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Creating an IAM Role and Configuring an EC2 Instance for AWS Systems Manager via the AWS Management Console

In this hands-on lab, you will learn about the IAM role necessary for configuring an EC2 instance with the AWS Systems Manager service. We'll create and attach a role to an EC2 instance via the AWS Management Console (GUI) and confirm that it is configured with the SSM service by checking in the Systems Manager console as a managed instance.

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Lab Info
Level
Intermediate
Last updated
Sep 23, 2025
Duration
30m

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Table of Contents
  1. Challenge

    Create an EC2 IAM Role with the Systems Manager Policy for EC2
    1. Access the IAM console, and create a role.
    2. Attach the AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore policy to the role during creation.
    3. Name your role MySSMRole.

    Note: When working via the GUI, AWS auto-creates an IAM instance profile when you create a role for EC2; whereas, when working in the CLI, one has to create and attach an IAM instance profile to the IAM role themselves.

  2. Challenge

    Launch an EC2 Instance
    1. Launch an EC2 instance named MySSMInstance, with the latest version of Amazon Linux AMI, and of type t2.micro.
    2. You don't need to generate a key pair since you won't be logging in to the instance, so click Proceed without a keypair.
    3. Select the existing security group named SG.
    4. In the Advanced details section, under IAM instance profile, select MySSMRole then launch the instance.
  3. Challenge

    Verify the EC2 Instance Is Properly Configured with Systems Manager

    Once the instance is in a Running state, navigate to Systems Manager > Fleet Manager to confirm MySSMInstance is correctly displayed in the Managed nodes list.

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