Operating System Maintenance - SAP NetWeaver on AWS

Operating System Maintenance

In general, operating system maintenance across large estates of EC2 instances can be managed by:

  • Tools specific to each operating system, such as Microsoft System Center 2019

  • Third-party products, such as those available on AWS Marketplace

  • AWS Systems Manager

AWS Systems Manager can help with the following key operating system maintenance tasks.

Patching

You can follow SAP recommended patching processes to update your landscape on AWS. For operating system patching, use AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager to roll out OS patches as per your corporate policies. Patch manager includes features like:

  • Scheduling based on tags

  • Auto-approving patches with lists of approved and rejected patches

  • Defining patch baselines

AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager integrates with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), AWS CloudTrail, and Amazon CloudWatch Events to provide a secure patching experience that includes event notifications and the ability to audit usage. For details about the process, see How Patch Manager Operations Work. If AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager does not fulfil your requirements, there are third-party products available on the AWS Marketplace.

Maintenance Window

AWS Systems Manager Maintenance Windows let you define a schedule for when to perform potentially disruptive actions on your instances, such as patching an operating system, updating drivers, or installing software or patches.

Automation using Documents

AWS Systems Manager Automation simplifies common maintenance and deployment tasks of Amazon EC2 instances and other AWS resources. Automation enables you to do the following:

  • Build Automation workflows to configure and manage instances and AWS resources.

  • Create custom workflows or use pre-defined workflows maintained by AWS.

  • Receive notifications about Automation tasks and workflows by using Amazon CloudWatch Events.

  • Monitor Automation progress and execution details by using the Amazon EC2 or the AWS Systems Manager console.

There are many AWS provided documents specific to Windows already available.