• 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).
# Automating updates to SSM Agent
AWS releases a new version of AWS Systems Manager Agent (SSM Agent) when we add or update Systems Manager tools. If your managed nodes use an older version of the agent, then you can't use the new tools or benefit from the updated tools. For these reasons, we recommend that you automate the process of updating SSM Agent on your managed nodes using any of the following methods.
**Agent updates on the Bottlerocket operating system**
SSM Agent on the Bottlerocket operating system can't be updated using the Systems Manager Command document `AWS-UpdateSSMAgent`. Updates are managed within the Bottlerocket control container. For more information, see [Bottlerocket Control Container](https://github.com/bottlerocket-os/bottlerocket-control-container/blob/develop/README.md) and [Bottlerocket update operator](https://github.com/bottlerocket-os/bottlerocket-update-operator/blob/develop/README.md) on GitHub.
**macOS version requirement**
If an instance is running macOS version 11.0 (Big Sur) or later, the instance must have the SSM Agent version 3.1.941.0 or higher to run the AWS-UpdateSSMAgent document. If the instance is running a version of SSM Agent released before 3.1.941.0, update your SSM Agent to run the AWS-UpdateSSMAgent by running `brew update` and `brew upgrade amazon-ssm-agent` commands.
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| Method | Details |
| --- | --- |
| One-click automated update on all managed nodes (Recommended) | You can configure all managed nodes in your AWS account to automatically check for and download new versions of SSM Agent. To do this, choose **Auto update SSM Agent** on the **Settings** tab in Fleet Manager, as described later in this topic. |
| Global or selective update | You can use State Manager, a tool in AWS Systems Manager, to create an association that automatically downloads and installs SSM Agent on your managed nodes. If you want to limit the disruption to your workloads, you can create a Systems Manager maintenance window to perform the installation during designated time periods. Both methods allow you to create either a global update configuration for all of your managed nodes or selectively choose which instances get updated. For information about creating a State Manager association, see [Walkthrough: Automatically update SSM Agent with the AWS CLI](state-manager-update-ssm-agent-cli.md). For information about creating a maintenance window, see [Tutorial: Create a maintenance window for patching using the console](maintenance-window-tutorial-patching.md). |
| Global or selective update for new environments | If you're getting started with Systems Manager, we recommend that you use the **Update Systems Manager (SSM) Agent every two weeks** option in Quick Setup, a tool in AWS Systems Manager. Quick Setup allows you to create either a global update configuration for all of your managed nodes or selectively choose which managed nodes get updated. For more information, see [Set up Amazon EC2 host management using Quick Setup](quick-setup-host-management.md). |
If you prefer to update SSM Agent on your managed nodes manually, you can subscribe to notifications that AWS publishes when a new version of the agent is released. For information, see [Subscribing to SSM Agent notifications](ssm-agent-subscribe-notifications.md). After you subscribe to notifications, you can use Run Command to manually update one or more managed nodes with the latest version. For more information, see [Updating the SSM Agent using Run Command](run-command-tutorial-update-software.md#rc-console-agentexample).
## Automatically updating SSM Agent
You can configure Systems Manager to automatically update SSM Agent on all Linux-based and Windows-based managed nodes in your AWS account. If you turn on this option, then Systems Manager automatically checks every two weeks for a new version of the agent. If there is a new version, then Systems Manager automatically updates the agent to the latest released version using the SSM document `AWS-UpdateSSMAgent`. We encourage you to choose this option to ensure that your managed nodes are always running the most up-to-date version of SSM Agent.
**Note**
If you use a `yum` command to update SSM Agent on a managed node after the agent has been installed or updated using the SSM document `AWS-UpdateSSMAgent`, you might see the following message: `"Warning: RPMDB altered outside of yum."` This message is expected and can be safely ignored.
**To automatically update SSM Agent**
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 **Fleet Manager**.
1. Choose the **Settings** tab.
1. In the **Agent auto update** area, choose **Auto update SSM Agent**.
To change the version of SSM Agent your fleet updates to, choose **Edit** under **Agent auto update** on the **Settings** tab. Then enter the version number of SSM Agent you want to update to in **Version** under **Parameters**. If not specified, the agent updates to the latest version.
To stop automatically deploying updated versions of SSM Agent to all managed nodes in your account, choose **Delete** under **Agent auto update** on the **Settings** tab. This action deletes the State Manager association that automatically updates SSM Agent on your managed nodes.