• The AWS Systems Manager CloudWatch Dashboard will no longer be available after April 30, 2026. Customers can continue to use Amazon CloudWatch console to view, create, and manage their Amazon CloudWatch dashboards, just as they do today. For more information, see [Amazon CloudWatch Dashboard documentation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/CloudWatch_Dashboards.html).
# Create OpsItems manually
When you find an operational issue, you can manually create an OpsItem from OpsCenter, a tool in AWS Systems Manager, to manage and resolve the issue.
If you set up OpsCenter for cross-account administration, a Systems Manager delegated administrator or AWS Organizations management account can create OpsItems for member accounts. For more information, see [(Optional) Manually set up OpsCenter to centrally manage OpsItems across accounts](OpsCenter-getting-started-multiple-accounts.md).
You can create OpsItems by using the AWS Systems Manager console, the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI), or AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell.
**Topics**
+ [Creating OpsItems manually (console)](OpsCenter-creating-OpsItems-console.md)
+ [Creating OpsItems manually (AWS CLI)](OpsCenter-creating-OpsItems-CLI.md)
+ [Creating OpsItems manually (PowerShell)](OpsCenter-creating-OpsItems-Powershell.md)
# Creating OpsItems manually (console)
You can manually create OpsItems using the AWS Systems Manager console. When you create an OpsItem, it's displayed in your OpsCenter account. If you set up OpsCenter for cross-account administration, OpsCenter provides the delegated administrator or management account with the option to create OpsItems for selected member accounts. For more information, see [(Optional) Manually set up OpsCenter to centrally manage OpsItems across accounts](OpsCenter-getting-started-multiple-accounts.md).
**To create an OpsItem using the AWS Systems Manager console**
1. Open the AWS Systems Manager console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/).
1. In the navigation pane, choose **OpsCenter**.
1. Choose **Create OpsItem**. If you don't see this button, choose the **OpsItems** tab, and then choose **Create OpsItem**.
1. (Optional) Choose **Other account**, and then choose the account where you want to create the OpsItem.
**Note**
This step is required if you're creating OpsItems for a member account.
1. For **Title**, enter a descriptive name to help you understand the purpose of the OpsItem.
1. For **Source**, enter the type of impacted AWS resource or other source information to help users understand the origin of the OpsItem.
**Note**
You can't edit the **Source** field after you create the OpsItem.
1. (Optional) For **Priority**, choose the priority level.
1. (Optional) For **Severity**, choose the severity level.
1. (Optional) For **Category**, choose a category.
1. For **Description**, enter information about this OpsItem including (if applicable) steps for reproducing the issue.
**Note**
The console supports most markdown formatting in the OpsItem description field. For more information, see [Using Markdown in the Console](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awsconsolehelpdocs/latest/gsg/aws-markdown.html) in the *Getting Started with the AWS Management Console Getting Started Guide.*
1. For **Deduplication string**, enter words that the system can use to check for duplicate OpsItems. For more information about deduplication strings, see [Managing duplicate OpsItems](OpsCenter-working-deduplication.md).
1. (Optional) For **Notifications**, specify the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the Amazon SNS topic where you want notifications sent when this OpsItem is updated. You must specify an Amazon SNS ARN that is in the same AWS Region as the OpsItem.
1. (Optional) For **Related resources**, choose **Add** to specify the ID or ARN of the impacted resource and any related resources.
1. Choose **Create OpsItem**.
If successful, the page displays the OpsItem. When a delegated administrator or management account creates an OpsItem for selected member accounts, the new OpsItems are displayed in the OpsCenter of the administrator and members accounts. For information about how to configure the options in an OpsItem, see [Manage OpsItems](OpsCenter-working-with-OpsItems.md).
# Creating OpsItems manually (AWS CLI)
The following procedure describes how to create an OpsItem by using the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI).
**To create an OpsItem using the AWS CLI**
1. Install and configure the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI), if you haven't already.
For information, see [Installing or updating the latest version of the AWS CLI](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html).
1. Open the AWS CLI and run the following command to create an OpsItem. Replace each *example resource placeholder* with your own information.
```
aws ssm create-ops-item \
--title "Descriptive_title" \
--description "Information_about_the_issue" \
--priority Number_between_1_and_5 \
--source Source_of_the_issue \
--operational-data Up_to_20_KB_of_data_or_path_to_JSON_file \
--notifications Arn="SNS_ARN_in_same_Region" \
--tags "Key=key_name,Value=a_value"
```
**Specify operational data from a file**
When you create an OpsItem, you can specify operational data from a file. The file must be a JSON file, and the contents of the file must use the following format.
```
{
"key_name": {
"Type": "SearchableString",
"Value": "Up to 20 KB of data"
}
}
```
Here is an example.
```
aws ssm create-ops-item ^
--title "EC2 instance disk full" ^
--description "Log clean up may have failed which caused the disk to be full" ^
--priority 2 ^
--source ec2 ^
--operational-data file:///Users/TestUser1/Desktop/OpsItems/opsData.json ^
--notifications Arn="arn:aws:sns:us-west-1:12345678:TestUser1" ^
--tags "Key=EC2,Value=Production"
```
**Note**
For information about how to enter JSON-formatted parameters on the command line on different local operating systems, see [Using quotation marks with strings in the AWS CLI](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-usage-parameters-quoting-strings.html) in the *AWS Command Line Interface User Guide*.
The system returns information like the following.
```
{
"OpsItemId": "oi-1a2b3c4d5e6f"
}
```
1. Run the following command to view details about the OpsItem that you created.
```
aws ssm get-ops-item --ops-item-id ID
```
The system returns information like the following.
```
{
"OpsItem": {
"CreatedBy": "arn:aws:iam::12345678:user/TestUser",
"CreatedTime": 1558386334.995,
"Description": "Log clean up may have failed which caused the disk to be full",
"LastModifiedBy": "arn:aws:iam::12345678:user/TestUser",
"LastModifiedTime": 1558386334.995,
"Notifications": [
{
"Arn": "arn:aws:sns:us-west-1:12345678:TestUser"
}
],
"Priority": 2,
"RelatedOpsItems": [],
"Status": "Open",
"OpsItemId": "oi-1a2b3c4d5e6f",
"Title": "EC2 instance disk full",
"Source": "ec2",
"OperationalData": {
"EC2": {
"Value": "12345",
"Type": "SearchableString"
}
}
}
}
```
1. Run the following command to update the OpsItem. This command changes the status from `Open` (the default) to `InProgress`.
```
aws ssm update-ops-item --ops-item-id ID --status InProgress
```
The command has no output.
1. Run the following command again to verify that the status changed to `InProgress`.
```
aws ssm get-ops-item --ops-item-id ID
```
## Examples of creating an OpsItem
The following code examples show you how to create an OpsItem by using the Linux management portal, macOS, or Windows Server.
**Linux management portal or macOS**
The following command creates an OpsItem when an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance disk is full.
```
aws ssm create-ops-item \
--title "EC2 instance disk full" \
--description "Log clean up may have failed which caused the disk to be full" \
--priority 2 \
--source ec2 \
--operational-data '{"EC2":{"Value":"12345","Type":"SearchableString"}}' \
--notifications Arn="arn:aws:sns:us-west-1:12345678:TestUser1" \
--tags "Key=EC2,Value=ProductionServers"
```
The following command uses the `/aws/resources` key in `OperationalData` to create an OpsItem with an Amazon DynamoDB related resource.
```
aws ssm create-ops-item \
--title "EC2 instance disk full" \
--description "Log clean up may have failed which caused the disk to be full" \
--priority 2 \
--source ec2 \
--operational-data '{"/aws/resources":{"Value":"[{\"arn\": \"arn:aws:dynamodb:us-west-2:12345678:table/OpsItems\"}]","Type":"SearchableString"}}' \
--notifications Arn="arn:aws:sns:us-west-2:12345678:TestUser"
```
The following command uses the `/aws/automations` key in `OperationalData` to create an OpsItem that specifies the `AWS-ASGEnterStandby` document as an associated Automation runbook.
```
aws ssm create-ops-item \
--title "EC2 instance disk full" \
--description "Log clean up may have failed which caused the disk to be full" \
--priority 2 \
--source ec2 \
--operational-data '{"/aws/automations":{"Value":"[{\"automationId\": \"AWS-ASGEnterStandby\", \"automationType\": \"AWS::SSM::Automation\"}]","Type":"SearchableString"}}' \
--notifications Arn="arn:aws:sns:us-west-2:12345678:TestUser"
```
**Windows**
The following command creates an OpsItem when an Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) instance is not responding.
```
aws ssm create-ops-item ^
--title "RDS instance not responding" ^
--description "RDS instance not responding to ping" ^
--priority 1 ^
--source RDS ^
--operational-data={\"RDS\":{\"Value\":\"abcd\",\"Type\":\"SearchableString\"}} ^
--notifications Arn="arn:aws:sns:us-west-1:12345678:TestUser1" ^
--tags "Key=RDS,Value=ProductionServers"
```
The following command uses the `/aws/resources` key in `OperationalData` to create an OpsItem with an Amazon EC2 instance related resource.
```
aws ssm create-ops-item ^
--title "EC2 instance disk full" ^
--description "Log clean up may have failed which caused the disk to be full" ^
--priority 2 ^
--source ec2 ^
--operational-data={\"/aws/resources\":{\"Value\":\"[{\\"""arn\\""":\\"""arn:aws:ec2:us-east-1:123456789012:instance/i-1234567890abcdef0\\"""}]\",\"Type\":\"SearchableString\"}}
```
The following command uses the `/aws/automations` key in `OperationalData` to create an OpsItem that specifies the `AWS-RestartEC2Instance` runbook as an associated Automation runbook.
```
aws ssm create-ops-item ^
--title "EC2 instance disk full" ^
--description "Log clean up may have failed which caused the disk to be full" ^
--priority 2 ^
--source ec2 ^
--operational-data={\"/aws/automations\":{\"Value\":\"[{\\"""automationId\\""":\\"""AWS-RestartEC2Instance\\”"",\\"""automationType\\""":\\"""AWS::SSM::Automation\\"""}]\",\"Type\":\"SearchableString\"}}
```
# Creating OpsItems manually (PowerShell)
The following procedure describes how to create an OpsItem by using AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell.
**To create an OpsItem using AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell**
1. Open AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell and run the following command to specify your credentials.
```
Set-AWSCredentials –AccessKey key-name –SecretKey key-name
```
1. Run the following command to set the AWS Region for your PowerShell session.
```
Set-DefaultAWSRegion -Region Region
```
1. Run the following command to create a new OpsItem. Replace each *example resource placeholder* with your own information. This command specifies a Systems Manager Automation runbook for remediating this OpsItem.
```
$opsItem = New-Object Amazon.SimpleSystemsManagement.Model.OpsItemDataValue
$opsItem.Type = [Amazon.SimpleSystemsManagement.OpsItemDataType]::SearchableString
$opsItem.Value = '[{\"automationId\":\"runbook_name\",\"automationType\":\"AWS::SSM::Automation\"}]'
$newHash = @{" /aws/automations"=[Amazon.SimpleSystemsManagement.Model.OpsItemDataValue]$opsItem}
New-SSMOpsItem `
-Title "title" `
-Description "description" `
-Priority priority_number `
-Source AWS_service `
-OperationalData $newHash
```
If successful, the command outputs the ID of the new OpsItem.
The following example specifies the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of an impaired Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance.
```
$opsItem = New-Object Amazon.SimpleSystemsManagement.Model.OpsItemDataValue
$opsItem.Type = [Amazon.SimpleSystemsManagement.OpsItemDataType]::SearchableString
$opsItem.Value = '[{\"arn\":\"arn:aws:ec2:us-east-1:123456789012:instance/i-1234567890abcdef0\"}]'
$newHash = @{" /aws/resources"=[Amazon.SimpleSystemsManagement.Model.OpsItemDataValue]$opsItem}
New-SSMOpsItem -Title "EC2 instance disk full still" -Description "Log clean up may have failed which caused the disk to be full" -Priority 2 -Source ec2 -OperationalData $newHash
```