Setting up Amazon Systems Manager - Amazon Systems Manager
General setup
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).

Setting up Amazon Systems Manager

Complete the tasks in this section to set up and configure roles, user accounts, permissions, and initial resources for Amazon Systems Manager. The tasks described in this section are typically performed by Amazon Web Services account and systems administrators. After these steps are complete, users in your organization can use Systems Manager to configure, manage, and access your managed nodes. A managed node is any machine configured for use with Systems Manager in a hybrid and multicloud environment.

Note

If you plan to use Amazon EC2 instances and your own computing resources in a hybrid and multicloud environment, follow the steps in Using Systems Manager with EC2 instances. That topic presents steps in the best order for completing Systems Manager setup for EC2 instances and non-EC2 machines.

If you already use other Amazon Web Services, you have completed some of these steps. However, other steps are specific to Systems Manager. Therefore, we recommend reviewing this entire section to ensure that you're ready to use all Systems Manager capabilities.

Topics

General setup for Amazon Systems Manager

If you haven't already done so, sign up for an Amazon Web Services account and create an administrative user.

Sign up for an Amazon Web Services account

If you do not have an Amazon Web Services account, use the following procedure to create one.

To sign up for Amazon Web Services

  1. Open http://www.amazonaws.cn/ and choose Sign Up.

  2. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Amazon sends you a confirmation email after the sign-up process is complete. At any time, you can view your current account activity and manage your account by going to http://www.amazonaws.cn/ and choosing My Account.

Secure IAM users

After you sign up for an Amazon Web Services account, safeguard your administrative user by turning on multi-factor authentication (MFA). For instructions, see Enable a virtual MFA device for an IAM user (console) in the IAM User Guide.

To give other users access to your Amazon Web Services account resources, create IAM users. To secure your IAM users, turn on MFA and only give the IAM users the permissions needed to perform their tasks.

For more information about creating and securing IAM users, see the following topics in the IAM User Guide: