I'm looking for advice on how to effectively manage patch schedules across 70 different AWS accounts, each belonging to a separate client and averaging around 50 EC2 instances. We currently have a Maintenance Window set for each account, but the execution times differ by client. Ideally, I'm aiming for a centralized and automated approach to handle these patch updates.
Here's what I'm thinking:
1. A central configuration file (like a CSV or database) to store necessary information such as:
- AWS Account ID
- Region
- Maintenance Window Name
- Scheduled Patch Time (CRON expression or timestamp)
- Other relevant metadata (like environment type)
2. A script or automation pipeline that:
- Reads the above configuration
- Uses AWS CloudFormation StackSets to deploy or update stacks across all accounts
- Updates the existing Maintenance Windows without needing to recreate them.
The goals are:
- Centralized, low-effort management of patch schedules
- Quick updates per client requests (just update the config file and redeploy)
- Eliminating the need to manually access each account.
I'm still figuring out the best way to structure this and would appreciate any suggestions or alternative approaches! Thanks a lot for your help!
6 Answers
Tools like Ansible or Puppet could also help streamline your patch management process. They're great solutions for automation across multiple accounts.
Just a heads-up, the actual patching process might depend on the OS or applications involved, which varies from AWS's management. It's important to remember that patch specifics are more related to the software than to AWS itself.
Check out the AWS Managed Service patch maintenance workshop. It will give you a clearer picture of what's needed. I also recommend managing your SSM configurations as code via GitHub and using a CI/CD pipeline for deployments. Are these accounts all under one Organization or are they completely separate?
Try designating one account as the main patching account. This account could own the automation part. You could create an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) template that sets up an IAM role and baseline patching schedules, allowing clients to tag their instances with desired patch times. They could self-deploy the IaC and then send you a ticket to add their account to the schedule. Using Lambda functions, you could manage all the patching based on client tags. There's also documentation on multi-account automation you might find helpful!
Consider using Tags combined with EventBridge, SSM Patch Manager, and Lambda to create an efficient patching process. It's a robust way to automate your scheduling and management.
Have you thought about using AWS Systems Manager (SSM) for this? It's built for fleet management and patching, plus it has lots of capabilities you might find useful. I generally use it for remote console access too, but it works great for managing patches.
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