• The Amazon Systems Manager CloudWatch Dashboard will no longer be available after April 30, 2026. Customers can continue to use Amazon CloudWatch console to view, create, and manage their Amazon CloudWatch dashboards, just as they do today. For more information, see [Amazon CloudWatch Dashboard documentation](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/CloudWatch_Dashboards.html).
# Setting up Distributor
Before you use Distributor, a tool in Amazon Systems Manager, to create, manage, and deploy software packages, follow these steps.
## Complete Distributor prerequisites
Before you use Distributor, a tool in Amazon Systems Manager, be sure your environment meets the following requirements.
**Distributor prerequisites**
| Requirement | Description |
| --- | --- |
| SSM Agent | Amazon Systems Manager SSM Agent version 2.3.274.0 or later must be installed on the managed nodes on which you want to deploy or from which you want to remove packages. To install or update SSM Agent, see [Working with SSM Agent](ssm-agent.md). |
| Amazon CLI | (Optional) To use the Amazon Command Line Interface (Amazon CLI) instead of the Systems Manager console to create and manage packages, install the newest release of the Amazon CLI on your local computer. For more information about how to install or upgrade the CLI, see [Installing the Amazon Command Line Interface](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/cli/latest/userguide/installing.html) in the *Amazon Command Line Interface User Guide*. |
| Amazon Tools for PowerShell | (Optional) To use the Tools for PowerShell instead of the Systems Manager console to create and manage packages, install the newest release of Tools for PowerShell on your local computer. For more information about how to install or upgrade the Tools for PowerShell, see [Setting up the Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell or Amazon Tools for PowerShell Core](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/powershell/latest/userguide/pstools-getting-set-up.html) in the *Amazon Tools for PowerShell User Guide*. |
**Note**
Systems Manager doesn't support distributing packages to Oracle Linux managed nodes by using Distributor.
## Verify or create an IAM instance profile with Distributor permissions
By default, Amazon Systems Manager doesn't have permission to perform actions on your instances. You must grant access by using an Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) instance profile. An instance profile is a container that passes IAM role information to an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance at launch. This requirement applies to permissions for all Systems Manager tools, not just Distributor.
**Note**
When you configure your edge devices to run Amazon IoT Greengrass Core software and SSM Agent, you specify an IAM service role that enables Systems Manager to peform actions on it. You don't need to configure managed edge devices with an instance profile.
If you already use other Systems Manager tools, such as Run Command and State Manager, an instance profile with the required permissions for Distributor is already attached to your instances. The simplest way to ensure that you have permissions to perform Distributor tasks is to attach the **AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore** policy to your instance profile. For more information, see [Configure instance permissions required for Systems Manager](setup-instance-permissions.md).
## Control user access to packages
Using Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies, you can control who can create, deploy, and manage packages. You also control which Run Command and State Manager API operations they can perform on managed nodes. Like Distributor, both Run Command and State Manager, are tools in Amazon Systems Manager.
**ARN Format**
User-defined packages are associated with document Amazon Resource Names (ARNs) and have the following format.
```
arn:aws-cn:ssm:region:account-id:document/document-name
```
The following is an example.
```
arn:aws:ssm:us-west-1:123456789012:document/ExampleDocumentName
```
You can use a pair of Amazon supplied default IAM policies, one for end users and one for administrators, to grant permissions for Distributor activities. Or you can create custom IAM policies appropriate for your permissions requirements.
For more information about using variables in IAM policies, see [IAM Policy Elements: Variables](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_variables.html).
For information about how to create policies and attach them to users or groups, see [Creating IAM Policies](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_create.html) and [Adding and Removing IAM Policies](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_manage-attach-detach.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
## Create or choose an Amazon S3 bucket to store Distributor packages
When you create a package by using the **Simple** workflow in the Amazon Systems Manager console, you choose an existing Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) bucket to which Distributor uploads your software. Distributor is a tool in Amazon Systems Manager. In the **Advanced** workflow, you must upload .zip files of your software or assets to an Amazon S3 bucket before you begin. Whether you create a package by using the **Simple** or **Advanced** workflows in the console, or by using the API, you must have an Amazon S3 bucket before you start creating your package. As part of the package creation process, Distributor copies your installable software and assets from this bucket to an internal Systems Manager store. Because the assets are copied to an internal store, you can delete or repurpose your Amazon S3 bucket when package creation is finished.
For more information about how to create a bucket, see [Create a Bucket](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/CreatingABucket.html) in the *Amazon Simple Storage Service Getting Started Guide*. For more information about how to run an Amazon CLI command to create a bucket, see [https://docs.amazonaws.cn/cli/latest/reference/s3/mb.html](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/cli/latest/reference/s3/mb.html) in the *Amazon CLI Command Reference*.