AWS Systems Manager Session Manager
AWS Systems Manager Session Manager is a fully managed AWS service that provides secure and auditable instance management without the need to open inbound ports, manage SSH keys, or use bastion hosts. It allows users to start one-click browser-based shell sessions or CLI sessions to EC2 instances, on-premises servers, and virtual machines, with session activity logged to Amazon CloudWatch Logs and Amazon S3 for compliance. It integrates with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) for fine-grained access control and supports port forwarding for secure application tunneling.
Developers should use Session Manager when they need secure, auditable remote access to AWS resources like EC2 instances, especially in compliance-heavy environments (e.g., healthcare, finance) where logging and access control are critical. It's ideal for troubleshooting, configuration management, and administrative tasks without exposing instances to the public internet, reducing security risks compared to traditional SSH or RDP. Use cases include debugging production issues, running commands across fleets of instances, and managing hybrid environments with on-premises servers.