Amazon SSM

Amazon Web Services

Overview

Integrates with AWS Systems Manager (SSM) to inventory the managed instances registered with SSM across the configured AWS accounts and regions. A managed instance is any EC2 instance or hybrid/on-premises machine running the SSM Agent. For each managed instance the connector captures its agent state, platform, connectivity (ping) status, and IAM role, and emits one Brinqa object per instance.

Data retrieved from Amazon SSM

Connector Object	Required	Maps to Data Model
SSM Managed Instance	Yes	Cloud Resource

note

For detailed steps on how to view the data retrieved from Amazon SSM in the Brinqa Platform, see How to view your data.

Setup

Connection settings

When setting up a data integration, select Amazon SSM from the Connector dropdown and provide the following:

Setting	Required	Default	Description
Access key ID	No	—	AWS user access key ID, if not specified, the connector consults the default credentials provider chain to try and determine the \
Secret access key	No	—	AWS user secret access key, if not specified, the connector consults the default credentials provider chain to try and determine the \
Default region	No	—	Default AWS region, if not specified, the connector consults the default region provider chain to try and determine the region to use.
Assume role	No	—	Amazon Resource Name for the role to assume.
External ID	No	—	Optional STS external ID, sent when assuming the role named in the Assume role \
Session duration	No	900	Assume role session duration in seconds.
Page size	No	100	The maximum number of results to retrieve per operation.
Parallel requests	No	—	Maximum number of parallel requests.

Authentication

Authentication is shared across the AWS connector bundle via the AwsConfiguration base class. The Systems Manager sub-connector uses the AWS SDK for Java v2 SsmClient, which signs every request with AWS SigV4 using credentials resolved through the following chain (in order):

1. STS AssumeRole — if assumeRoleARN is configured, the connector assumes that role (using the credentials below as the principal) and uses the resulting temporary session credentials. Set externalId as well if the role's trust policy enforces an ExternalId condition; it is sent on the AssumeRole call and is required for cross-account confused-deputy protection.
2. Static access keys — if accessKey / secretKey are configured, they are used directly.
3. Default credentials provider chain — environment variables, ~/.aws/credentials, container role, or EC2 instance metadata.

Assumed-role sessions use the configurable sessionDuration (default 900 s) with a unique session name per sync. assumeRoleARN may be a comma-separated list to sync multiple accounts in one run. An SsmClient is constructed per role per region and closed when its region has been fully synced.

Choosing an authentication path

The list above is the order the connector resolves credentials in. In terms of what to configure, three paths are supported:

Path	Configure	When to use
STS AssumeRole (recommended)	assumeRoleARN, plus externalId if the trust policy requires one	Cross-account access, and the only path that supports an ExternalId condition. Still needs a principal, from either of the paths below.
Default credentials provider chain (fully keyless)	nothing	The platform runs inside your AWS account on an EC2 instance profile or an EKS IRSA role. No long-lived keys exist anywhere.
Static access keys (optional)	accessKey, secretKey	The platform runs outside your AWS account and no role is available. Long-lived credentials — prefer either path above.

sts:AssumeRole is required only when assumeRoleARN is set.

Required AWS API permissions

Permission	Purpose
ssm:DescribeInstanceInformation	List and page through SSM managed instances in a region
sts:AssumeRole	Only when assumeRoleARN is set

Sync Behavior

Each sync is a full sync. Every run enumerates all resources through the AWS APIs; the connector does not maintain a sync token or apply an incremental since date filter.

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How to obtain Amazon SSM credentials

Create an IAM user for AWS access

For the Amazon SSM connector to interact with the AWS SDK and retrieve managed instance data, you must provide specific AWS credentials and permissions. To create an IAM user, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your organization's AWS Management Console as an administrator.

2. Navigate to the Identity and Access Management (IAM) dashboard.

3. From the navigation pane under Access management, click Users, and then click Create user.

4. Provide a User name, leave the Provide user access to AWS Management Console option unchecked, and then click Next.

5. Click the Attach policies directly option and then click Create policy.

6. Click the JSON tab and paste the following minimum required policy:

   {
     "Version": "2012-10-17",
     "Statement": [
       {
         "Effect": "Allow",
         "Action": [
           "ssm:DescribeInstanceInformation"
         ],
         "Resource": "*"
       }
     ]
   }

7. Click Next, provide a name for the policy, and then click Create policy.

8. Back on the Add permissions page, search for and select the policy you just created, and then click Next.

9. Click Create user.

Note: If you do not have permissions to create a new IAM user, contact your AWS administrator. For additional information, see AWS documentation.

Data & mappings

Attribute mappings

Expand the sections below to view the mappings between the source and the Brinqa data model attributes:

SSM Managed Instance

Source Field Name	SDM Attribute
constant "AWS"	CLOUD_PROVIDER
derived: "Online".equalsIgnoreCase(pingStatusAsString)	IS_ONLINE
InstanceInformation.agentVersion	AGENT_VERSION
InstanceInformation.computerName	COMPUTER_NAME
InstanceInformation.computerName (fallback instanceId, then the composite UID)	NAME
InstanceInformation.iamRole	IAM_ROLE
InstanceInformation.instanceId	INSTANCE_ID
InstanceInformation.ipAddress	IP_ADDRESSES
InstanceInformation.isLatestVersion	IS_LATEST_VERSION
InstanceInformation.lastPingDateTime	LAST_SEEN
InstanceInformation.pingStatusAsString	SOURCE_STATUS
InstanceInformation.pingStatusAsString	PING_STATUS
InstanceInformation.platformName	PLATFORM_NAME
InstanceInformation.platformName	OPERATING_SYSTEM
InstanceInformation.platformTypeAsString	PLATFORM_TYPE
InstanceInformation.platformVersion	PLATFORM_VERSION
InstanceInformation.resourceTypeAsString	RESOURCE_TYPE
region + : + InstanceInformation.instanceId	UID
sync region	REGION
sync timestamp	LAST_CAPTURED

Operations & API

Operations & API

Expand each connector object to see its operation options, delta-sync behavior, and the API it uses. See connector operation options for how to apply operation options (keys and values are case-sensitive).

SSM Managed Instance

Operation options

Option	Type	Default	Description
region / regions	Comma-separated list of regions to query (one client per region). regions takes precedence over region.	Resolved from configuration / region provider chain
pageSize	Requested page size; effective page size is min(pageSize, 50).	Shared pageSize configuration (100) → capped at 50
parallelismLevel	Number of parallel worker threads.	min(4, CPU cores)	No

Delta sync

Not supported. The connector performs a full sync of SSM Managed Instance on every run and applies no incremental date filter.

API

• Type: AWS SDK for Java v2 (SsmClient) · Endpoint: ssm:DescribeInstanceInformation

Changelog

Changelog

The Amazon SSM connector has undergone the following changes:

Version	Description	Migration Steps
3.2.3	New Features - Roles that require an External ID can now be used. A new optional External ID setting is sent when assuming the role named in the connector's Assume role setting, so roles whose trust policy enforces an ExternalId condition — the standard protection against cross-account confused-deputy access — can now be assumed. Existing configurations are unaffected: leave it blank and the role is assumed exactly as before. The connector's authentication documentation now also describes all three supported paths — assuming a role, running fully keyless from an EC2 instance profile or EKS IRSA role, and static access keys. Bug Fixes - The Parallel requests setting is now labeled on the configuration screen. The setting was shown without its proper name or help text. It now displays its label and description. The setting's behavior and default are unchanged.	N/A
3.2.2	No changes in this release.	N/A
3.2.1	No changes in this release.	N/A
3.2.0	No changes in this release.	N/A
3.1.0	New Features - New connector — syncs SSM-managed instances (a lateral-movement signal for blast-radius analysis). Improvements - Sync failures are now visible. Previously, certain AWS API errors (throttling, server errors, transient network failures, validation errors) could be silently swallowed during multi-region sync, producing empty results without indicating a problem. These now surface as sync failures with a clear log entry detailing the HTTP status, AWS error code, request id, and service name. Per-region permission gaps (HTTP 401 / 403) still allow the sync to continue across other regions, but are now visible in logs.	N/A