• The AWS Systems Manager CloudWatch Dashboard will no longer be available after April 30, 2026. Customers can continue to use Amazon CloudWatch console to view, create, and manage their Amazon CloudWatch dashboards, just as they do today. For more information, see [Amazon CloudWatch Dashboard documentation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/CloudWatch_Dashboards.html).
# Creating change templates
**Change Manager availability change**
AWS Systems Manager Change Manager will no longer be open to new customers starting November 7, 2025. If you would like to use Change Manager, sign up prior to that date. Existing customers can continue to use the service as normal. For more information, see [AWS Systems Manager Change Manager availability change](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/change-manager-availability-change.html).
A change template is a collection of configuration settings in Change Manager that define such things as required approvals, available runbooks, and notification options for change requests.
You can create change templates for your operations in Change Manager, a tool in AWS Systems Manager, using the console, which includes Builder and Editor options, or command line tools.
**Topics**
+ [About approvals in your change templates](cm-approvals-templates.md)
+ [Creating change templates using Builder](change-templates-custom-builder.md)
+ [Creating change templates using Editor](change-templates-custom-editor.md)
+ [Creating change templates using command line tools](change-templates-tools.md)
# About approvals in your change templates
**Change Manager availability change**
AWS Systems Manager Change Manager will no longer be open to new customers starting November 7, 2025. If you would like to use Change Manager, sign up prior to that date. Existing customers can continue to use the service as normal. For more information, see [AWS Systems Manager Change Manager availability change](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/change-manager-availability-change.html).
For each change template that you create, you can specify up to five approval *levels* for change requests created from it. For each of those levels, you can designate up to five potential *approvers*. An approver isn't limited to a single user. You can also specify an IAM group or IAM role as an individual approver. For IAM groups and IAM roles, one or more users belonging to the group or role can provide approvals toward receiving the total number of approvals required for a change request. You can also specify more approvers than your change template requires.
Change Manager supports two main approaches to approvals: *per-level approvals* and *per-line approvals*. A combination of the two types is also possible in some situations. We recommend using only per-level approvals in your Change Manager operations.
------
#### [ Per-level approvals ]
*Recommended*. As of January 23, 2023, Change Manager supports per-level approvals. In this model, for each approval level in your change template, you first specify how many approvals are required for that level. Then you specify at least that many approvers for the level and can specify more approvers. However, only the number of per-level approvers that you specify need to approve the change request. For example, you could specify five approvers but require three approvals.
For console-view and JSON samples of this approval type, see [Sample per-level approval configuration](approval-type-samples.md#per-level-approvals).
------
#### [ Per-line approvals ]
*Supported for backward compatibility*. The original release of Change Manager supported only per-line approvals. In this model, every approver specified for an approval level is represented as an approval line. Each approver had to approve a change request for it to be approved at that level. Prior to January 23, 2023, this was the only supported model for approvals. Change templates created before this date continue to support per-line approvals, but we recommend using per-level approvals instead.
For console-view and JSON samples of this approval type, see [Sample per-line approval configuration](approval-type-samples.md#per-line-approvals).
------
#### [ Combined per-line and per-level approvals ]
*Not recommended*. In the console, the **Builder** tab no longer supports adding per-line approvals. However, in some cases you might end up with both per-line and per-level approvals in a change template. This can occur if you update a change template that was created before January 23, 2023, or if you create or update a change template by editing its YAML content manually,
For console-view and JSON samples of this approval type, see [Sample combined per-level and per-line approval configuration](approval-type-samples.md#combined-approval-levels).
------
**Important**
Although it's possible to create a change template that combines per-line and per-level approvals, this configuration isn't recommended or necessary. Whichever approval type requires more approvals (per-line or per-level approvals) takes precedence. For example:
If a change template specifies three per-level approvals but five per-line approvals, then five approvals are required.
If a change template specifies four per-level approvals but two per-line approvals, then four approvals are required.
You can create a level that includes both per-line and per-level approvals by editing the YAML or JSON content manually. Then, the **Builder** tab displays controls for specifying the required number of approvals for both the level and for individual lines. However, new levels that you add using the console still support only per-level approval configurations.
## Change request notifications and rejections
Amazon SNS notifications
When a change request is created using your change template, notifications are sent to subscribers of the Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic that has been designated for approval notifications at that level. You can specify the notification topic in the change template or allow the user creating the change request to specify one.
After the minimum number of required approvals is received at one level, notifications are sent to approvers subscribed to the Amazon SNS topic for the next level, and so on.
Ensure that the IAM roles, groups, and users you designate together provide enough approvers to meet the required number of approvals you specify. For example, if you designate only a single IAM group as an approver that contains three users, you can't specify that five approvals are mandatory at that level, only three or less.
Change request rejections
No matter how many approval levels and approvers you specify, only one rejection to a change request is required to prevent the runbook workflow for that request from occurring.
# Change Manager approval type examples
**Change Manager availability change**
AWS Systems Manager Change Manager will no longer be open to new customers starting November 7, 2025. If you would like to use Change Manager, sign up prior to that date. Existing customers can continue to use the service as normal. For more information, see [AWS Systems Manager Change Manager availability change](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/change-manager-availability-change.html).
The following samples demonstrate the console view and JSON content for the three types of approval types in Change Manager.
**Topics**
+ [Sample per-level approval configuration](#per-level-approvals)
+ [Sample per-line approval configuration](#per-line-approvals)
+ [Sample combined per-level and per-line approval configuration](#combined-approval-levels)
## Sample per-level approval configuration
In the per-level approval level setup shown in the following image, three approvals are required. Those approvals can come from any combination of IAM users, groups, and roles that are specified as approvers. Specified approvers include two IAM users (John Stiles and Ana Carolina Silva), a user group that contains three members (`GroupOfThree`), and a user role that represents ten users (`RoleOfTen`).
If all three users in the `GroupOfThree` group approve the change request, it is approved for that level. It's not necessary to receive an approval from each user, group, or role. The minimum number of approvals can come from any combination of specified approvers. We recommend per-level approvals for your Change Manager operations.
![\[Approval level showing three approvals are required and four specified approvers.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/images/Add-approval-2.png)
The following sample illustrates part of the YAML code for this configuration.
**Note**
This version of the YAML code include an additional input, `MinRequiredApprovals` (with an initial capital `M`). The value for this input indicates how many approvals are required from among all available reviewers. Note also that the `minRequiredApprovals` (lowercase initial `m`) value for each approver in the `Approvers` list is `0` (zero). This indicates that the approver can contribute to the overall approvals but is not required to do so.
```
schemaVersion: "0.3"
emergencyChange: false
autoApprovable: false
mainSteps:
- name: ApproveAction1
action: aws:approve
timeoutSeconds: 604800
inputs:
Message: Please approve this change request
MinRequiredApprovals: 3
EnhancedApprovals:
Approvers:
- approver: John Stiles
type: IamUser
minRequiredApprovals: 0
- approver: Ana Carolina Silva
type: IamUser
minRequiredApprovals: 0
- approver: GroupOfThree
type: IamGroup
minRequiredApprovals: 0
- approver: RoleOfTen
type: IamRole
minRequiredApprovals: 0
templateInformation: >
#### What is the purpose of this change?
//truncated
```
## Sample per-line approval configuration
In the approval level setup shown in the following image, four approvers are specified. These include two IAM users (John Stiles and Ana Carolina Silva), a user group that contains three members (`GroupOfThree`), and a user role that represents ten users (`RoleOfTen`). Per-line approvals are supported for backwards compatibility but not recommended.
![\[Approval level showing four required per-line approvers.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/images/Add-approval-1.png)
For the change request to be approved in this per-line approval configuration, it must be approved by all approver lines: John Stiles, Ana Carolina Silva, one member of the `GroupOfThree` group, and one member of the `RoleOfTen` role.
The following sample illustrates part of the YAML code for this configuration.
**Note**
Observe that the value for each `minRequiredApprovals` approver is `1`. This indicates that one approval is required from each approver.
```
schemaVersion: "0.3"
emergencyChange: false
autoApprovable: false
mainSteps:
- name: ApproveAction1
action: aws:approve
timeoutSeconds: 10000
inputs:
Message: Please approve this change request
EnhancedApprovals:
Approvers:
- approver: John Stiles
type: IamUser
minRequiredApprovals: 1
- approver: Ana Carolina Silva
type: IamUser
minRequiredApprovals: 1
- approver: GroupOfThree
type: IamGroup
minRequiredApprovals: 1
- approver: RoleOfTen
type: IamRole
minRequiredApprovals: 1
executableRunBooks:
- name: AWS-HelloWorld
version: $DEFAULT
templateInformation: >
#### What is the purpose of this change?
//truncated
```
## Sample combined per-level and per-line approval configuration
In the combined per-level and per-line approval setup shown in the following image, three approvals are specified for the level, but four approvals are specified for the line-item approvals. Whichever approval type requires more approvals takes precedence over the other, so four approvals are required by this configuration. Combined per-level and per-line approval are not recommended.
![\[Approval level showing three approvals required for the level but four required at the line level.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/images/Add-approval-3.png)
```
schemaVersion: "0.3"
emergencyChange: false
autoApprovable: false
mainSteps:
- name: ApproveAction1
action: aws:approve
timeoutSeconds: 604800
inputs:
Message: Please approve this change request
MinRequiredApprovals: 3
EnhancedApprovals:
Approvers:
- approver: John Stiles
type: IamUser
minRequiredApprovals: 1
- approver: Ana Carolina Silva
type: IamUser
minRequiredApprovals: 1
- approver: GroupOfThree
type: IamGroup
minRequiredApprovals: 1
- approver: RoleOfTen
type: IamRole
minRequiredApprovals: 1
templateInformation: >
#### What is the purpose of this change?
//truncated
```
**Topics**
+ [About approvals in your change templates](cm-approvals-templates.md)
+ [Creating change templates using Builder](change-templates-custom-builder.md)
+ [Creating change templates using Editor](change-templates-custom-editor.md)
+ [Creating change templates using command line tools](change-templates-tools.md)
# Creating change templates using Builder
**Change Manager availability change**
AWS Systems Manager Change Manager will no longer be open to new customers starting November 7, 2025. If you would like to use Change Manager, sign up prior to that date. Existing customers can continue to use the service as normal. For more information, see [AWS Systems Manager Change Manager availability change](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/change-manager-availability-change.html).
Using the Builder for change templates in Change Manager, a tool in AWS Systems Manager, you can configure the runbook workflow defined in your change template without having to use JSON or YAML syntax. After you specify your options, the system converts your input into the YAML format that Systems Manager can use to run runbook workflows.
**To create a change template using Builder**
1. Open the AWS Systems Manager console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/).
1. In the navigation pane, choose **Change Manager**.
1. Choose **Create template**.
1. For **Name**, enter a name for the template that makes its purpose easy to identify, such as **UpdateEC2LinuxAMI**.
1. In the **Change template details** section, do the following:
+ For **Description**, provide a brief explanation of how and when the change template you're creating is to be used.
This description helps users who create change requests determine whether they're using the correct change template. It helps those who review change requests understand whether the request should be approved.
+ For **Change template type**, specify whether you're creating a standard change template or an emergency change template.
An emergency change template is used for situations when a change must be made even if changes are otherwise blocked by an event in the calendar in use by AWS Systems Manager Change Calendar. Change requests created from an emergency change template must still be approved by its designated approvers, but the requested changes can still run even when the calendar is blocked.
+ For **Runbook options**, specify the runbooks that users can choose from when creating a change request. You can add a single runbook or multiple runbooks. Alternatively, you can allow requesters to specify which runbook to use. In any of these cases, only one runbook can be included in the change request.
+ For **Runbook**, select the names of the runbooks and the versions of those runbooks that users can choose from for their change requests. No matter how many runbooks you add to the change template, only one can be selected per change request.
You don't specify a runbook if you chose **Any runbook can be used** earlier.
**Tip**
Select a runbook and runbook version, and then choose **View** to examine the contents of the runbook in the Systems Manager Documents interface.
1. In the **Template information** section, use Markdown to enter information for users who create change requests from this change template. We have provided a set of questions that you can include for users who create change requests, or you can add other information and questions instead.
**Note**
Markdown is a markup language that allows you to add wiki-style descriptions to documents and individual steps within the document. For more information about using Markdown, see [Using Markdown in AWS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws-markdown.html).
We recommend providing questions for users to answer about their change requests to help approvers decide whether or not to grant each change request, such as listing any manual steps required to run as part of the change and a rollback plan.
**Tip**
Toggle between **Hide preview** and **Show preview** to see what your content looks like as you compose.
1. In the **Change request approvals** section, do the following:
+ (Optional) If you want to allow change requests that are created from this change template to run automatically, without review by any approvers (with the exception of change freeze events), select **Enable auto-approval**.
**Note**
Enabling auto-approvals in a change template provides users with the *option* of bypassing reviewers. They can still choose to specify reviewers when creating a change request. Therefore, you must still specify reviewer options in the change template.
**Important**
If you enable auto-approval for a change template, users can submit change requests using that template that do not require review by reviewers before they run (with the exception of change freeze event approvers). If you want to restrict a particular user, group, or IAM role from submitting auto-approval requests, you can use a condition in an IAM policy for this purpose. For more information, see [Controlling access to auto-approval runbook workflows](change-manager-auto-approval-access.md).
+ For **Number of approvals required at this level**, choose the number of approvals that change requests created from this change template must receive for this level.
+ To add mandatory first-level approvers, choose **Add approver**, and then choose from the following:
+ **Template specified approvers** – Choose one or more users, groups, or AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles from your account to approve change requests created from this change template. Any change requests that are created using this template must be reviewed and approved by each approver you specify.
+ **Request specified approvers** – The user who makes the change request specifies reviewers at the time they make the request and can choose from a list of users in your account.
The number you enter in the **Required** column determines how many reviewers must be specified by a change request that uses this change template.
**Important**
Prior to January 23, 2023, the **Builder** tab supported specifying per-line approvals only. New change templates and new levels you add to existing change templates using the **Builder** tab support per-level approvals only. We recommend using only per-level approvals in your Change Manager operations.
For more information, see [About approvals in your change templates](cm-approvals-templates.md).
+ For **SNS topic to notify approvers**, do the following:
1. Choose one of the following to specify the Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic in your account to use for sending notifications to approvers that a change request is ready for their review:
+ **Enter an SNS Amazon Resource Name (ARN)** – For **Topic ARN**, enter the ARN of an existing Amazon SNS topic. This topic can be in any of your organization's accounts.
+ **Select an existing SNS topic** – For **Target notification topic**, select the ARN of an existing Amazon SNS topic in your current AWS account. (This option isn't available if you haven't yet created any Amazon SNS topics in your current AWS account and AWS Region.)
+ **Specify SNS topic when the change request is created **– The user who creates a change request can specify the Amazon SNS topic to use for notifications.
**Note**
The Amazon SNS topic you select must be configured to specify the notifications it sends and the subscribers they're sent to. Its access policy must also grant permissions to Systems Manager so Change Manager can send notifications. For information, see [Configuring Amazon SNS topics for Change Manager notifications](change-manager-sns-setup.md).
1. Choose **Add notification**.
1. (Optional) To add an additional level of approvers, choose **Add approval level** and choose between template-specified approvers and request-specified approvers for this level. Then choose an SNS topic to notify this level of approvers.
After all approvals have been received by first-level approvers, second-level approvers are notified, and so on.
You can add a maximum of five levels of approvers in each template. You might, for example, require approvals from users in technical roles for the first level, then managerial approval for the second level.
1. In the **Monitoring** section, for **CloudWatch alarm to monitor**, enter the name of an Amazon CloudWatch alarm in the current account to monitor the progress of runbook workflows that are based on this template.
**Tip**
To create a new alarm, or to review the settings of an alarm you want to specify, choose **Open the Amazon CloudWatch console**. For information about working with CloudWatch alarms, see [Using CloudWatch Alarms](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/AlarmThatSendsEmail.html) in the *Amazon CloudWatch User Guide*.
1. In the **Notifications** section, do the following:
1. Choose one of the following to specify the Amazon SNS topic in your account to use for sending notifications about change requests that are created using this change template:
+ **Enter an SNS Amazon Resource Name (ARN)** – For **Topic ARN**, enter the ARN of an existing Amazon SNS topic. This topic can be in any of your organization's accounts.
+ **Select an existing SNS topic** – For **Target notification topic**, select the ARN of an existing Amazon SNS topic in your current AWS account. (This option isn't available if you haven't yet created any Amazon SNS topics in your current AWS account and AWS Region.)
**Note**
The Amazon SNS topic you select must be configured to specify the notifications it sends and the subscribers they're sent to. Its access policy must also grant permissions to Systems Manager so Change Manager can send notifications. For information, see [Configuring Amazon SNS topics for Change Manager notifications](change-manager-sns-setup.md).
1. Choose **Add notification**.
1. (Optional) In the **Tags** section, apply one or more tag key name/value pairs to the change template.
Tags are optional metadata that you assign to a resource. By using tags, you can categorize a resource in different ways, such as by purpose, owner, or environment. For example, you might want to tag a change template to identify the type of change it makes and the environment it runs in. In this case, you could specify the following key name/value pairs:
+ `Key=TaskType,Value=InstanceRepair`
+ `Key=Environment,Value=Production`
1. Choose **Save and preview**.
1. Review the details of the change template you're creating.
If you want to make change to the change template before submitting it for review, choose **Actions, Edit**.
If you're satisfied with the contents of the change template, choose **Submit for review**. The users in your organization or account who have been specified as template reviewers on the **Settings** tab in Change Manager are notified that a new change template is pending their review.
If an Amazon SNS topic has been specified for change templates, notifications are sent when the change template is rejected or approved. If you don't receive notifications related to this change template, you can return to Change Manager later to check on its status.
# Creating change templates using Editor
**Change Manager availability change**
AWS Systems Manager Change Manager will no longer be open to new customers starting November 7, 2025. If you would like to use Change Manager, sign up prior to that date. Existing customers can continue to use the service as normal. For more information, see [AWS Systems Manager Change Manager availability change](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/change-manager-availability-change.html).
Use the steps in this topic to configure a change template in Change Manager, a tool in AWS Systems Manager, by entering JSON or YAML instead of using the console controls.
**To create a change template using Editor**
1. In the navigation pane, choose **Change Manager**.
1. Choose **Create template**.
1. For **Name**, enter a name for the template that makes its purpose easy to identify, such as **RestartEC2LinuxInstance**.
1. Above **Change template details**, choose **Editor**.
1. In the **Document editor** section, choose **Edit**, and then enter the JSON or YAML content for your change template.
The following is an example.
**Note**
The parameter `minRequiredApprovals` is used to specify how many reviewers at a specified level must approve a change request that is created using this template.
This example demonstrates two levels of approvals. You can specify up to five levels of approvals, but only one level is required.
In the first level, the specific user "John-Doe" must approve each change request. After that, any three members of the IAM role `Admin` must approve the change request.
For more information about approvals for change templates, see [About approvals in your change templates](cm-approvals-templates.md).
------
#### [ YAML ]
```
description: >-
This change template demonstrates the feature set available for creating
change templates for Change Manager. This template starts a Runbook workflow
for the Automation runbook called AWS-HelloWorld.
templateInformation: >
### Document Name: HelloWorldChangeTemplate
## What does this document do?
This change template demonstrates the feature set available for creating
change templates for Change Manager. This template starts a Runbook workflow
for the Automation runbook called AWS-HelloWorld.
## Input Parameters
* ApproverSnsTopicArn: (Required) Amazon Simple Notification Service ARN for
approvers.
* Approver: (Required) The name of the approver to send this request to.
* ApproverType: (Required) The type of reviewer.
* Allowed Values: IamUser, IamGroup, IamRole, SSOGroup, SSOUser
## Output Parameters
This document has no outputs
schemaVersion: '0.3'
parameters:
ApproverSnsTopicArn:
type: String
description: Amazon Simple Notification Service ARN for approvers.
Approver:
type: String
description: IAM approver
ApproverType:
type: String
description: >-
Approver types for the request. Allowed values include IamUser, IamGroup,
IamRole, SSOGroup, and SSOUser.
executableRunBooks:
- name: AWS-HelloWorld
version: '1'
emergencyChange: false
autoApprovable: false
mainSteps:
- name: ApproveAction1
action: 'aws:approve'
timeoutSeconds: 3600
inputs:
Message: >-
A sample change request has been submitted for your review in Change
Manager. You can approve or reject this request.
EnhancedApprovals:
NotificationArn: '{{ ApproverSnsTopicArn }}'
Approvers:
- approver: John-Doe
type: IamUser
minRequiredApprovals: 1
- name: ApproveAction2
action: 'aws:approve'
timeoutSeconds: 3600
inputs:
Message: >-
A sample change request has been submitted for your review in Change
Manager. You can approve or reject this request.
EnhancedApprovals:
NotificationArn: '{{ ApproverSnsTopicArn }}'
Approvers:
- approver: Admin
type: IamRole
minRequiredApprovals: 3
```
------
#### [ JSON ]
```
{
"description": "This change template demonstrates the feature set available for creating
change templates for Change Manager. This template starts a Runbook workflow
for the Automation runbook called AWS-HelloWorld",
"templateInformation": "### Document Name: HelloWorldChangeTemplate\n\n
## What does this document do?\n
This change template demonstrates the feature set available for creating change templates for Change Manager.
This template starts a Runbook workflow for the Automation runbook called AWS-HelloWorld.\n\n
## Input Parameters\n* ApproverSnsTopicArn: (Required) Amazon Simple Notification Service ARN for approvers.\n
* Approver: (Required) The name of the approver to send this request to.\n
* ApproverType: (Required) The type of reviewer. * Allowed Values: IamUser, IamGroup, IamRole, SSOGroup, SSOUser\n\n
## Output Parameters\nThis document has no outputs\n",
"schemaVersion": "0.3",
"parameters": {
"ApproverSnsTopicArn": {
"type": "String",
"description": "Amazon Simple Notification Service ARN for approvers."
},
"Approver": {
"type": "String",
"description": "IAM approver"
},
"ApproverType": {
"type": "String",
"description": "Approver types for the request. Allowed values include IamUser, IamGroup, IamRole, SSOGroup, and SSOUser."
}
},
"executableRunBooks": [
{
"name": "AWS-HelloWorld",
"version": "1"
}
],
"emergencyChange": false,
"autoApprovable": false,
"mainSteps": [
{
"name": "ApproveAction1",
"action": "aws:approve",
"timeoutSeconds": 3600,
"inputs": {
"Message": "A sample change request has been submitted for your review in Change Manager. You can approve or reject this request.",
"EnhancedApprovals": {
"NotificationArn": "{{ ApproverSnsTopicArn }}",
"Approvers": [
{
"approver": "John-Doe",
"type": "IamUser",
"minRequiredApprovals": 1
}
]
}
}
},
{
"name": "ApproveAction2",
"action": "aws:approve",
"timeoutSeconds": 3600,
"inputs": {
"Message": "A sample change request has been submitted for your review in Change Manager. You can approve or reject this request.",
"EnhancedApprovals": {
"NotificationArn": "{{ ApproverSnsTopicArn }}",
"Approvers": [
{
"approver": "Admin",
"type": "IamRole",
"minRequiredApprovals": 3
}
]
}
}
}
]
}
```
------
1. Choose **Save and preview**.
1. Review the details of the change template you're creating.
If you want to make change to the change template before submitting it for review, choose **Actions, Edit**.
If you're satisfied with the contents of the change template, choose **Submit for review**. The users in your organization or account who have been specified as template reviewers on the **Settings** tab in Change Manager are notified that a new change template is pending their review.
If an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic has been specified for change templates, notifications are sent when the change template is rejected or approved. If you don't receive notifications related to this change template, you can return to Change Manager later to check on its status.
# Creating change templates using command line tools
**Change Manager availability change**
AWS Systems Manager Change Manager will no longer be open to new customers starting November 7, 2025. If you would like to use Change Manager, sign up prior to that date. Existing customers can continue to use the service as normal. For more information, see [AWS Systems Manager Change Manager availability change](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/change-manager-availability-change.html).
The following procedures describe how to use the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) (on Linux, macOS, or Windows Server) or AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell to create a change request in Change Manager, a tool in AWS Systems Manager.
**To create a change template**
1. Install and configure the AWS CLI or the AWS Tools for PowerShell, if you haven't already.
For information, see [Installing or updating the latest version of the AWS CLI](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html) and [Installing the AWS Tools for PowerShell](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/latest/userguide/pstools-getting-set-up.html).
1. Create a JSON file on your local machine with a name such as `MyChangeTemplate.json`, and then paste the content for your change template into it.
**Note**
Change templates use a version of schema 0.3 that doesn't include all the same support as for Automation runbooks.
The following is an example.
**Note**
The parameter `minRequiredApprovals` is used to specify how many reviewers at a specified level must approve a change request that is created using this template.
This example demonstrates two levels of approvals. You can specify up to five levels of approvals, but only one level is required.
In the first level, the specific user "John-Doe" must approve each change request. After that, any three members of the IAM role `Admin` must approve the change request.
For more information about approvals for change templates, see [About approvals in your change templates](cm-approvals-templates.md).
```
{
"description": "This change template demonstrates the feature set available for creating
change templates for Change Manager. This template starts a Runbook workflow
for the Automation runbook called AWS-HelloWorld",
"templateInformation": "### Document Name: HelloWorldChangeTemplate\n\n
## What does this document do?\n
This change template demonstrates the feature set available for creating change templates for Change Manager.
This template starts a Runbook workflow for the Automation runbook called AWS-HelloWorld.\n\n
## Input Parameters\n* ApproverSnsTopicArn: (Required) Amazon Simple Notification Service ARN for approvers.\n
* Approver: (Required) The name of the approver to send this request to.\n
* ApproverType: (Required) The type of reviewer. * Allowed Values: IamUser, IamGroup, IamRole, SSOGroup, SSOUser\n\n
## Output Parameters\nThis document has no outputs\n",
"schemaVersion": "0.3",
"parameters": {
"ApproverSnsTopicArn": {
"type": "String",
"description": "Amazon Simple Notification Service ARN for approvers."
},
"Approver": {
"type": "String",
"description": "IAM approver"
},
"ApproverType": {
"type": "String",
"description": "Approver types for the request. Allowed values include IamUser, IamGroup, IamRole, SSOGroup, and SSOUser."
}
},
"executableRunBooks": [
{
"name": "AWS-HelloWorld",
"version": "1"
}
],
"emergencyChange": false,
"autoApprovable": false,
"mainSteps": [
{
"name": "ApproveAction1",
"action": "aws:approve",
"timeoutSeconds": 3600,
"inputs": {
"Message": "A sample change request has been submitted for your review in Change Manager. You can approve or reject this request.",
"EnhancedApprovals": {
"NotificationArn": "{{ ApproverSnsTopicArn }}",
"Approvers": [
{
"approver": "John-Doe",
"type": "IamUser",
"minRequiredApprovals": 1
}
]
}
}
},
{
"name": "ApproveAction2",
"action": "aws:approve",
"timeoutSeconds": 3600,
"inputs": {
"Message": "A sample change request has been submitted for your review in Change Manager. You can approve or reject this request.",
"EnhancedApprovals": {
"NotificationArn": "{{ ApproverSnsTopicArn }}",
"Approvers": [
{
"approver": "Admin",
"type": "IamRole",
"minRequiredApprovals": 3
}
]
}
}
}
]
}
```
1. Run the following command to create the change template.
------
#### [ Linux & macOS ]
```
aws ssm create-document \
--name MyChangeTemplate \
--document-format JSON \
--document-type Automation.ChangeTemplate \
--content file://MyChangeTemplate.json \
--tags Key=tag-key,Value=tag-value
```
------
#### [ Windows ]
```
aws ssm create-document ^
--name MyChangeTemplate ^
--document-format JSON ^
--document-type Automation.ChangeTemplate ^
--content file://MyChangeTemplate.json ^
--tags Key=tag-key,Value=tag-value
```
------
#### [ PowerShell ]
```
$json = Get-Content -Path "C:\path\to\file\MyChangeTemplate.json" | Out-String
New-SSMDocument `
-Content $json `
-Name "MyChangeTemplate" `
-DocumentType "Automation.ChangeTemplate" `
-Tags "Key=tag-key,Value=tag-value"
```
------
For information about other options you can specify, see [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/ssm/create-document.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/ssm/create-document.html).
The system returns information like the following.
```
{
"DocumentDescription":{
"CreatedDate":1.585061751738E9,
"DefaultVersion":"1",
"Description":"Use this template to update an EC2 Linux AMI. Requires one
approver specified in the template and an approver specified in the request.",
"DocumentFormat":"JSON",
"DocumentType":"Automation",
"DocumentVersion":"1",
"Hash":"0d3d879b3ca072e03c12638d0255ebd004d2c65bd318f8354fcde820dEXAMPLE",
"HashType":"Sha256",
"LatestVersion":"1",
"Name":"MyChangeTemplate",
"Owner":"123456789012",
"Parameters":[
{
"DefaultValue":"",
"Description":"Level one approvers",
"Name":"LevelOneApprovers",
"Type":"String"
},
{
"DefaultValue":"",
"Description":"Level one approver type",
"Name":"LevelOneApproverType",
"Type":"String"
},
"cloudWatchMonitors": {
"monitors": [
"my-cloudwatch-alarm"
]
}
],
"PlatformTypes":[
"Windows",
"Linux"
],
"SchemaVersion":"0.3",
"Status":"Creating",
"Tags":[
]
}
}
```
The users in your organization or account who have been specified as template reviewers on the **Settings** tab in Change Manager are notified that a new change template is pending their review.
If an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic has been specified for change templates, notifications are sent when the change template is rejected or approved. If you don't receive notifications related to this change template, you can return to Change Manager later to check on its status.