Session Manager Plugin1.2.896.0

Use the Session Manager Plugin with the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) to start and end sessions with managed Amazon EC2 instances, on-premises instances, and virtual machines. It creates the WebSocket connection that carries the CLI session between your local machine and the managed instance.

Through AWS Systems Manager, the plugin provides secure, auditable access for administering nodes without opening inbound ports. Administrators and operations teams can use it for shell access and for port forwarding when managing infrastructure across cloud, on-premises, or virtualized environments. Optional plugin logging can also be enabled for session activity.

Using the plugin requires AWS CLI version 1.16.12 or later on the local machine. AWS supports installation on supported versions of Microsoft Windows Server, macOS, Linux, and Ubuntu Server; this Windows release uses x64 architecture. Amazon Web Services publishes Session Manager Plugin as open-source software.

Version 1.2.896.0 adds SSH-style escape sequences to shell sessions: type ~. to terminate a session or ~? to display help. It also fixes port-forwarding sessions that could silently stop after a WebSocket reconnection.