• 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). 

# Amazon Systems Manager Change Calendar
<a name="systems-manager-change-calendar"></a>

Change Calendar, a tool in Amazon Systems Manager, allows you to set up date and time ranges when actions you specify (for example, in [Systems Manager Automation](systems-manager-automation.md) runbooks) might or might not be performed in your Amazon Web Services account. In Change Calendar, these ranges are called *events*. When you create a Change Calendar entry, you're creating a [Systems Manager document](documents.md) of the type `ChangeCalendar`. In Change Calendar, the document stores [iCalendar 2.0](https://icalendar.org/) data in plaintext format. Events that you add to the Change Calendar entry become part of the document. To get started with Change Calendar, open the [Systems Manager console](https://console.amazonaws.cn//systems-manager/change-calendar). In the navigation pane, choose **Change Calendar**.

You can create a calendar and its events in the Systems Manager console. You can also import an iCalendar (`.ics`) file that you have exported from a supported third-party calendar provider to add its events to your calendar. Supported providers include Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, and iCloud Calendar.

A Change Calendar entry can be one of two types:

**`DEFAULT_OPEN`**, or Open by default  
All actions can run by default, except during calendar events. During events, the state of a `DEFAULT_OPEN` calendar is `CLOSED` and events are blocked from running.

**`DEFAULT_CLOSED`**, or Closed by default  
All actions are blocked by default, except during calendar events. During events, the state of a `DEFAULT_CLOSED` calendar is `OPEN` and actions are permitted to run.

You can choose to have all scheduled Automation workflows, maintenance windows, and State Manager associations added automatically to a calendar. You can also remove any of those individual types from the calendar display. 

## Who should use Change Calendar?
<a name="systems-manager-change-calendar-who"></a>

**Change Manager availability change**  
Amazon Systems Manager Change Manager will no longer be open to new customers starting November 7, 2025. If you would like to use Change Manager, sign up prior to that date. Existing customers can continue to use the service as normal. For more information, see [Amazon Systems Manager Change Manager availability change](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/systems-manager/latest/userguide/change-manager-availability-change.html). 
+ Amazon customers who perform the following action types:
  + Create or run Automation runbooks.
  + Create change requests in Change Manager.
  + Run maintenance windows.
  + Create associations in State Manager.

  Automation, Change Manager, Maintenance Windows, and State Manager are all tools Amazon Systems Manager. By integrating these tools with Change Calendar, you can allow or block these action types depending on the current state of the change calendar you associate with each one.
+ Administrators who are responsible for keeping the configurations of Systems Manager managed nodes consistent, stable, and functional.

## Benefits of Change Calendar
<a name="systems-manager-change-calendar-benefits"></a>

The following are some benefits of Change Calendar.
+ **Review changes before they're applied**

  A Change Calendar entry can help ensure that potentially destructive changes to your environment are reviewed before they're applied.
+ **Apply changes only during appropriate times**

  Change Calendar entries help keep your environment stable during event times. For example, you can create a Change Calendar entry to block changes when you expect high demand on your resources, such as during a conference or public marketing promotion. A calendar entry can also block changes when you expect limited administrator support, such as during vacations or holidays. You can use a calendar entry to allow changes except for certain times of the day or week when there is limited administrator support to troubleshoot failed actions or deployments.
+ **Get the current or upcoming state of the calendar**

  You can run the Systems Manager `GetCalendarState` API operation to show you the current state of the calendar, the state at a specified time, or the next time that the calendar state is scheduled to change.
**Note**  
The `GetCalendarState` API has a quota of 10 requests per second. For more information about Systems Manager quotas, see [Systems Manager service quotas](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/general/latest/gr/ssm.html#limits_ssm) in the *Amazon Web Services General Reference*.
+ 

**EventBridge support**  
This Systems Manager tool is supported as an *event* type in Amazon EventBridge rules. For information, see [Monitoring Systems Manager events with Amazon EventBridge](monitoring-eventbridge-events.md) and [Reference: Amazon EventBridge event patterns and types for Systems Manager](reference-eventbridge-events.md).

**Topics**
+ [Who should use Change Calendar?](#systems-manager-change-calendar-who)
+ [Benefits of Change Calendar](#systems-manager-change-calendar-benefits)
+ [Setting up Change Calendar](systems-manager-change-calendar-prereqs.md)
+ [Working with Change Calendar](systems-manager-change-calendar-working.md)
+ [Adding Change Calendar dependencies to Automation runbooks](systems-manager-change-calendar-automations.md)
+ [Troubleshooting Change Calendar](change-calendar-troubleshooting.md)