AWS SSM Connect

Simple bash script to connect to EC2 instances via AWS Systems Manager Session Manager.

Why?

Skip looking up instance IDs in the console. Just search by name:

aws-ssm-connect web-server

Prerequisites

• AWS CLI v2
• Session Manager Plugin
• AWS credentials configured (aws configure)

Installation

Quick install:

curl -o /usr/local/bin/aws-ssm-connect https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AleMercadal/aws-ssm-connect/main/bin/aws-ssm-connect
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/aws-ssm-connect

Or with make:

git clone https://github.com/AleMercadal/aws-ssm-connect.git
cd aws-ssm-connect
make install

Usage

# Basic usage
aws-ssm-connect web-server

# With AWS profile
aws-ssm-connect web-server --profile production

# With region
aws-ssm-connect web-server --region us-west-2

# Help
aws-ssm-connect --help

Required Permissions

Your IAM user/role needs:

{
  "Effect": "Allow",
  "Action": ["ec2:DescribeInstances", "ssm:StartSession"],
  "Resource": "*"
}

Your EC2 instances need:

• IAM instance profile with AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore policy
• SSM Agent running (pre-installed on most AMIs)

Troubleshooting

Can't connect?

• Instance must be in "running" state
• SSM Agent must be running
• Instance needs correct IAM role
• If you added the IAM policy after launching the instance and it still doesn't appear in Session Manager, reboot the instance so the SSM Agent can register properly

License

MIT