Automate SAP Application Server Patching — AWS Services

Quick Answer

Automating OS patching for SAP application servers on EC2 can be approached through more than one AWS service, which is why this question asks for three, not one. AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager is the most direct fit because it's purpose-built to automate the detection and application of OS-level patches across a fleet of instances on a defined schedule or compliance baseline, without requiring administrators to log into each server individually. AWS OpsWorks offers a different route to the same outcome: it's a configuration management service built around Chef or Puppet, so you can define custom recipes or manifests that not only apply OS and application patches but also enforce broader configuration consistency across the SAP infrastructure, which is useful when patching needs to be bundled with other configuration tasks rather than handled as a standalone process. The common thread between these tools is that both let you define patching as code or policy and then apply it repeatably and at scale, rather than relying on manual, server-by-server intervention, which is what automating the patching is really asking for. Recognizing that AWS offers multiple valid automation paths, a dedicated patch-management service and a general configuration-management service among them, is the broader skill being tested. When a question asks for several services that can achieve the same operational outcome, expect the answer set to mix a purpose-built AWS service with a more general infrastructure-automation tool that can be configured to do the same job.