Managing Non-EC2 Servers using AWS Systems Manager

Introduction

AWS Systems Manager is like a Swiss army knife for your cloud infrastructure, bundling a wide range of features into a single service. You can use it to effectively manage not only your entire AWS ecosystem but also extends its capabilities to your on-premises infrastructure. Here’s a quick rundown of what it offers:

• Operations Management: AWS Systems Manager collects and aggregates operational data, offering you insights for understanding your system’s overall performance and maintaining consistent performance and security profiles.
• Application Management: This tool aids in automating the packaging and deployment of applications. Its Parameter Store securely manages secrets and application configurations, significantly improving security.
• Change Management: With AWS Systems Manager, you can manage changes to your infrastructure in a controlled and auditable manner. It allows you to request, approve, implement, and report on operational changes, as well as automate routine changes like patch management.
• Node Management: AWS Systems Manager provides visibility and control over your computing resources. It lets you manage server configurations, maintain software, and collect inventory data. The service’s hybrid activation feature extends these functionalities to servers or VMs on-premises or with another cloud provider.

When Would You Want to Register Non-EC2 Instances?

Suppose you’re a system admin managing various servers. Some are in your office, some are with AWS, and a few are with another cloud provider. Keeping them all updated can be a major task and often confusing.

Bringing your non-EC2 instances into AWS Systems Manager could make this task much easier. You’d be able to manage and automate updates from a single central location. No need to balance multiple systems anymore. Additionally, you can apply scripts across all your servers, whether to automate regular tasks or quickly address any issues.

In this article, I’m going to guide you through the process of registering Non-EC2 instances using AWS Systems Manager. I’ll illustrate this process with an Ubuntu Lightsail instance, making it easy for you to understand the steps and apply them to your own servers.

Steps

Generate a hybrid activation code and ID for Systems Manager

1. Go to the AWS Systems Manager console


2. Under Node Management, click Hybrid Activations

     3. Click Create activation. Add a description and set the Instance limit to 1.

    4. Copy the Activation Code and Activation ID on a scratch pad. You’ll need this later.

    5. SSH into the Lightsail instance

    6. Install the package installation of the SSM agent. Note that the specific SSM agent you install will depend on your server’s operating system. AWS Systems Manager supports a variety of operating systems, and each requires its unique agent.

• Linux
• macOS
• Windows

       Run the following commands. Replace activation-code and activation-id with the ones you copied in Step 4. Replace region with the region where you’ll be configuring SSM (ex: us-east-1)

   7. Check whether your server is registered in Fleet Manager.