AWS SSH

Cli tool for connection to EC2 through session manager.

It's a wrapper TUI around AWS CLI tool, designed to simplify the process of connecting to your EC2 instances.

This tool leverages the AWS CLI and SSM plugin to provide a user-friendly interface for selecting and connecting to EC2 instances.

Before installing this tool:

This tool requires you to install AWS CLI tool and SSM plugin. Also make sure aws cli and ssm plugin are in your PATH. You can check if they are installed by running the following commands:

aws --version
session-manager-plugin --version

For installing, you may follow the link below:

Installing the AWS CLI

Installing the AWS SSM Plugin

Installation

You can download the latest release from the releases page. Move the binary to your PATH and make it executable.

chmod +x aws-ssh
mv aws-ssh /usr/local/bin/aws-ssh

On first run on MacOS, you need to allow the app to run in your security settings. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and click on Allow Anyway for the app.

Usage

aws-ssh [--profile|-p] [--region|-r] searchparam1 searchparam2 ...

This will launch a UI that lists all your EC2 instances. You can search and select the instance you wish to connect to. The tool will then initiate a connection using the AWS Session Manager.

Features

• Easy to use TUI for selecting EC2 instances
• Search functionality to quickly find your instances
• Connects to EC2 through AWS Session Manager for secure access

Region Configuration

Add regions key into sections in your .aws/credentials file to specify the regions you want to auto connect to (comma separated). If this key given in the configuration file, this tool automatically searches for instances in the specified regions. If you don't specify any regions, the tool will ask you to select a region when you run it. Example:

[default]
aws_access_key_id = YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
aws_secret_access_key = YOUR_SECRET_KEY
regions = us-east-1,us-west-2

Required AWS Permissions

To run this application, you need the following AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) permissions:

Minimum Required Permissions

1. Describe Instances:

   • ec2:DescribeInstances

2. SSM Session Start (for SSH commands via SSM):

   • ssm:StartSession

Example IAM Policy

Here’s an example of an IAM policy that grants the necessary permissions:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ec2:DescribeInstances",
        "ssm:StartSession"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Notes

• If you want to restrict access further, you can limit the Resource field to specific EC2 instances or tags.
• Ensure the IAM user or role also has permissions to use the AWS Systems Manager (SSM) agent if required for SSH sessions.
• SSM must be enabled for the EC2 instance to use this tool. Ensure that the instance has the necessary IAM role attached and the SSM agent is installed and running. You can follow the steps to enable SSM for your instance in the AWS documentation.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.