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Each week, the CMS Hybrid Cloud program provides a list of upcoming changes, maintenance windows, and updates to help customers build awareness and plan effectively and summarizes changes from the previous week.
This newsletter includes:
Completed change summary for the week of 8/20/2026
- 8/26/2026 - Marketplace SSM Patching - IMPL
- 8/26/2026 - Non-marketplace SSM Patching - PROD
- 8/26/2026 - GCP - VM Manager Patching - PROD
- 8/26/2026 - MAG - Azure Update Manager Patching - PROD
- 8/26/2026 - Azure Commercial - Azure Update Manager Patching - PROD
- 8/26/2026 - AWS Outpost SSM Patching - PROD
To learn details about previous changes please go to the News and Updates section on cloud.cms.gov. (Secure Access required)
For Patching and Gold Image release schedule please view: Patching and Gold Image Release Calendar - 2026
AWS Patch Tag Naming Update
*Update on patch tag naming after new finding. No space or _ to be used.
Beginning July, AWS team converted patch tags naming from
· Patch Group to PatchGroup
· Patch Window to PatchWindow
The tag name change in AWS will "Allow tags in metadata" setting to be enabled on instances, to align with the system requirement and avoid metadata-related issues. The updated tag format will be used going forward.
The patching team completed all ITC changes according to the following schedule:
· Lower Environments: July 20-21, 2026 (Completed)
· Production: July 29, 2026 (Completed)
· Marketplace Production: August 9, 2026 (Completed)
As this is a behavioral change in the patching process, Technical Advisors are requested to coordinate with their respective ADOs and hosting coordinators to ensure the new tag format is updated and adopted in all future deployments. This change is specific to AWS patches only.
Please contact Enterprise Patching Team for questions / concerns.
8/28/2026 - Splunk GovCloud Upgrade
Summary:
CMS Enterprise Splunk team will upgrade our current Splunk version from 10.2.5 to 10.2.7 to remediate vulnerabilities.
Actions we are taking:
Splunk Gov cloud upgrade - version from 10.2.5 to 10.2.7
When is this happening?
- Start Time: Friday, 8/28/2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET
- End Time: Friday, 8/28/2026 at 11:00 p.m. ET
Who will be impacted?
CCIC search heads peered to the Splunk environment.
What is the impact?
No impact as there is blue/green deployment. There will be no impact on dashboards during cutover. We have a blue/green deployment where we have similar cluster in each deployment. This configuration makes the cluster available until cutover and once cutover is done, the new deployment will be available. Currently we are on green deployment and the new one will be blue deployment.
8/29/2026 - Enterprise Testing Services Maintenance
Summary:
In order to stay up to date with the latest versions and security advisories, the CMS Hybrid Cloud team will be performing maintenance updates on Enterprise Testing tools.
Actions we are taking:
- Upgrade Selenium Box Hub and Executors with the latest Amazon Linux 2023 Gold Image for CMS Cloud
When is this happening?
Start time: Saturday, 8/29/2026 at 9:00 a.m. ET
End time: Saturday, 8/29/2026 at 11:59 a.m. ET
Who will be impacted?
All AWS Commercial and GovCloud customers of Selenium Box.
What is the impact?
Customers should expect downtime for the service as instances are restarted within the maintenance window.
8/29/2026 - Downscale Splunk Prod Indexers from 66 to 39
Summary:
The Logging Services team will scale down Splunk indexers from 66 to 39.
Actions we are taking:
- Downscaling Splunk indexers using IAC
When is this happening?
Start Time: Saturday, 8/29/2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET
End Time: Sunday, 8/30/2026 at 6:00 p.m. ET
Who will be impacted?
DRaaS ITSI, MITG MSI may have performance impacts when the Cloud Splunk indexers are being downscaled. Also, CCIC search heads peered to the Splunk environment might be impacted.
What is the impact?
There may be latency in adhoc searches that are performed by customers. Dashboards may also render slowly and have incomplete data while the changes are being propagated.
8/29/2026 - Enterprise TestRail upgrade to version 10.6.2
Summary:
Enterprise Agile Tools team will upgrade Enterprise TestRail, and the system will be unavailable during the maintenance window specified below.
Actions we are taking:
- Enterprise TestRail will be upgraded to 10.6.2 version
When is this happening?
Start Time: Saturday, 8/29/2026 at 7:00 a.m. ET
End Time: Saturday, 8/29/2026 at 3:00 p.m. ET
Who will be impacted?
All Enterprise TestRail Users.
What is the impact?
Enterprise TestRail (https://testrailent.cms.gov/) production instance will be unavailable during the maintenance window outlined above.
Additional Info:
- Automatically closes inactive test runs and archives historical test plans to help maintain optimal performance in large TestRail instances.
- Enhanced reporting, dashboard, and analytics capabilities provide better visibility into testing progress and quality metrics.
- Improved user experience and navigation for a more streamlined workflow.
- Performance optimizations deliver faster load times, particularly for large projects and datasets.
Questions:
For general questions about the tool and this upgrade, please email CMS Agile Tools Support at AGILETOOLS@cms.hhs.gov
8/30/2026 - Marketplace SSM Patching - Prod
Summary:
As part of our normal patching, the CMS Hybrid Cloud team will apply the latest Windows and Linux patches on Sunday, 8/30/2026 at 12:00 a.m. ET. The week's patches will impact the PROD environment for the affected Marketplace applications noted below.
Actions we are taking:
- Marketplace PROD
- SSM Linux & Windows Vulnerability Patching
When is this happening?
Start Time: Sunday, 8/30/2026 at 12:00 a.m. ET
End Time: Sunday, 8/30/2026 at 4:00 a.m. ET
Who will be impacted?
FFM_Opera, VAMS, TWS, XES - XOC Tools, SERVIS, FFM_Shared_Services, FFM MLMS, XES - MSI Tech Lab, FFM_FM, FFM_TWS, XES - Service Virtualization
DSRS, FFM, FFM DSH, FFM EDI, FFM EFT, FFM ESDCU, MCR, FLH, OC Base- FLH, OC Base PET, FFM_MNPS, CMS Cloud - Advanced Monitoring
What is the impact?
Patches will be applied to the affected systems. For some customers, reboots may occur depending upon the tags applied.
Need help? We are here to support you.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to your assigned Hosting Coordinator. CMS IT Support can be reached via cloudsupport@cms.hhs.gov, or call (800) 562-1963, and is documented here at Support Page on cloud.cms.gov.
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