

# learning sessions standard amis updates 20231205 160324 meeting recording 2

## Standard AMI Updates and Overview

The session provides a high-level overview and updates regarding Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). The standard AMIs are based on AWS AMIs but include OS hardening, the latest patches, and security updates. These AMIs also support domain joining, security tools, endpoint protection, access integration, a QALIS agent, SSM agent, DNS settings, Microsoft Edge for Windows AMIs, and GP3 EBS storage.

The AMIs are built, tested, and shared to all AWS accounts every two months, and are immediately available as private AMIs. Currently, 23 different AMIs are supported, including various versions of Amazon Linux, CentOS, Oracle Enterprise Linux, Red Hat, Rocky Linux, SUSE Linux, Ubuntu, and Windows servers. The latest three releases are available in 12 regions, and older AMIs are archived for 12 months.

The AMI release process follows a standard software release process, with changes developed on feature branches and merged into an integration branch. Jenkins multi-branch pipelines are used for building and testing the AMIs, including scripted tests and AWS Inspector. The publishing process involves copying the AMIs to different regions and sharing them to multiple organizations, with encryption and automatic creation of necessary grants. *The AMIs are then thrown through all of the test suites, and we'll see a couple of those as they come up in later slides, and then we verify that nothing seems to have regressed at that point.*

## Roadmap, Notifications, and End-of-Life

The current roadmap includes a future release of Amazon Linux 2023, X64, planned for January. New AMI requests must go through the demand pipeline and take approximately 60 days to release. AMI notifications are sent out with each release, including links to relevant documents and the portal. A change log is available in the portal, detailing the changes included in each release.

Several operating systems are reaching end-of-life, including CentOS 7 and Red Hat 7 in June 2024. *CentOS 7 will be replaced by Rocky Linux, which is already available as a standard AMI.* OpenSUSE Leap 15 and OEL 7 will reach end-of-life in December 2024.

## New Features and Validation

New features are injected into the release cycles based on various inputs, such as the migration from Trellix to Sentinel-1. The AMIs are designed to work across multiple landing zones and domain controller environments. The new landing zone uses secrets instead of parameter stores, and all automations now use cloud-based init. AMI utilization is monitored to track how frequently and how many AMIs are being used.

A robotic framework has been integrated to automate basic test cases and validations, reducing the validation time for one AMI from three-four days to 60 minutes. An SSM patching solution is available for long-running instances that cannot be refreshed frequently. The AMIs are validated and tested according to the highest security standards, with penetration testing conducted periodically.
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