Skip to main content
- What it is
- A capability of AWS Systems Manager that executes a command or script across many managed instances at once — no SSH, no logging in.
- How it works
- You pick an SSM document (the command to run), pick targets (by instance IDs, tags, or resource group), and run it.
- The SSM Agent on each node pulls and executes the command, then reports status back.
- Typical uses
- Install or update software across a fleet.
- Restart a service, apply a config change, or gather a diagnostic on every node.
- Auditing
- Not to be confused with
- Session Manager — interactive shell into one node. Run Command is one-shot, fan-out, non-interactive.
- State Manager — keeps a node in a defined state on a schedule. Run Command is a single manual execution.