify. The value for the frequency must be between 1 and 31 days. If there is a new version, then Systems Manager automatically updates the agent on your managed node to the latest released version. Systems Manager doesn't install the agent on instances where it's not already present. For information about which AMIs have SSM Agent preinstalled, see [ Find AMIs with the SSM Agent preinstalled](./ami-preinstalled-agent.html). + +We encourage you to choose this option to ensure that your nodes are always running the most up-to-date version of SSM Agent. For more information about SSM Agent, including information about how to manually install the agent, see [Working with SSM Agent](./ssm-agent.html). + + 4. Choose **Submit**. +