Install SSM Agent on RHEL 8.x and 9.x

The Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) for RHEL 8 and 9 that are provided by AWS do not come with AWS Systems Manager Agent (SSM Agent) preinstalled by default. Use the information on this page to help you install or reinstall the agent on RHEL 8 and 9 instances.

Before you begin

Before you install SSM Agent on a RHEL 8 or 9 instance, note the following:

• Ensure that either Python 2 or Python 3 is installed on your RHEL 8 or 9 instance. This is required in order for SSM Agent to work properly.

Quick installation commands for SSM Agent on RHEL 8 or 9

Use the following steps to manually install SSM Agent on a single instance. This procedure uses globally available installation files.

To install SSM Agent on RHEL 8.x or 9.x

1. Connect to your RHEL 8 or 9 instance using your preferred method, such as SSH.

2. Copy the command for your instance’s architecture and run it on the instance.

   Note

   Even though URLs in the following commands include an ec2-downloads-windows directory, these are the correct global installation files for RHEL 8 and 9.

   x86_64 instances

   sudo dnf install -y https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/SSMAgent/latest/linux_amd64/amazon-ssm-agent.rpm

   ARM64 instances

   sudo dnf install -y https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/SSMAgent/latest/linux_arm64/amazon-ssm-agent.rpm

3. (Recommended) Run the following command to verify that the agent is running.

   sudo systemctl status amazon-ssm-agent

   In most cases, the command reports that the agent is running, as shown in the following example.

   ● amazon-ssm-agent.service - amazon-ssm-agent
      Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/amazon-ssm-agent.service; enabled; vendo>
      Active: active (running) since Tue 2022-04-19 16:40:41 UTC; 9s ago
    Main PID: 4898 (amazon-ssm-agen)
       Tasks: 14 (limit: 4821)
      Memory: 34.6M
      CGroup: /system.slice/amazon-ssm-agent.service
              ├─4898 /usr/bin/amazon-ssm-agent
              └─4954 /usr/bin/ssm-agent-worker
               --truncated--

   In rare cases, the command reports that the agent is installed but not running, as shown in the following example.

   ● amazon-ssm-agent.service - amazon-ssm-agent
      Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/amazon-ssm-agent.service; enabled; vendo>
      Active: inactive (dead) since Tue 2022-04-19 16:42:05 UTC; 2s ago
               --truncated--

   To activate the agent in these cases, run the following commands.

   sudo systemctl enable amazon-ssm-agent

   sudo systemctl start amazon-ssm-agent

Create custom agent installation commands for RHEL 8 and 9 in your Region

When you install SSM Agent on multiple instances using a script or template, we recommended using installation files that are stored in the AWS Region you're working in.

For the following commands, we provide examples that use a publicly accessible S3 bucket in the US East (Ohio) Region (us-east-2).

Tip

You can also replace a global URL in the procedure Quick installation commands for SSM Agent on RHEL 8 or 9 earlier in this topic with a custom Regional URL you construct.

In the following command, replace region with your own information. For a list of supported region values, see the Region column in Systems Manager service endpoints in the Amazon Web Services General Reference.

x86_64

sudo dnf install -y https://s3.region.amazonaws.com/amazon-ssm-region/latest/linux_amd64/amazon-ssm-agent.rpm

See the following example.

sudo dnf install -y https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-ssm-us-east-2/latest/linux_amd64/amazon-ssm-agent.rpm

ARM64

sudo dnf install -y https://s3.region.amazonaws.com/amazon-ssm-region/latest/linux_arm64/amazon-ssm-agent.rpm

See the following example.

sudo dnf install -y https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-ssm-us-east-2/latest/linux_arm64/amazon-ssm-agent.rpm