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Moving from SSH to AWS SSM: Secure Server Access Without Keys

B
Bishal Bhattarai
January 27, 2026
1 min read
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Moving from SSH to AWS SSM: Secure Server Access Without Keys

SSH works — but it’s not the future.

AWS SSM Session Manager removes:

  • open SSH ports
  • key management
  • bastion servers

What AWS SSM is

SSM allows you to:

  • access servers via AWS IAM
  • without SSH
  • without keys

Everything is logged.

How access works

  1. Instance has SSM agent
  2. IAM role allows session access
  3. You connect via AWS CLI or console

No inbound ports required.

Why SSM is safer than SSH

  • No port 22 exposed
  • No key leakage
  • Full audit logs
  • IAM-based access control

When SSH is still needed

  • legacy systems
  • non-AWS environments
  • Git deploy keys

SSM replaces human access, not Git.

  • SSM for admin access
  • SSH only for automation
  • Lock down port 22

Final thought

SSH isn’t bad.

But IAM-based access is better.

aws
ssm
ssh
security
devops

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