SSM Command document for patching: AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation - AWS Systems Manager
AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation parameters

SSM Command document for patching: AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation

Like the AWS-RunPatchBaseline document, AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation performs patching operations on instances for both security related and other types of updates. You can also use the document AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation to apply patches for both operating systems and applications. (On Windows Server, application support is limited to updates for applications released by Microsoft.)

This document supports Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances for Linux, macOS, and Windows Server. It does not support non-EC2 nodes in a hybrid and multicloud environment. The document will perform the appropriate actions for each platform, invoking a Python module on Linux and macOS instances, and a PowerShell module on Windows instances.

AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation, however, differs from AWS-RunPatchBaseline in the following ways:

  • AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation is intended for use primarily with State Manager associations created using Quick Setup, a tool in AWS Systems Manager. Specifically, when you use the Quick Setup Host Management configuration type, if you choose the option Scan instances for missing patches daily, the system uses AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation for the operation.

    In most cases, however, when setting up your own patching operations, you should choose AWS-RunPatchBaseline or AWS-RunPatchBaselineWithHooks instead of AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation.

  • When you use the AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation document, you can specify a tag key pair in the document's BaselineTags parameter field. If a custom patch baseline in your AWS account shares these tags, Patch Manager, a tool in AWS Systems Manager, uses that tagged baseline when it runs on the target instances instead of the currently specified "default" patch baseline for the operating system type.

    Note

    If you choose to use AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation in patching operations other than those set up using Quick Setup, and you want to use its optional BaselineTags parameter, you must provide some additional permissions to the instance profile for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances. For more information, see Parameter name: BaselineTags.

    Both of the following formats are valid for your BaselineTags parameter:

    Key=tag-key,Values=tag-value

    Key=tag-key,Values=tag-value1,tag-value2,tag-value3

    Important

    Tag keys and values can't contain the following characters: backtick (`), single quote ('), double quote ("), and dollar sign ($).

  • When AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation runs, the patch compliance data it collects is recorded using the PutComplianceItems API command instead of the PutInventory command, which is used by AWS-RunPatchBaseline. This difference means that the patch compliance information that is stored and reported per a specific association. Patch compliance data generated outside of this association isn't overwritten.

  • The patch compliance information reported after running AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation indicates whether or not an instance is in compliance. It doesn't include patch-level details, as demonstrated by the output of the following AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) command. The command filters on Association as the compliance type:

    aws ssm list-compliance-items \
    --resource-ids "i-02573cafcfEXAMPLE" \
    --resource-types "ManagedInstance" \
    --filters "Key=ComplianceType,Values=Association,Type=EQUAL" \
    --region us-east-2

    The system returns information like the following.

    {
    "ComplianceItems": [
        {
            "Status": "NON_COMPLIANT", 
            "Severity": "UNSPECIFIED", 
            "Title": "MyPatchAssociation", 
            "ResourceType": "ManagedInstance", 
            "ResourceId": "i-02573cafcfEXAMPLE", 
            "ComplianceType": "Association", 
            "Details": {
                "DocumentName": "AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation", 
                "PatchBaselineId": "pb-0c10e65780EXAMPLE", 
                "DocumentVersion": "1"
            }, 
            "ExecutionSummary": {
                "ExecutionTime": 1590698771.0
            }, 
            "Id": "3e5d5694-cd07-40f0-bbea-040e6EXAMPLE"
        }
    ]
}

If a tag key pair value has been specified as a parameter for the AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation document, Patch Manager searches for a custom patch baseline that matches the operating system type and has been tagged with that same tag-key pair. This search isn't limited to the current specified default patch baseline or the baseline assigned to a patch group. If no baseline is found with the specified tags, Patch Manager next looks for a patch group, if one was specified in the command that runs AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation. If no patch group is matched, Patch Manager falls back to the current default patch baseline for the operating system account.

If more than one patch baseline is found with the tags specified in the AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation document, Patch Manager returns an error message indicating that only one patch baseline can be tagged with that key-value pair in order for the operation to proceed.

Note

On Linux nodes, the appropriate package manager for each node type is used to install packages:

  • Amazon Linux 2, Oracle Linux, and RHEL instances use YUM. For YUM operations, Patch Manager requires Python 2.6 or a later supported version (2.6 - 3.12). Amazon Linux 2023 uses DNF. For DNF operations, Patch Manager requires a supported version of Python 2 or Python 3 (2.6 - 3.12)

  • Debian Server and Ubuntu Server instances use APT. For APT operations, Patch Manager requires a supported version of Python 3 (3.0 - 3.12).

After a scan is complete, or after all approved and applicable updates have been installed, with reboots performed as necessary, patch compliance information is generated on an instance and reported back to the Patch Compliance service.

Note

If the RebootOption parameter is set to NoReboot in the AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation document, the instance isn't rebooted after Patch Manager runs. For more information, see Parameter name: RebootOption.

For information about viewing patch compliance data, see About patch compliance.

AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation parameters

AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation supports five parameters. The Operation and AssociationId parameters are required. The InstallOverrideList, RebootOption, and BaselineTags parameters are optional.

Parameter name: Operation

Usage: Required.

Options: Scan | Install.

Scan

When you choose the Scan option, AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation determines the patch compliance state of the instance and reports this information back to Patch Manager. Scan doesn't prompt updates to be installed or instances to be rebooted. Instead, the operation identifies where updates are missing that are approved and applicable to the instance.

Install

When you choose the Install option, AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation attempts to install the approved and applicable updates that are missing from the instance. Patch compliance information generated as part of an Install operation doesn't list any missing updates, but might report updates that are in a failed state if the installation of the update didn't succeed for any reason. Whenever an update is installed on an instance, the instance is rebooted to ensure the update is both installed and active. (Exception: If the RebootOption parameter is set to NoReboot in the AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation document, the instance isn't rebooted after Patch Manager runs. For more information, see Parameter name: RebootOption.)

Note

If a patch specified by the baseline rules is installed before Patch Manager updates the instance, the system might not reboot as expected. This can happen when a patch is installed manually by a user or installed automatically by another program, such as the unattended-upgrades package on Ubuntu Server.

Parameter name: BaselineTags

Usage: Optional.

BaselineTags is a unique tag key-value pair that you choose and assign to an individual custom patch baseline. You can specify one or more values for this parameter. Both of the following formats are valid:

Key=tag-key,Values=tag-value

Key=tag-key,Values=tag-value1,tag-value2,tag-value3

Important

Tag keys and values can't contain the following characters: backtick (`), single quote ('), double quote ("), and dollar sign ($).

The BaselineTags value is used by Patch Manager to ensure that a set of instances that are patched in a single operation all have the exact same set of approved patches. When the patching operation runs, Patch Manager checks to see if a patch baseline for the operating system type is tagged with the same key-value pair you specify for BaselineTags. If there is a match, this custom patch baseline is used. If there isn't a match, a patch baseline is identified according to any patch group specified for the patching operating. If there is none, the AWS managed predefined patch baseline for that operating system is used.

Additional permission requirements

If you use AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation in patching operations other than those set up using Quick Setup, and you want to use the optional BaselineTags parameter, you must add the following permissions to the instance profile for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances.

Note

Quick Setup and AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation don't support on-premises servers and virtual machines (VMs).

{
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Action": [
        "ssm:DescribePatchBaselines",
        "tag:GetResources"
    ],
    "Resource": "*"
},
{
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Action": [
        "ssm:GetPatchBaseline",
        "ssm:DescribeEffectivePatchesForPatchBaseline"
    ],
    "Resource": "patch-baseline-arn"
}

Replace patch-baseline-arn with the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the patch baseline to which you want to provide access, in the format arn:aws:ssm:us-east-2:123456789012:patchbaseline/pb-0c10e65780EXAMPLE.

Parameter name: AssociationId

Usage: Required.

AssociationId is the ID of an existing association in State Manager, a tool in AWS Systems Manager. It's used by Patch Manager to add compliance data to a specified association. This association is related to a patch Scan operation enabled in a Host Management configuration created in Quick Setup. By sending patching results as association compliance data instead of inventory compliance data, existing inventory compliance information for your instances isn't overwritten after a patching operation, nor for other association IDs. If you don't already have an association you want to use, you can create one by running create-association the command. For example:

Linux & macOS
aws ssm create-association \
    --name "AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation" \
    --association-name "MyPatchHostConfigAssociation" \
    --targets "Key=instanceids,Values=[i-02573cafcfEXAMPLE,i-07782c72faEXAMPLE,i-07782c72faEXAMPLE]" \
    --parameters "Operation=Scan" \
    --schedule-expression "cron(0 */30 * * * ? *)" \
    --sync-compliance "MANUAL" \
    --region us-east-2
Windows Server
aws ssm create-association ^
    --name "AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation" ^
    --association-name "MyPatchHostConfigAssociation" ^
    --targets "Key=instanceids,Values=[i-02573cafcfEXAMPLE,i-07782c72faEXAMPLE,i-07782c72faEXAMPLE]" ^
    --parameters "Operation=Scan" ^
    --schedule-expression "cron(0 */30 * * * ? *)" ^
    --sync-compliance "MANUAL" ^
    --region us-east-2

Parameter name: InstallOverrideList

Usage: Optional.

Using InstallOverrideList, you specify an https URL or an Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) path-style URL to a list of patches to be installed. This patch installation list, which you maintain in YAML format, overrides the patches specified by the current default patch baseline. This provides you with more granular control over which patches are installed on your instances.

Important

The InstallOverrideList file name can't contain the following characters: backtick (`), single quote ('), double quote ("), and dollar sign ($).

The patching operation behavior when using the InstallOverrideList parameter differs between Linux & macOS managed nodes and Windows Server managed nodes. On Linux & macOS, Patch Manager attempts to apply patches included in the InstallOverrideList patch list that are present in any repository enabled on the node, whether or not the patches match the patch baseline rules. On Windows Server nodes, however, patches in the InstallOverrideList patch list are applied only if they also match the patch baseline rules.

Be aware that compliance reports reflect patch states according to what’s specified in the patch baseline, not what you specify in an InstallOverrideList list of patches. In other words, Scan operations ignore the InstallOverrideList parameter. This is to ensure that compliance reports consistently reflect patch states according to policy rather than what was approved for a specific patching operation.

Valid URL formats

Note

If your file is stored in a publicly available bucket, you can specify either an https URL format or an Amazon S3 path-style URL. If your file is stored in a private bucket, you must specify an Amazon S3 path-style URL.

  • https URL format example:

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/amzn-s3-demo-bucket/my-windows-override-list.yaml

  • Amazon S3 path-style URL example:

    s3://amzn-s3-demo-bucket/my-windows-override-list.yaml

Valid YAML content formats

The formats you use to specify patches in your list depends on the operating system of your instance. The general format, however, is as follows:

patches:
    - 
        id: '{patch-d}'
        title: '{patch-title}'
        {additional-fields}:{values}

Although you can provide additional fields in your YAML file, they're ignored during patch operations.

In addition, we recommend verifying that the format of your YAML file is valid before adding or updating the list in your S3 bucket. For more information about the YAML format, see yaml.org. For validation tool options, perform a web search for "yaml format validators".

  • Microsoft Windows

    id

    The id field is required. Use it to specify patches using Microsoft Knowledge Base IDs (for example, KB2736693) and Microsoft Security Bulletin IDs (for example, MS17-023).

    Any other fields you want to provide in a patch list for Windows are optional and are for your own informational use only. You can use additional fields such as title, classification, severity, or anything else for providing more detailed information about the specified patches.

  • Linux

    id

    The id field is required. Use it to specify patches using the package name and architecture. For example: 'dhclient.x86_64'. You can use wildcards in id to indicate multiple packages. For example: 'dhcp*' and 'dhcp*1.*'.

    title

    The title field is optional, but on Linux systems it does provide additional filtering capabilities. If you use title, it should contain the package version information in the one of the following formats:

    YUM/Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL):

    {name}.{architecture}:{epoch}:{version}-{release}

    APT

    {name}.{architecture}:{version}

    For Linux patch titles, you can use one or more wildcards in any position to expand the number of package matches. For example: '*32:9.8.2-0.*.rc1.57.amzn1'.

    For example:

    • apt package version 1.2.25 is currently installed on your instance, but version 1.2.27 is now available.

    • You add apt.amd64 version 1.2.27 to the patch list. It depends on apt utils.amd64 version 1.2.27, but apt-utils.amd64 version 1.2.25 is specified in the list.

    In this case, apt version 1.2.27 will be blocked from installation and reported as “Failed-NonCompliant.”

Other fields

Any other fields you want to provide in a patch list for Linux are optional and are for your own informational use only. You can use additional fields such as classification, severity, or anything else for providing more detailed information about the specified patches.

Sample patch lists

  • Windows

    patches:
    -
        id: 'KB4284819'
        title: '2018-06 Cumulative Update for Windows Server 2016 (1709) for x64-based Systems (KB4284819)'
    -
        id: 'KB4284833'
    -
        id: 'KB4284835'
        title: '2018-06 Cumulative Update for Windows Server 2016 (1803) for x64-based Systems (KB4284835)'
    -
        id: 'KB4284880'
    -
        id: 'KB4338814'

  • APT

    patches:
    -
        id: 'apparmor.amd64'
        title: '2.10.95-0ubuntu2.9'
    -
        id: 'cryptsetup.amd64'
        title: '*2:1.6.6-5ubuntu2.1'
    -
        id: 'cryptsetup-bin.*'
        title: '*2:1.6.6-5ubuntu2.1'
    -
        id: 'apt.amd64'
        title: '*1.2.27'
    -
        id: 'apt-utils.amd64'
        title: '*1.2.25'

  • Amazon Linux 2

    patches:
    -
        id: 'kernel.x86_64'
    -
        id: 'bind*.x86_64'
        title: '39.11.4-26.P2.amzn2.5.2'

        id: 'glibc*'
    -
        id: 'dhclient*'
        title: '*4.2.5-58.amzn2'
    -
        id: 'dhcp*'
        title: '*4.2.5-77.amzn2'

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

    patches:
    -
        id: 'NetworkManager.x86_64'
        title: '*1:1.10.2-14.el7_5'
    -
        id: 'NetworkManager-*.x86_64'
        title: '*1:1.10.2-14.el7_5'
    -
        id: 'audit.x86_64'
        title: '*0:2.8.1-3.el7'
    -
        id: 'dhclient.x86_64'
        title: '*.el7_5.1'
    -
        id: 'dhcp*.x86_64'
        title: '*12:5.2.5-68.el7'

  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

    patches:
    -
        id: 'amazon-ssm-agent.x86_64'
    -
        id: 'binutils'
        title: '*0:2.26.1-9.12.1'
    -
        id: 'glibc*.x86_64'
        title: '*2.19*'
    -
        id: 'dhcp*'
        title: '0:4.3.3-9.1'
    -
        id: 'lib*'

  • Ubuntu Server 

    patches:
    -
        id: 'apparmor.amd64'
        title: '2.10.95-0ubuntu2.9'
    -
        id: 'cryptsetup.amd64'
        title: '*2:1.6.6-5ubuntu2.1'
    -
        id: 'cryptsetup-bin.*'
        title: '*2:1.6.6-5ubuntu2.1'
    -
        id: 'apt.amd64'
        title: '*1.2.27'
    -
        id: 'apt-utils.amd64'
        title: '*1.2.25'

  • Windows

    patches:
    -
        id: 'KB4284819'
        title: '2018-06 Cumulative Update for Windows Server 2016 (1709) for x64-based Systems (KB4284819)'
    -
        id: 'KB4284833'
    -
        id: 'KB4284835'
        title: '2018-06 Cumulative Update for Windows Server 2016 (1803) for x64-based Systems (KB4284835)'
    -
        id: 'KB4284880'
    -
        id: 'KB4338814'

Parameter name: RebootOption

Usage: Optional.

Options: RebootIfNeeded | NoReboot

Default: RebootIfNeeded

Warning

The default option is RebootIfNeeded. Be sure to select the correct option for your use case. For example, if your instances must reboot immediately to complete a configuration process, choose RebootIfNeeded. Or, if you need to maintain instances availability until a scheduled reboot time, choose NoReboot.

Important

The NoReboot option only prevents operating system-level restarts. Service-level restarts can still occur as part of the patching process. For example, when Docker is updated, dependent services such as Amazon Elastic Container Service might automatically restart even with NoReboot enabled. If you have critical services that must not be disrupted, consider additional measures such as temporarily removing instances from service or scheduling patching during maintenance windows.

Important

We don’t recommend using Patch Manager for patching cluster instances in Amazon EMR (previously called Amazon Elastic MapReduce). In particular, don’t select the RebootIfNeeded option for the RebootOption parameter. (This option is available in the SSM Command documents for patching AWS-RunPatchBaseline, AWS-RunPatchBaselineAssociation, and AWS-RunPatchBaselineWithHooks.)

The underlying commands for patching using Patch Manager use yum and dnf commands. Therefore, the operations result in incompatibilities because of how packages are installed. For information about the preferred methods for updating software on Amazon EMR clusters, see Using the default AMI for Amazon EMR in the Amazon EMR Management Guide.

RebootIfNeeded

When you choose the RebootIfNeeded option, the instance is rebooted in either of the following cases:

  • Patch Manager installed one or more patches.

    Patch Manager doesn't evaluate whether a reboot is required by the patch. The system is rebooted even if the patch doesn't require a reboot.

  • Patch Manager detects one or more patches with a status of INSTALLED_PENDING_REBOOT during the Install operation.

    The INSTALLED_PENDING_REBOOT status can mean that the option NoReboot was selected the last time the Install operation was run, or that a patch was installed outside of Patch Manager since the last time the managed node was rebooted.

Rebooting instances in these two cases ensures that updated packages are flushed from memory and keeps patching and rebooting behavior consistent across all operating systems.

NoReboot

When you choose the NoReboot option, Patch Manager doesn't reboot an instance even if it installed patches during the Install operation. This option is useful if you know that your instances don't require rebooting after patches are applied, or you have applications or processes running on an instance that shouldn't be disrupted by a patching operation reboot. It's also useful when you want more control over the timing of instance reboots, such as by using a maintenance window.

Patch installation tracking file: To track patch installation, especially patches that have been installed since the last system reboot, Systems Manager maintains a file on the managed instance.

Important

Don't delete or modify the tracking file. If this file is deleted or corrupted, the patch compliance report for the instance is inaccurate. If this happens, reboot the instance and run a patch Scan operation to restore the file.

This tracking file is stored in the following locations on your managed instances:

  • Linux operating systems:

    • /var/log/amazon/ssm/patch-configuration/patch-states-configuration.json

    • /var/log/amazon/ssm/patch-configuration/patch-inventory-from-last-operation.json

  • Windows Server operating system:

    • C:\ProgramData\Amazon\PatchBaselineOperations\State\PatchStatesConfiguration.json

    • C:\ProgramData\Amazon\PatchBaselineOperations\State\PatchInventoryFromLastOperation.json