Working with CloudFormation templates - Amazon Systems Manager
Working with the template libraryCreating a templateEditing a template
Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Working with CloudFormation templates

Application Manager, a capability of Amazon Systems Manager, includes a template library and other tools to help you manage Amazon CloudFormation templates. This section includes the following information.

Working with the template library

The Application Manager template library provides tools to help you view, create, edit, delete, and clone templates. You can also provision stacks directly from the template library. Templates are stored as Systems Manager (SSM) documents of type CloudFormation. By storing templates as SSM documents, you can use version controls to work with different versions of a template. You can also set permissions and share templates. After you successfully provision a stack, the stack and template are available in Application Manager and CloudFormation.

Before you begin

We recommend that you read the following topics to learn more about SSM documents before you start working with CloudFormation templates in Application Manager.

To view the template library in Application Manager

  1. Open the Amazon Systems Manager console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/systems-manager/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Application Manager.

  3. In the Applications section, choose CloudFormation stacks.

  4. Choose Template library.

Creating a template

The following procedure describes how to create a CloudFormation template in Application Manager. When you create a template, you enter the stack details of the template in either JSON or YAML. If you're unfamiliar with JSON or YAML, you can use Amazon CloudFormation Designer, a tool for visually creating and modifying templates. For more information, see What is Amazon CloudFormation Designer? in the Amazon CloudFormation User Guide. For information about the structure and syntax of a template, see Template anatomy.

You can also construct a template from multiple template snippets. Template snippets are examples that demonstrate how to write templates for a particular resource. For example, you can view snippets for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) domains, Amazon CloudFormation mappings, and more. Snippets are grouped by resource. You can find general-purpose Amazon CloudFormation snippets in the General template snippets section of the Amazon CloudFormation User Guide.

Creating a CloudFormation template in Application Manager (console)

Use the following procedure to create a CloudFormation template in Application Manager by using the Amazon Web Services Management Console.

To create a CloudFormation template in Application Manager

  1. Open the Amazon Systems Manager console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/systems-manager/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Application Manager.

  3. In the Applications section, choose CloudFormation stacks.

  4. Choose Template library, and then either choose Create template or choose an existing template and then choose Actions, Clone.

  5. For Name, enter a name for the template that helps you identify the resources it creates or the purpose of the stack.

  6. (Optional) For Version name, enter a name or a number to identity the template version.

  7. (Optional) For Description, enter information about this template.

  8. In the Code editor section, choose either YAML or JSON and then either enter or copy and paste your template code.

  9. (Optional) In the Tags section, apply one or more tag key name/value pairs to the template.

    Tags are optional metadata that you assign to a resource. By using tags, you can categorize a resource in different ways, such as by purpose, owner, or environment. For more information about tagging Systems Manager resources, see Tagging Systems Manager resources.

  10. (Optional) In the Permissions section, enter an Amazon Web Services account ID and choose Add account. This action provides read permission to the template. The account owner can provision and clone the template, but they can't edit or delete it.

  11. Choose Create. The template is saved in the Systems Manager (SSM) Document service.

Creating a CloudFormation template in Application Manager (command line)

After you create the content of your CloudFormation template in JSON or YAML, you can use the Amazon Command Line Interface (Amazon CLI) or Amazon Tools for PowerShell to save the template as an SSM document. Replace each example resource placeholder with your own information.

Before you begin

Install and configure the Amazon CLI or the Amazon Tools for PowerShell, if you have not already. For information, see Installing or updating the latest version of the Amazon CLI and Installing the Amazon Tools for PowerShell.

Linux & macOS
aws ssm create-document \
    --content file://path/to/template_in_json_or_yaml \
    --name "a_name_for_the_template" \
    --document-type "CloudFormation" \
    --document-format "JSON_or_YAML" \
    --tags "Key=tag-key,Value=tag-value"
Windows
aws ssm create-document ^
    --content file://C:\path\to\template_in_json_or_yaml ^
    --name "a_name_for_the_template" ^
    --document-type "CloudFormation" ^
    --document-format "JSON_or_YAML" ^
    --tags "Key=tag-key,Value=tag-value"
PowerShell
$json = Get-Content -Path "C:\path\to\template_in_json_or_yaml | Out-String
New-SSMDocument `
    -Content $json `
    -Name "a_name_for_the_template" `
    -DocumentType "CloudFormation" `
    -DocumentFormat "JSON_or_YAML" `
    -Tags "Key=tag-key,Value=tag-value"

If successful, the command returns a response similar to the following.

{
    "DocumentDescription": {
        "Hash": "c1d9640f15fbdba6deb41af6471d6ace0acc22f213bdd1449f03980358c2d4fb",
        "HashType": "Sha256",
        "Name": "MyTestCFTemplate",
        "Owner": "428427166869",
        "CreatedDate": "2021-06-04T09:44:18.931000-07:00",
        "Status": "Creating",
        "DocumentVersion": "1",
        "Description": "My test template",
        "PlatformTypes": [],
        "DocumentType": "CloudFormation",
        "SchemaVersion": "1.0",
        "LatestVersion": "1",
        "DefaultVersion": "1",
        "DocumentFormat": "YAML",
        "Tags": [
            {
                "Key": "Templates",
                "Value": "Test"
            }
        ]
    }

Editing a template

Use the following procedure to edit a CloudFormation template in Application Manager. Template changes are available in CloudFormation after you provision a stack that uses the updated template.

To edit a CloudFormation template in Application Manager

  1. Open the Amazon Systems Manager console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/systems-manager/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Application Manager.

  3. In the Applications section, choose CloudFormation stacks.

  4. Choose Template library.

  5. Choose a template, and then choose Actions, Edit. You can't change the name of a template, but you can change all other details.

  6. Choose Save. The template is saved in the Systems Manager Document service.