Working with OpsItems - AWS Systems Manager
Working with related resourcesViewing other OpsItems for a specific resourceEditing OpsItemsWorking with similar and related OpsItemsWorking with operational data

Working with OpsItems

This section describes how to configure the options available in an AWS Systems Manager OpsItem. For information about creating OpsItems, see Creating OpsItems.

A related resource is the impacted AWS resource that needs to be investigated or that initiated an Amazon EventBridge event. Each OpsItem has a Related resources section. If EventBridge creates the OpsItem, then the system automatically populates the OpsItem with the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the resource. You can also manually specify ARNs of related resources. For some ARN types, AWS Systems Manager OpsCenter automatically creates a deep link that displays details about the resource without having to visit other console pages to view that information. For example, you can specify the ARN of an Amazon EC2 instance. In OpsCenter, you can then view all of the details that Amazon EC2 provides about that instance. To view a list of resource types that automatically create deep links to related resource, see Supported resources reference.

Note

You can manually add the ARNs of additional related resources. Each OpsItem can list a maximum of 100 related resource ARNs.

To view and add related resources

  1. Open the AWS Systems Manager console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose OpsCenter.

  3. Choose the OpsItems tab.

  4. Choose an OpsItem ID.

    A new OpsItem on the OpsCenter Overview page

  5. To view information about the impacted resource, choose the Related resources details tab.

    Viewing the Related Resources tab for an OpsItem

    This tab displays information about the resource from several AWS services. Expand the Resource details section to view information about this resource as provided by the AWS service that hosts it. You can also toggle through other related resources associated with this OpsItem by using the Related resources list.

  6. To add additional related resources, choose the Overview tab.

  7. In the Related resources section, choose Add.

  8. For Resource type, choose a resource from the list.

  9. For Resource ID, enter either the ID or the Amazon Resource Name (ARN). The type of information you choose depends o the resource you chose in the previous step.

Viewing other OpsItems for a specific resource

To help you investigate issues and provide context for a problem, you can view a list of OpsItems for a specific AWS resource. The list displays the status, severity, and title of each OpsItem. The list also includes deep links to each OpsItem so you can quickly open them to view more information.

To view a list of OpsItems for a specific resource

  1. Open the AWS Systems Manager console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose OpsCenter.

  3. Choose an OpsItem ID to open the details page.

  4. Choose the Related resource details tab.

  5. Expand Other OpsItems for this resource.

Editing OpsItems

The OpsItem details section includes information about an OpsItem, including the description, title, source, OpsItem ID, and the status, to name a few. You can edit OpsItems individually or you can select multiple OpsItems and edit one of the following fields: Status, Priority, Severity, Category.

For OpsItems that were created automatically, Amazon EventBridge populates the Title, Source, and Description fields. You can edit the Title and the Description fields, but you can't edit the Source field.

About OpsItem Status

When you edit an OpsItem, you can specify a status. The Status list includes the following options:

Status Details
Open

Active in the system, but not being worked on by an engineer.
In progress

Active in the system and being worked on by an engineer.

Resolved

Not active in the system, but available in Search and when using the Resolved filter on the OpsItem Overview page. You can edit a resolved OpsItem to change the status to Open or In progress.

You can view reports about OpsItem statuses on the Summary tab. For more information, see Viewing OpsCenter summary reports.

About OpsItem Priority

When you edit an OpsItem, you can choose a priority for that OpsItem by choosing a value between 1 and 5. We recommend that your organization determine what each priority level means and a corresponding service level agreement for each.

About the Notifications Field

When you edit an OpsItem, you can specify the ARN of an Amazon SNS topic in the Notifications field. By specifying an ARN, you ensure that all stakeholders receive a notification when the OpsItem is edited, including a status change. You might find it helpful to create different ARNs for notifications about different types of AWS resources or different environments. The Amazon SNS topic must exist in the same AWS Region as the OpsItems. If they're in different Regions, the system returns an error. For more information, see the Amazon Simple Notification Service Developer Guide.

Important

The Amazon SNS topic must exist in the same AWS Region as the OpsItem. If they're in different Regions, the system returns an error.

To edit OpsItem details

  1. Open the AWS Systems Manager console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose OpsCenter.

  3. Choose an OpsItem ID to open the details page or choose multiple OpsItems. If you choose multiple OpsItems, you can only edit the status, priority, severity, or category. If you edit multiple OpsItems, OpsCenter updates and saves your changes as soon as you choose the new status, priority, severity, or category.

  4. In the OpsItem details section, choose Edit.

  5. Edit the details of the OpsItem according to the requirements and guidelines specified by your organization.

  6. When you're finished, choose Save.

Working with similar and related OpsItems

The Similar OpsItems and Related OpsItems features are designed to help you investigate operations issues while providing context about the scope of an issue.

The Similar OpsItems feature is a system-generated list of OpsItems that might be related or of interest to you. To generate the list, the system scans the titles and descriptions of all OpsItems and returns OpsItems that use similar words.

Viewing similar OpsItems.

In the Related OpsItems section, you can specify a maximum of 10 IDs for other OpsItems that are related to the current OpsItem. OpsItems can be related in different ways, including a parent-child relationship between OpsItems, a root cause, or a duplicate.

Viewing related OpsItems.

To help you organize OpsItems, you can associate one OpsItem with another so that it is displayed in the Related OpsItems section.

To add a related OpsItem

  1. Open the AWS Systems Manager console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose OpsCenter.

  3. Choose an OpsItem ID to open the details page.

  4. In the Related OpsItem section, choose Add.

  5. For OpsItem ID, specify an ID.

  6. Choose Add.

Working with operational data

Operational data is custom data that provides useful reference details about the OpsItem. For example, you can specify log files, error strings, license keys, troubleshooting tips, or other relevant data. You enter operational data as key-value pairs. The key has a maximum length of 128 characters. The value has a maximum size of 20 KB. You can enter multiple key-value pairs of operational data.

Important

Operational data keys can't begin with the following: amazon, aws, amzn, ssm, /amazon, /aws, /amzn, /ssm.

Viewing operational data for an OpsItem.

You can choose to make the data searchable by other users in the account or you can restrict search access. Searchable data means that all users with access to the OpsItem Overview page (as provided by the DescribeOpsItems API operation) can view and search on the specified data. Operational data that isn't searchable is only viewable by users who have access to the OpsItem (as provided by the GetOpsItem API operation).

To add operational data to an OpsItem

  1. Open the AWS Systems Manager console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose OpsCenter.

  3. Choose an OpsItem ID to open the details page.

  4. Expand either Operational data.

  5. If no operational data exists for the OpsItem, then choose Add. If operational data already exists for the OpsItem, choose Manage.

  6. For Key, specify a word or words to help users understand the purpose of the data. The key can't begin with the following: amazon, aws, amzn, ssm, /amazon, /aws, /amzn, /ssm.

  7. For Value, specify the data.

  8. Choose Save.

After you create operational data, you can edit the key and the value, remove the operational data, or add additional key-value pairs by choosing Manage.

Note

You can filter OpsItems by using the Operational data operator on the OpsItems page. In the Search box, choose Operational data, and then enter a key-value pair in JSON. You must enter the key-value pair by using the following format: {"key":"key_name","value":"a_value"}