How do I install SSM Agent on an Amazon EC2 Linux instance at launch?

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For a list of Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) with the SSM Agent preinstalled, see Find AMIs with the SSM Agent preinstalled. You must manually install the SSM Agent on EC2 instances that you create from other versions of Linux AMIs.

Prerequisites: Before you install the SSM Agent, verify that you use a supported operating system (OS). Also, complete the prerequisites for Session Manager, a capability of AWS Systems Manager.

To install SSM Agent at launch, complete the following steps to add user data to the instance before you launch the instance:

1. Create an AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) instance profile to use with SSM Agent.

2. Launch a new instance, and then configure your instance settings, such as application and OS images, instance type, key pair, network settings, and storage.

3. Expand the Advanced details section, and then select your IAM instance profile from the IAM instance profile dropdown list.

4. For User data, enter the following code based on your OS.
   Amazon Linux 2 (AL2), Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7, and CentOS 7 (64 bit) x86_64 instances:

   #!/bin/bash
   cd /tmp
   sudo yum install -y https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/SSMAgent/latest/linux_amd64/amazon-ssm-agent.rpm
   sudo systemctl enable amazon-ssm-agent
   sudo systemctl start amazon-ssm-agent

   AL2, RHEL 7, and CentOS 7 (64 bit) ARM64 instances:

   #!/bin/bash
   cd /tmp
   sudo yum install -y https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/SSMAgent/latest/linux_arm64/amazon-ssm-agent.rpm
   sudo systemctl enable amazon-ssm-agent
   sudo systemctl start amazon-ssm-agent

   Amazon Linux 2023 (AL2023), RHEL 8, 9 and 10, and CentOS 8 and 9 (64 bit) x86_64 instances:

   #!/bin/bash
   cd /tmp
   sudo dnf install -y https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/SSMAgent/latest/linux_amd64/amazon-ssm-agent.rpm
   sudo systemctl enable amazon-ssm-agent
   sudo systemctl start amazon-ssm-agent

   AL2023, RHEL 8, 9 and 10 and CentOS 8 and 9 (64 bit) ARM64 instances:

   #!/bin/bash
   cd /tmp
   sudo dnf install -y https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/SSMAgent/latest/linux_arm64/amazon-ssm-agent.rpm
   sudo systemctl enable amazon-ssm-agent
   sudo systemctl start amazon-ssm-agent

   Note: You must install Python 2 or Python 3 on your RHEL 9, RHEL 8, or CentOS 8 instance to use the SSM Agent. To install Python, add the following command after #!/bin/bash in the preceding code examples:

   sudo dnf install python3

   Ubuntu 22 and Ubuntu 16 (Deb installer), Debian 8, and Debian 9:

   #!/bin/bash
   mkdir /tmp/ssm
   cd /tmp/ssm
   wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/SSMAgent/latest/debian_amd64/amazon-ssm-agent.deb
   sudo dpkg -i amazon-ssm-agent.deb
   sudo systemctl start amazon-ssm-agent

   Ubuntu 14 (Deb installer):

   #!/bin/bash
   mkdir /tmp/ssm
   cd /tmp/ssm
   wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/SSMAgent/latest/debian_amd64/amazon-ssm-agent.deb
   sudo dpkg -i amazon-ssm-agent.deb
   sudo start amazon-ssm-agent

   SUSE 15 and SUSE 12:

   #!/bin/bash
   mkdir /tmp/ssm
   cd /tmp/ssm
   wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/SSMAgent/latest/linux_amd64/amazon-ssm-agent.rpm
   sudo rpm --install amazon-ssm-agent.rpm
   sudo systemctl enable amazon-ssm-agent
   sudo systemctl start amazon-ssm-agent

5. For more information about user data, see User data in the AWS Management Console.

6. Under Summary, enter the number of instances that you want to launch.

7. Choose Launch instance.

8. (Optional) To automatically update the SSM Agent, configure Auto update SSM Agent.

Related information

Working with SSM Agent on EC2 instances for Linux

Working with SSM Agent on EC2 instances for Windows Server

How do I install SSM Agent on an Amazon EC2 Windows instance at launch?

Why isn't AWS Systems Manager showing my Amazon EC2 instance as a managed instance?