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Amazon EC2 now surfaces the public SSM parameters associated with public AMIs

Amazon EC2 now surfaces the public SSM parameters associated with public AMIs

DevOps cloudaws AWS
Amazon EC2 now includes SSM parameter references directly in AMI metadata, making it easier to track the latest image versions automatically.
What: EC2 now surfaces the associated AWS Systems Manager (SSM) Parameter Store alias in public AMI metadata, allowing developers to reference a stable parameter name that resolves to the latest version of an image.
Why it matters: This reduces the manual work required to track AMI updates and ensures that infrastructure configurations can always pull the latest hardened or patched images.
Takeaway: Update your deployment scripts to reference the SSM parameter provided in the AMI metadata rather than hardcoding specific AMI IDs.
Decoder
  • AMI: Amazon Machine Image, the template that provides the information required to launch an EC2 instance.
Original article

Amazon EC2 now surfaces the public SSM parameters associated with public AMIs

Amazon EC2 now surfaces the AWS Systems Manager (SSM) Parameter Store parameters associated with public AMIs directly in the AMI metadata. When you describe a public AMI, the response includes the associated public SSM parameter, making it easy to discover and reference in your configurations.

Previously, finding the SSM parameter associated with a public AMI required searching through SSM parameter namespaces manually. Now, when you describe a public AMI, the response includes the public SSM parameter it is associated with. This allows you to discover the SSM parameter for a public AMI easily and use it as an alias that always resolves to the latest version, simplifying AMI updates across your infrastructure.

This capability is available to all customers at no additional cost in all AWS regions including AWS China (Beijing) Region, operated by Sinnet, and AWS China (Ningxia) Region, operated by NWCD, and AWS GovCloud (US) Regions. To learn more, please visit the documentation.

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