Transfer a file to EC2 SSM instance without using S3 (SSM only)

transfer_ssm_file.sh

# This script will explain how to transfer a file to EC2 using SSM ONLY!

# You will need to have permission to run SSM commands on the target machine and have sudo access as well

# Infos
INSTANCE_ID=i-1234567890
FILE_NAME=the_file.tar.gz

# Step 1: Run command on machine to install netcat and dump from port to filename
# < Start session
aws ssm start-session --target $INSTANCE_ID --document-name
# < (On target machine) :
cd && sudo yum install nc -y && sudo nc -l -p 1234 > the_file.tar.gz

# Step 2: On another shell, open a port-forwarding session from your machine to the target machine
aws ssm start-session --target $INSTANCE_ID --document-name AWS-StartPortForwardingSession --parameters '{"portNumber":["1234"],"localPortNumber":["1234"]}'

# Step 3: On yet another shell, cat the source file into the transfer port on localhost over the tunnel
nc -w 3 127.0.0.1 1234 < the_file.tar.gz

# Step 4: Once the command in step 3 finishes, close all of the other shell sessions. Your file should be on the target now.

Extremely helpful! Thank you for sharing.

Very helpful, thank you Luke ..

Thank helpful

Thanks for your script.
I wanted to download a file from the EC2 instance, so the commands are reversed somewhat.

Step 1: On EC2 instance dump from filename to port

nc -l 1234 < the_file.tar.gz

Step 2: On your machine open a shell, open a port-forwarding session from your machine to the target machine

aws ssm start-session --target $INSTANCE_ID --document-name AWS-StartPortForwardingSession --parameters '{"portNumber":["1234"],"localPortNumber":["1234"]}'

Step 3: On your machine open another shell, use nc to read the data over the tunnel and write to destination file

nc -w 3 localhost 1234 > the_file.tar.gz

Step 4: Once the command in step 3 finishes, close all of the other shell sessions. Your file should be on the destination now.