• 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).
# Manually installing SSM Agent on Debian Server instances
The Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) for Debian Server that are provided by AWS do not come with AWS Systems Manager Agent (SSM Agent) preinstalled by default. For a list of AWS managed AMIs on which the agent might be preinstalled, see [Find AMIs with the SSM Agent preinstalled](ami-preinstalled-agent.md).
Use the information in this section to help you manually install or reinstall SSM Agent on a Debian Server instance.
**Before you begin**
Before you install SSM Agent on a Debian Server instance, note the following:
+ For important information that applies to installation of SSM Agent on all Linux-based operating systems, see [Manually installing and uninstalling SSM Agent on EC2 instances for Linux](manually-install-ssm-agent-linux.md).
**Topics**
+ [Quick installation commands for SSM Agent on Debian Server](#quick-install-debian)
+ [Create custom agent installation commands for Debian Server in your Region](#custom-url-debian)
## Quick installation commands for SSM Agent on Debian Server
Use the following steps to manually install SSM Agent on a single instance. This procedure uses globally available installation files.
**To install SSM Agent on Debian Server**
1. Connect to your Debian Server instance using your preferred method, such as SSH.
1. Run the following command to create a temporary directory on the instance.
```
mkdir /tmp/ssm
```
1. Run the following command to change to the temporary directory.
```
cd /tmp/ssm
```
1. Copy the command for your instance’s architecture and run it on the instance.
**Note**
Even though URLs in the following commands include an `ec2-downloads-windows` directory, these are the correct global installation files for Debian Server.
For Debian Server 8, only the x86\$164 architecture is supported.
x86\$164 instances
```
wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/SSMAgent/latest/debian_amd64/amazon-ssm-agent.deb
```
ARM64 instances
```
wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/SSMAgent/latest/debian_arm64/amazon-ssm-agent.deb
```
1. Run the following command.
```
sudo dpkg -i amazon-ssm-agent.deb
```
1. (Recommended) Run the following command to verify that the agent is running.
```
sudo systemctl status amazon-ssm-agent
```
In most cases, the command reports that the agent is running, as shown in the following example.
```
● amazon-ssm-agent.service - amazon-ssm-agent
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/amazon-ssm-agent.service; enabled; vendor
Active: active (running) since Tue 2025-04-19 16:25:03 UTC; 4s ago
Main PID: 628 (amazon-ssm-agen)
CGroup: /system.slice/amazon-ssm-agent.service
├─628 /usr/bin/amazon-ssm-agent
└─650 /usr/bin/ssm-agent-worker
--truncated--
```
In rare cases, the command reports that the agent is installed but not running, as shown in the following example.
```
● amazon-ssm-agent.service - amazon-ssm-agent
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/amazon-ssm-agent.service; enabled; vendor
Active: inactive (dead) since Tue 2025-04-19 16:26:30 UTC; 5s ago
Main PID: 628 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
--truncated--
```
To activate the agent in these cases, run the following commands.
```
sudo systemctl enable amazon-ssm-agent
```
```
sudo systemctl start amazon-ssm-agent
```
## Create custom agent installation commands for Debian Server in your Region
When you install SSM Agent on multiple instances using a script or template, we recommend using installation files that are stored in the AWS Region you're working in.
For the following commands, we provide examples that use a publicly accessible S3 bucket in the US East (Ohio) Region (`us-east-2`).
**Tip**
You can also replace a global URL in the procedure [Quick installation commands for SSM Agent on Debian Server](#quick-install-debian) earlier in this topic with a custom Regional URL you construct.
In the following command, replace *region* with your own information. For a list of supported *region* values, see the **Region** column in [Systems Manager service endpoints](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/ssm.html#ssm_region) in the *Amazon Web Services General Reference*.
x86\$164
```
wget https://s3.region.amazonaws.com/amazon-ssm-region/latest/debian_amd64/amazon-ssm-agent.deb
```
```
sudo dpkg -i amazon-ssm-agent.deb
```
See the following example.
```
wget https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-ssm-us-east-2/latest/debian_amd64/amazon-ssm-agent.deb
```
```
sudo dpkg -i amazon-ssm-agent.deb
```
ARM64
```
wget https://s3.region.amazonaws.com/amazon-ssm-region/latest/debian_arm64/amazon-ssm-agent.deb
```
```
sudo dpkg -i amazon-ssm-agent.deb
```
See the following example.
```
wget https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-ssm-us-east-2/latest/debian_arm64/amazon-ssm-agent.deb
```
```
sudo dpkg -i amazon-ssm-agent.deb
```