AWS Systems Manager Reviews

Our primary use case for AWS Systems Manager is to dynamically export values from one service to ARN and share them across multiple AWS accounts. We have operational, security, and other accounts like sandbox and depth. Systems Manager facilitates secure deployment of roles or policies and passing them to other AWS services.

AWS Systems Manager's most valuable feature is its ability to dynamically export and import values in various AWS accounts. When you update the value, it's directly reflected across the system without needing manual editing. This is particularly effective for setting policies securely. The parameter store features are among the best aspects.

There isn't anything specific I remember at the moment.

I have been using AWS Systems Manager for about five and a half years.

I have not encountered any stability issues or problems with bugs. AWS has shared accounts we use for these operations, and no significant issues have been observed.

While AWS provides CodeCommit, CodePipeline, and CodeDeploy for automation, many users opt for solutions like Terraform for infrastructure setup and GitHub Actions for CI/CD pipelines.

Every AWS service comes with some associated costs. While using AWS Systems Manager, we continually monitor to optimize costs according to our use case, time, and frequency.

If you find that AWS Systems Manager supports your needs and it compares well to other tools, you should definitely try it out and see if it's the right fit.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

I use AWS Systems Manager primarily for infrastructure management and automation. One of its key benefits is managing patches and updates for our EC2 instances, including both Windows and Linux workloads. It can perform compliance checks on all managed workloads, identifying which systems aren't compliant or haven't been patched.

Runbooks are a significant feature, enabling the automation of various tasks. For example, I can use a runbook to automate this process if I need to configure DNS on a hundred servers.

Parameter Store is crucial for securely storing sensitive data like database credentials. It provides an extra layer of isolation and encryption for information we don't want visible in clear text.

The inventory feature is useful because it records all applications installed on workloads managed by the AWS Systems Manager.

What I like the most about the tool is the Session Manager. It's easy to log in, connect to your instance, and start working on them. You don't have to go through the legacy SSH on port 22, which is also a security improvement.

The tool isn't a standard product. When I say it's not a standard product or suite, it's more like a value-added service. Without AWS Systems Manager, your infrastructure would still survive, but you'd have to manage your systems manually. For example, if you want to work on a hundred virtual machines without AWS Systems Manager, you'd have to perform the same task on those hundred machines a hundred times. But using Runbook, you can write one script, use predefined scripts, configure once, and push to a hundred systems.

If you ask me if you need experience to work with the solution, I'd say yes. You need to understand what you want to do with it, and you also need to understand the systems you're working on. For instance, if you want to work on a Linux machine using AWS Systems Manager, there are two parts to it. You have to understand what you want to do with it, which is relatively easy as it's a user-friendly system. Then, the bigger and more important part is understanding the Linux machine. So there are two pieces: understanding what you want to do in Linux and understanding AWS Systems Manager. If that's the right word, it's a sort of coexistence or cross-pollination.

It could be agentless if there's room for improvement in the AWS Systems Manager. Currently, you have to install agents, although, for most of the latest EC2 images, the agents come preinstalled. If it could be at the level of Ansible, which is agentless, that would be fantastic. When you compare the solution to Ansible, one of the most widely accepted tools, the agentless feature stands out. So, if the AWS Systems Manager could become agentless, that would be a significant improvement.

The Amazon support team is good if you pay more. However, there's one thing I don't like. AWS has an AWS Organizations service, which acts as an umbrella for all your multiple AWS accounts. The support team tends to treat issues on an account-by-account basis.

For example, if I have five AWS accounts that I'm managing through AWS Organizations to govern them and ensure consistent configuration, and I have a problem on all five accounts, AWS currently expects me to raise five different support tickets or issues. I would have preferred that since I'm managing these accounts from an organization, it shouldn't matter which account I raise the support issue from.

I have been using the product for four years. 

I rate the tool's stability a nine out of ten. 

The tool scales well. It's more like SaaS, so you don't have to worry about the node AWS is using to deploy your configurations to your workloads. Whether you have 100 workloads, 500 workloads, or even 1000, as long as you've configured them and they're managed by the AWS Systems Manager, it can act on your entire fleet. So, for scalability, I would rate it a nine out of ten. Scalability is a strong point at the moment.

Most of the features are free. I'm not entirely certain, but I believe the pricing is generally very low. Some services that are part of Ops Manager might have associated costs.

The tool is one way to make your life easier on AWS. If you want to manage your workloads more flexibly and agilely, then AWS Systems Manager is the way to go.

On a scale from one to ten, with ten being the best, I would give AWS Systems Manager an eight point five.

We use various AWS services including database services such as Elastic, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and other different flavors of databases, along with other components in AWS. This is our main cloud platform.

We use the Parameter Store feature to store parameters in all our applications and configurations because it provides a very secure storage solution. This helps us avoid implementing keys or parameters in development through this service. We have a very secure component to protect against cyber attacks and other security threats.

The services are very customizable and practical, and the console is easy to use. There are many services that can be used with Terraform to provision the infrastructure, making it very open in this case.

I do not use the automation feature in this product.

The pricing and licensing depends on usage. It is important to be very careful with cloud usage, not only with AWS Systems Manager, Parameter Store, or the cloud in general, as costs depend on component usage. AWS provides plans and different options to avoid excessive costs, but controls need to be implemented across all services to prevent budget overruns due to usage.

The stability of Elastic is very good. With AWS Systems Manager, we do not have any problems. While we experienced some issues two or three years ago, the stability is now very good.

The support is perfect in Colombia. We do not have any problems regarding their support.

Positive

AWS Systems Manager is very good. We have experience with other clouds but AWS was selected because of their service, products, and availability as our main cloud provider.

It is easy to set up AWS Systems Manager.

I am referring to the Amazon Elastic Container Registry with Elastic.

The cost is a very important factor to keep in mind because the cost of cloud services, not just AWS cloud, can be substantial if not controlled. The service, performance, and availability are good, but it is crucial to always control the cost. If costs are not controlled, the expenses can be higher than maintaining on-premise infrastructure. This is important to keep in mind.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate AWS Systems Manager a 9.

I use AWS Systems Manager in my AWS account. I mainly use it to control and mitigate unauthorized access. I also use it to track my cloud activity with CloudTrail and manage configurations with AWS Config. 

The solution's most valuable feature is the change management option. It tracks every action on my AWS accounts in a centralized way, acting like a control tool for me. This is especially useful when working with Kubernetes and AWS ECS services. Additionally, my colleagues and clients often use the application management tools for configuration, parameters, and installations.

I'd like to see more automation for monitoring and managing things like AWS CloudWatch and AWS Config. It would be a significant improvement if it could automatically handle these tasks and address issues as they arise.

I have been using the product for three and a half years. 

I had faced issues, but it was due to misconfiguration. I rate the solution's stability a nine out of ten. 

The tool is scalable. 

The technical support team can be frustrating. However, sometimes, you get the right person to guide you through debugging. So, it's a 50-50 experience and not very stable.

Neutral

Setting up AWS Systems Manager to monitor and control other services is easy. You need to link the services you want to observe and track. The time it takes to deploy depends on factors like connectivity, latency, and the complexity of the services. For example, setting up a simple application is faster than setting up a more complicated three-tier or multi-tier system.

Using the solution for batch updates varies depending on the number of servers involved and the commands needed. Personally, when I do small projects at home, deploying a few servers doesn't take long. But at work, where we handle larger deployments with hundreds of servers, it's faster due to better connectivity and resources.

An AWS cloud engineer can bring down the costs. 

I rate the overall product a nine out of ten. It offers an easier way to monitor everything in a single portal. 

AWS Systems Manager is crucial for automation tasks such as patch management and compliance enforcement across our AWS resources. It also facilitates secure instance access without SSH keys through Session Manager. 

The product's most valuable feature is automation. It streamlines infrastructure management tasks like patching and configuration management, integrating well with other AWS services like CloudWatch and S3.

Ensuring broader OS coverage in patch management could be beneficial for the product.

I've been working with AWS for nine-plus years.

The product is stable. 

The product is scalable. I can expand automation capabilities and manage more resources without issues.

Installation and setup are straightforward, aided by comprehensive documentation provided by AWS. It's intuitive enough to get started quickly.

The platform provides excellent value for the capabilities it offers when compared to third-party tools for similar tasks.

I advise others to evaluate specific needs and tasks to see if Systems Manager aligns with organizational requirements, particularly in operational and application management. It is beginner-friendly with extensive features that can be learned gradually based on the user's needs and tasks. Integration with other AWS services like Lambda is seamless and enhances its functionality. 

I would rate it an eight out of ten.

I utilize AWS Systems Manager for managing and handling interviews, resources, security, and configurations like database connections, API keys, and passwords. With AWS, I can execute commands on-premises servers. I also use AWS as a patch manager to automate instance patching for data security and overall automation. For automated resource setup, I use AWS CloudFormation to deploy applications based on specific configurations stored in AWS Systems Manager. This includes managing security, version control, and deploying scripts through automation documents. AWS Systems Manager's automation capabilities, along with tools like AWS Lambda, allow for streamlined execution and integration into continuous integration or pipeline processes via the AWS Management Console.

The Parameter Store feature in AWS Systems Manager has greatly improved my configuration management. It offers centralized and secure storage for configuration data and secrets, including sensitive information like database connections, API keys, and passwords. 

The store organizes parameters hierarchically, making it easier to configure and control versions. It also ensures scalability and high availability, automatically scaling to handle increasing workloads and providing reliable access to configuration data across multiple AWS availability zones.      

One area that could be enhanced is dynamic configuration management. Additionally, improving integration with other AWS services like Lambda and CloudFormation would be beneficial.

I have been working with AWS Systems Manager for five years.

I haven't encountered any stability issues so far, and approximately eight users in our enterprise are using Systems Manager.

The technical support team is generally good and responsive. There's always room for improvement, especially in addressing system failures or shutdowns promptly.

Positive

The initial setup and deployment of AWS Systems Manager are quite straightforward and comfortable for me. Although I've worked on several deployments, I wouldn't say it's difficult, just that it requires some experience.

I'd rate AWS Systems Manager a seven out of ten overall. I would recommend it to others. My advice would be to approach it with attention to detail, especially in areas like automation, troubleshooting, and patch management. It's important to delve into the specifics of the system.

You can use it for Duo Inventory and to do page management. You can use it to do automation.

We are testing with a couple of machines that are using SSM for patching.

When we do the automation in the cloud, we use the SSM agent. This helps us to test our automation and documents, and monitor the cloud.

We have over 150 accounts. We want a single and consolidated view and to be able to easily manage all of our accounts on a single platform.

The current challenge is that we can't pull any incidents from other accounts.

I have been using AWS Systems Manager for six months. 

It is a stable solution. 

It is a scalable solution. 

The technical support team is very good. 

We have used SCCM from Apache.

The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment requires proper documentation. 

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten. 

I manage the company's large SAP workloads that run on AWS. We use it for things like automation. We are service providers. I'm an SAP Service Delivery Manager.

We are currently exploring patching automation. Overall, there are a variety of automation options that can be achieved using Systems Manager. In general, the remote execution of commands on this is something we've used for a long time to automate starting and stopping of EC2 instances.

There is definitely scope for improvement, not in terms of the features, but in terms of the variety of options that are currently available out of the system. I would like to see more integrations. 

I've been using this solution for three years. 

The product is stable. 

The solution is scalable and we have 35 consultants who are end users of this product. 

The support is generally quite good although it depends on the level of support a company has taken. Developer support is a little slow but business support has been very useful. 

This product is out of the box and very easy to deploy without any real setup required. We just need to provide the inputs. An average-size customer would generally require around eight consultants for implementation. 

There's no price component to Systems Manager. Anyone who has an AWS account and who is already using EC2 Instances on AWS is free to use Systems Manager. 

For anyone using AWS and looking to simplify overall governance and administration, this is a good product. Anyone with coding experience can create their own documents, and build their own custom automation playbooks. It's capable of integrating with a lot of other automation tools.

I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

I use the solution based on our company’s requirements.

Elastic Kubernetes Service is valuable. AWS provides Auto Scaling groups.

The product must provide cost optimization features. AWS does not have EKS cluster backup. We need to make the snapshots. There is no automatic way to back up recent applications. Region-to-region replication is very important for taking backups. AWS lacks compliance regulations and policies.

I have been using the solution for four years.

I did not have any issues with stability. Sometimes, the instance chokes up. It depends upon the applications, how we have configured the tool, and how we consume the resources.

The setup is not difficult. The ease of setup depends on how we use the resources.

We are exploring Google products. A few of Google's services are far better than those of AWS.

I work for the banking sector. Security, compliance, and governance are important to us. Overall, I rate the product a seven out of ten.

We have some applications that cater to the requirements of a Smart Farming community. We have some sensor soil sensors that are planted in the farms, and then these sensors collect soil data. Then we have the application analyze the inputs from the sensor and also take the weather parameters, crop details, and soil type.

The solution is user-friendly.

Additional features can be added as per customer requirements.

I have experience using AWS Systems Manager for one year and six months.

It is a stable solution.

A couple of thousand users are using the solution.

The initial setup is easy. The setup was done in house directly from Microsoft development platform, it was pushed into AWS.

As we were doing a government project so the government got the project at a very nominal cost.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.