Working with OpsItems

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

Working with related resources

A related resource is the impacted resource (the resource that needs to be investigated or the resource that triggered the Amazon CloudWatch Events event that created the OpsItem). Each OpsItem has a Related resources section. If CloudWatch Events 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, 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 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.

   

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

   

   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 ARN, enter the ARN of the related resource, and then choose Add.

   Note

   If you don't know the ARN of the resource, you can manually create it. For information about how to create an ARN, see the Amazon Resource Names (ARNs) and AWS Service Namespaces in the Amazon Web Services General Reference.

Editing OpsItem details

The OpsItem details section includes information about the OpsItem, including the description, title, source, OpsItem ID, and the status, to name a few.

For OpsItems that were created automatically, Amazon CloudWatch Events 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 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 may find it helpful to create different ARNs for notifications about different types of AWS resources or different environments. For more information, see the Amazon Simple Notification Service Developer Guide.

Important

The SNS topic must exist in the same AWS Region as the OpsItem. If they are 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.

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 are finished, choose Save.

Working with related and similar OpsItems

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

The Similar OpsItems feature is a system-generated list of OpsItems that may 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.

To add a related OpsItem from similar OpsItems

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.

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 action) can view and search on the specified data. Operational data that is not searchable is only viewable by users who have access to the OpsItem (as provided by the GetOpsItem API action).

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"}

Reducing duplicate OpsItems

OpsCenter uses a combination of built-in logic and configurable deduplication strings to help avoid creating duplicate OpsItems. Deduplication built-in logic is applied anytime the CreateOpsItem API action is called. When creating the OpsItem, Systems Manager creates and stores a hash based on the deduplication string and the resource that trigged the OpsItem. When a request is made to create a new OpsItem, the system checks the deduplication string of the new request. If a matching hash exists for this deduplication string, then Systems Manager doesn't create a new OpsItem.

Note the following information about OpsCenter and deduplication:

• Deduplication strings are not case sensitive. If the system finds a matching deduplication string in an OpsItem, regardless of casing, the new OpsItem isn't created.

• If the system finds a matching deduplication string in an OpsItem, and that OpsItem has a status of Open, then the new OpsItem isn't created. If a matching deduplication string is found in an OpsItem that has a status of Resolved, then the system creates a new OpsItem.

• If the system finds a matching deduplication string in an OpsItem, but the resources are different, then the system creates the new OpsItem.

Configuring deduplication strings

OpsCenter includes the following options for configuring deduplication strings.

• Edit preconfigured deduplication strings: Each of the OpsItem default CloudWatch Events rules includes a preconfigured deduplication string. You can edit these deduplication strings in CloudWatch Events.

• Manually specify deduplication strings: You can enter a deduplication string by using either the Deduplication string field in the console or the OperationalData parameter when you create a new OpsItem by using either the AWS CLI or AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell.

After the system creates an OpsItem, it populates the Deduplication string field, if a string was specified. Here's an example.

After you create an OpsItem, you can't edit or change the deduplication strings in that OpsItem.

This sections includes the following procedures for configuring deduplication strings.

• Editing a deduplication string in an OpsCenter default CloudWatch Events rule

• Specifying a deduplication string by using the AWS CLI

Note

For information about entering deduplication strings when you manually create an OpsItem in the console, see Creating OpsItems manually.

Editing a deduplication string in an OpsCenter default CloudWatch Events rule

Use the following procedure to specify a deduplication string for a CloudWatch Events rule that targets OpsCenter.

To edit a deduplication string in an OpsItem default CloudWatch Events rule

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the CloudWatch console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Rules.

3. Choose a rule, and then choose Actions, Edit.

   

4. In the Targets section, expand the lower Input transformer field and locate the "operationalData": { "/aws/dedup" JSON entry and the deduplication strings that you want to edit.

   

   The deduplication string entry in CloudWatch Events rules uses the following JSON format.

   "operationalData": { "/aws/dedup": {"type": "SearchableString","value": "{\"dedupString\":\"Words the system should use to check for duplicate OpsItems\"}"}

   Here is an example.

   "operationalData": { "/aws/dedup": {"type": "SearchableString","value": "{\"dedupString\":\"SSMOpsCenter-EBS-volume-performance-issue\"}"}

5. Edit the deduplications strings, and then choose Configure details to finish updating the rule.

Specifying a deduplication string by using the AWS CLI

You can specify a deduplication string when you manually create a new OpsItem by using the AWS CLI. You enter the deduplication string by using the OperationalData parameter. The parameter syntax uses JSON, as shown here.

--operational-data '{"/aws/dedup":{"Value":"{\"dedupString\": \"Words the system should use to check for duplicate OpsItems\"}","Type":"SearchableString"}}'

Here is an example command that specifies a deduplication string of disk full.

Linux

aws ssm create-ops-item --title "EC2 instance disk full" --description "Log clean up may have failed which caused the disk to be full" --priority 1 --source ec2 --operational-data '{"/aws/dedup":{"Value":"{\"dedupString\": \"disk full\"}","Type":"SearchableString"}}' --tags "Key=EC2,Value=ProductionServers" --notifications Arn="arn:aws:sns:us-west-1:12345678:TestUser"

Windows

aws ssm create-ops-item --title "EC2 instance disk full" --description "Log clean up may have failed which caused the disk to be full" --priority 1 --source EC2 --operational-data={\"/aws/dedup\":{\"Value\":\"{\\"""dedupString\\""":\\"""disk full\\"""}\",\"Type\":\"SearchableString\"}} --tags "Key=EC2,Value=ProductionServers" --notifications Arn="arn:aws:sns:us-west-1:12345678:TestUser"