gossm

Once again on ThoughtWorks' TechRadar, I came across gossm which is a CLI tool to connect to ec2 instances via aws ssm session manager.

Connecting to EC2

There are two main ways to connect to an ec2 instance

• ssh from your local computer (open port 22 ingress on ec2)
• start session from aws ssm session manager

Why I like to use Session Manager

Using ssm Session Manager is favoured because

• No open inbound ports (port 22)
• No need to manage bastion hosts or SSH keys
• Can access from AWS console
• Centralized access control using IAM policies

Gossm

Gossm is a tool to allow you to capitalize on aws's session manager but done through your local computer instead.

Requirements

The demo gif does look pretty promising. Just that there are certain requirements, like having to export AWS_PROFILE (or set your AWS access token and secret key) with the correct permissions

• ec2:DescribeInstances
• ssm:StartSession
• ssm:DescribeInstanceInformation

The EC2 must have AmazonEC2RoleForSSM policy attached to it as well as the aws ssm agent version of at least 2.3.672.0.

All in all, it does seem like a cool tool to check out and use!