AWS Systems Manager offers performance overview graphs, automation for patching and processes, remote command execution, Fleet Manager, hierarchical parameter management, auto-scaling, centralized change management, infrastructure management integration, and enhanced security with Session Manager. The tool helps patch servers, handle configuration, and streamline actions across multiple instances, reducing manual intervention. It is user-friendly and supports scalability and high availability.
- "I use AWS Systems Manager primarily for infrastructure management and automation. One of its key benefits is managing patches and updates for our EC2 instances, including both Windows and Linux workloads. It can perform compliance checks on all managed workloads, identifying which systems aren't compliant or haven't been patched."
- "It is beginner-friendly with extensive features that can be learned gradually based on the user's needs and tasks."
- "The solution's most valuable feature is the change management option. It tracks every action on my AWS accounts in a centralized way, acting like a control tool for me. This is especially useful when working with Kubernetes and AWS ECS services. Additionally, my colleagues and clients often use the application management tools for configuration, parameters, and installations."
AWS Systems Manager needs better automation functions, more integration options, and improved usability for its UI. Users desire a consolidated platform for managing multiple accounts and enhanced dynamic configuration management. They also request faster patching processes, agentless operations, cost optimization, and better compliance features. Improved integration with AWS services like Lambda and CloudFormation, broader OS coverage in patch management, and more intuitive handling of multiple support issues under AWS Organizations are important areas for enhancement.
- "It could be agentless if there's room for improvement in the AWS Systems Manager. Currently, you have to install agents, although, for most of the latest EC2 images, the agents come preinstalled. If it could be at the level of Ansible, which is agentless, that would be fantastic. When you compare the solution to Ansible, one of the most widely accepted tools, the agentless feature stands out. So, if the AWS Systems Manager could become agentless, that would be a significant improvement."
- "Ensuring broader OS coverage in patch management could be beneficial for the product."
- "I'd like to see more automation for monitoring and managing things like AWS CloudWatch and AWS Config. It would be a significant improvement if it could automatically handle these tasks and address issues as they arise."
