Step 2: Create a hybrid activation for a hybrid and multicloud environment - Amazon Systems Manager
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Step 2: Create a hybrid activation for a hybrid and multicloud environment

To set up machines other than Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances as managed nodes for a hybrid and multicloud environment, you create and apply a hybrid activation. After you successfully complete the activation, you immediately receive an Activation Code and Activation ID at the top of the console page. You specify this Code and ID combination when you install Amazon Systems Manager SSM Agent on non-EC2 machines for your hybrid and multicloud environment. The Code and ID provide secure access to the Systems Manager service from your managed nodes.

Important

Systems Manager immediately returns the Activation Code and ID to the console or the command window, depending on how you created the activation. Copy this information and store it in a safe place. If you navigate away from the console or close the command window, you might lose this information. If you lose it, you must create a new activation.

About activation expirations

An activation expiration is a window of time when you can register on-premises machines with Systems Manager. An expired activation has no impact on your servers or VMs that you previously registered with Systems Manager. If an activation expires then you can’t register more servers or VMs with Systems Manager by using that specific activation. You simply need to create a new one.

Every on-premises server and VM you previously registered remains registered as a Systems Manager managed node until you explicitly deregister it. You can deregister a managed node on the Managed nodes tab in Fleet Manager in the Systems Manager console by using the Amazon CLI command deregister-managed-instance, or by using the API call DeregisterManagedInstance.

About managed nodes

A managed node is any machine configured for Amazon Systems Manager. Amazon Systems Manager supports Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances, edge devices, and on-premises servers or VMs, including VMs in other cloud environments. Previously, managed nodes were all referred to as managed instances. The term instance now refers to EC2 instances only. The deregister-managed-instance command was named before this terminology change.

About activation tags

If you create an activation by using either the Amazon Command Line Interface (Amazon CLI) or Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell, you can specify tags. Tags are optional metadata that you assign to a resource. Tags allow you to categorize a resource in different ways, such as by purpose, owner, or environment. Here is an Amazon CLI sample command to run on a local Linux machine that includes optional tags.

aws ssm create-activation \ --default-instance-name MyWebServers \ --description "Activation for Finance department webservers" \ --iam-role service-role/AmazonEC2RunCommandRoleForManagedInstances \ --registration-limit 10 \ --region us-east-2 \ --tags "Key=Department,Value=Finance"

If you specify tags when you create an activation, then those tags are automatically assigned to your managed nodes when you activate them.

You can't add tags to or delete tags from an existing activation. If you don't want to automatically assign tags to your on-premises servers and VMs using an activation, then you can add tags to them later. More specifically, you can tag your on-premises servers and VMs after they connect to Systems Manager for the first time. After they connect, they're assigned a managed node ID and listed in the Systems Manager console with an ID that is prefixed with "mi-". For information about how to add tags to your managed nodes without using the activation process, see Tagging managed nodes.

Note

You can't assign tags to an activation if you create it by using the Systems Manager console. You must create it by using either the Amazon CLI or Tools for Windows PowerShell.

If you no longer want to manage an on-premises server or virtual machine (VM) by using Systems Manager, you can deregister it. For information, see Deregistering managed nodes in a hybrid and multicloud environment.

Create an activation (console)

To create a managed-node activation
  1. Open the Amazon Systems Manager console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/systems-manager/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Hybrid Activations.

    -or-

    If the Amazon Systems Manager home page opens first, choose the menu icon ( 
    The menu icon
  ) to open the navigation pane, and then choose Hybrid Activations.

  3. Choose Create activation.

    -or-

    If you are accessing Hybrid Activations for the first time in the current Amazon Web Services Region, choose Create an Activation.

  4. (Optional) For Activation description, enter a description for this activation. We recommend entering a description if you plan to activate large numbers of servers and VMs.

  5. For Instance limit, specify the total number of nodes that you want to register with Amazon as part of this activation. The default value is 1 instance.

  6. For IAM role, choose a service role option that allows your servers and VMs to communicate with Amazon Systems Manager in the cloud:

    • Option 1: Choose Use the default role created by the system to use a role and managed policy provided by Amazon.

    • Option 2: Choose Select an existing custom IAM role that has the required permissions to use the optional custom role you created earlier. This role must have a trust relationship policy that specifies "Service": "ssm.amazonaws.com.cn". If your IAM role doesn't specify this principle in a trust relationship policy, you receive the following error:

      An error occurred (ValidationException) when calling the CreateActivation
                                          operation: Not existing role: arn:aws-cn:iam::<accountid>:role/SSMRole

      For more information about creating this role, see Step 1: Create an IAM service role for a hybrid and multicloud environment.

  7. For Activation expiry date, specify an expiration date for the activation. The expiry date must be in the future, and not more than 30 days into the future. The default value is 24 hours.

    Note

    If you want to register additional managed nodes after the expiry date, you must create a new activation. The expiry date has no impact on registered and running nodes.

  8. (Optional) For Default instance name field, specify an identifying name value to be displayed for all managed nodes associated with this activation.

  9. Choose Create activation. Systems Manager immediately returns the Activation Code and ID to the console.

Create a managed-node activation (command line)

The following procedure describes how to use the Amazon Command Line Interface (Amazon CLI) (on Linux or Windows) or Amazon Tools for PowerShell to create a managed node activation.

To create an activation
  1. Install and configure the Amazon CLI or the Amazon Tools for PowerShell, if you haven't already.

    For information, see Installing or updating the latest version of the Amazon CLI and Installing the Amazon Tools for PowerShell.

  2. Run the following command to create an activation.

    Note
    • In the following command, replace region with your own information. For a list of supported region values, see the Region column in Systems Manager service endpoints in the Amazon Web Services General Reference.

    • The role you specify for the iam-role parameter must have a trust relationship policy that specifies "Service": "ssm.amazonaws.com.cn". If your Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) role doesn't specify this principle in a trust relationship policy, you receive the following error:

      An error occurred (ValidationException) when calling the CreateActivation
                                              operation: Not existing role: arn:aws-cn:iam::<accountid>:role/SSMRole

      For more information about creating this role, see Step 1: Create an IAM service role for a hybrid and multicloud environment.

    • For --expiration-date, provide a date in timestamp format, such as "2021-07-07T00:00:00", for when the activation code expires. You can specify a date up to 30 days in advance. If you don't provide an expiration date, the activation code expires in 24 hours.

    Linux & macOS
    aws ssm create-activation \ --default-instance-name name \ --iam-role iam-service-role-name \ --registration-limit number-of-managed-instances \ --region region \ --expiration-date "timestamp" \\ --tags "Key=key-name-1,Value=key-value-1" "Key=key-name-2,Value=key-value-2"
    Windows
    aws ssm create-activation ^ --default-instance-name name ^ --iam-role iam-service-role-name ^ --registration-limit number-of-managed-instances ^ --region region ^ --expiration-date "timestamp" ^ --tags "Key=key-name-1,Value=key-value-1" "Key=key-name-2,Value=key-value-2"
    PowerShell
    New-SSMActivation -DefaultInstanceName name ` -IamRole iam-service-role-name ` -RegistrationLimit number-of-managed-instances ` –Region region ` -ExpirationDate "timestamp" ` -Tag @{"Key"="key-name-1";"Value"="key-value-1"},@{"Key"="key-name-2";"Value"="key-value-2"}

    Here is an example.

    Linux & macOS
    aws ssm create-activation \ --default-instance-name MyWebServers \ --iam-role service-role/AmazonEC2RunCommandRoleForManagedInstances \ --registration-limit 10 \ --region us-east-2 \ --expiration-date "2021-07-07T00:00:00" \ --tags "Key=Environment,Value=Production" "Key=Department,Value=Finance"
    Windows
    aws ssm create-activation ^ --default-instance-name MyWebServers ^ --iam-role service-role/AmazonEC2RunCommandRoleForManagedInstances ^ --registration-limit 10 ^ --region us-east-2 ^ --expiration-date "2021-07-07T00:00:00" ^ --tags "Key=Environment,Value=Production" "Key=Department,Value=Finance"
    PowerShell
    New-SSMActivation -DefaultInstanceName MyWebServers ` -IamRole service-role/AmazonEC2RunCommandRoleForManagedInstances ` -RegistrationLimit 10 ` –Region us-east-2 ` -ExpirationDate "2021-07-07T00:00:00" ` -Tag @{"Key"="Environment";"Value"="Production"},@{"Key"="Department";"Value"="Finance"}

    If the activation is created successfully, the system immediately returns an Activation Code and ID.