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.

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.