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Choosing parameter tiers in Parameter Store - AWS Systems Manager
Standard and advanced parameter tiersDefault tier and individual parameter tier settingsViewing parameter tier settingsLimitations on changing tiers for individual parameters

Choosing parameter tiers in Parameter Store

To control parameter storage attributes, Parameter Store includes standard parameters and advanced parameters. You configure each parameter individually for an account and Region. The parameter tier determines the maximum size of a parameter value, the number of parameters in a specific tier that you can create, whether you can use parameter policies, and whether charges apply.

Parameter tiers are different from parameter throughput. Tiers control parameter storage attributes, whereas throughput controls request rate.

Standard and advanced parameter tiers

The following table describes the differences between the tiers.

The following table describes the differences between parameter tiers.

Feature or use case Standard Advanced

Use case

Best for most configuration data and low-scale workloads. This is the default.

Best when you need higher limits, larger values, or parameter policies.

Maximum parameters

(per AWS account and AWS Region)

10,000

100,000

Maximum value size

4 KB

8 KB

Parameter policies

Not supported

Supported

For more information, see Assigning parameter policies in Parameter Store.

Shareability across AWS accounts

Not supported

Supported

For more information, see Working with shared parameters in Parameter Store.

Upgrade and downgrade capability

Upgradeable

Not downgradeable

Cost

No additional charge

Charges apply

For more information, see AWS Systems Manager Pricing for Parameter Store.

For a complete list of Parameter Store quotas and limits, see AWS Systems Manager endpoints and quotas in the AWS General Reference.

Default tier and individual parameter tier settings

Parameter Store supports the following related settings:

  • Default parameter tier for your AWS account and Region

    This setting controls what tier Parameter Store uses when you create a new parameter and don’t explicitly specify a tier. You can set the default to Standard, Advanced, or Intelligent-Tiering.

  • Tier for an individual parameter

    You can specify the tier when you create or update an individual parameter. You can change a standard parameter to an advanced parameter, but you can't change an advanced parameter to a standard parameter.

The default parameter tier is separate from the tier of an individual parameter. Changing the default parameter tier affects only new parameters that you create without specifying a tier. Existing parameters aren't affected.

Viewing parameter tier settings

You can view the default tier setting for your AWS account and Region, and the tier setting for each individual parameter.

View the default parameter tier

To view the default parameter tier for your AWS account and Region, use the action. The following example retrieves the default parameter tier.

aws ssm get-service-setting \
    --region us-east-1 \
    --setting-id arn:aws:ssm:us-east-1:111122223333:servicesetting/ssm/parameter-store/default-parameter-tier

The following example shows sample output.

{
    "ServiceSetting": {
        "SettingId": "/ssm/parameter-store/default-parameter-tier",
        "SettingValue": "Standard",
        "Status": "Default"
    }
}

View the tier for a specific parameter

To view the tier for a specific parameter, use the action. The following example returns the tier of parameter /myapp/dev/log-level.

aws ssm describe-parameters \
    --region us-east-1 \
    --parameter-filters "Key=Name,Option=Equals,Values=/myapp/dev/log-level" \
    --query "Parameters[0].Tier" \
    --output text

The command returns the parameter tier, such as Standard or Advanced.

Topics

Limitations on changing tiers for individual parameters

You can change a standard parameter to an advanced parameter at any time. You can't change an advanced parameter to a standard parameter for the following reasons:

  • Changing the parameter to the standard tier would truncate the parameter value from 8 KB to 4 KB, resulting in data loss.

  • Changing the parameter to the standard tier would remove any policies attached to the parameter.

  • Advanced and standard parameters use a different form of encryption.

If you no longer need an advanced parameter, or if you no longer want to incur charges for an advanced parameter, delete it and recreate it as a new standard parameter.

The default parameter tier is a separate setting. You can change the default parameter tier for an AWS account and Region from Standard to Advanced, and then change it back to Standard. The default tier setting affects only new parameters that you create without specifying a tier. Existing parameters aren't affected.

For example, you can create parameters while the default tier is Standard, and then set the default parameter tier to Advanced. New parameters that you create without specifying a tier use the Advanced tier. You can later change the default tier back to Standard without changing the tier of existing parameters.

Advanced parameters incur charges. For more information, see AWS Systems Manager Pricing for Parameter Store.