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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 9/17/2026
- 9/17/2026 - Install Java 21 on Splunk ITSI servers
- 9/20/2026 - Patch Splunk to version 10.2.7 - Splunk ADC/KDC
- 9/23/2026 - Marketplace SSM Patching - IMPL
- 9/23/2026 - MAG - Azure Update Manager Patching - PROD
- 9/23/2026 - GCP - VM Manager Patching - PROD
- 9/23/2026 - Azure Commercial - Azure Update Manager Patching - PROD
- 9/23/2026 - AWS Outpost SSM Patching - PROD
- 9/23/2026 - Non-marketplace PROD SSM Patching
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
9/26/2026 - 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 to v6.0.2.
- Upgrade Selenium Box Hub and Executors with the latest Amazon Linux 2023 Gold Image for CMS Cloud.
When is this happening?
Start time: Saturday, 9/26/2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET
End time: Saturday, 9/26/2026 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.
9/26/2026 - CMS Artifactory S3 Migration from Client-Side Encryption to Server-Side Encryption
Summary:
CMS will migrate the production Artifactory S3 binary store from Client-Side Encryption (CSE) to Server-Side Encryption with KMS (SSE-KMS) on September 26 and 27, 2026.
Actions we are taking:
During this time, CMS Cloud will be migrating the production Artifactory S3 binary store and, afterward, confirming success with an automated, post-migration verification. For more information, visit cloud.cms.gov.
When is this happening?
Start Time: Saturday, 9/26/2026 at 9:00 a.m. ET
End Time: Sunday, 9/27/2026 at 7:00 p.m. ET
Who will be impacted?
All Application Development Organizations
What is the impact?
Production Builds: This migration impacts any platform, including remote and virtual, that pulls from or pushes to the production Artifactory (artifactory.cloud.cms.gov). This includes:
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Jenkins/CloudBees
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GitHub Actions
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GitLab CI
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Azure DevOps
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Local developer builds
Everything listed above will be unavailable during the migration window. Teams should treat this window as a hard outage.
Non-Production (Dev) Builds: This migration does not impact non-production builds.
Benefits of the change:
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Reliability: Eliminates the client-side-encryption (CSE) failure mode that was behind the recent Artifactory outages.
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Cost: Lowers Key Management Service (KMS) costs via S3 Bucket Keys.
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Security: Maintains encryption at rest using SSE-KMS and provides a cleaner, AWS-managed encryption model.
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Modernization: Aligns with Jfrog's and AWS's current recommendations.
Need Help?
If you experience Artifactory access, artifact push/pull, or build issues after the migration, contact our support team via:
Marketplace Systems subject to these change guidelines: (For complete guidance click on the title)
DSH including the Hub, EDI, EFT, and ESDCU components, FFM including the EE, SES, IES, DSRS, Correspondence, MCR components, and supporting platform integrations for Mutual TLS, Shared Services, and Egress Network Firewall components, MIDAS, MNPS (Notice Generation), Access (SLS, SLSGW), Apply (Marketplace Eligibility Application (MEA / App 3.0) and 2.0 Codebase, Income Calculator), Accounts (My Account Evolution (MAEv), Accounts UI), API (MAPI, FLH API), Enroll (PC2, Window Shopping), ITT/CITSS (Performance testing restrictions during OE dates)
- October 31 – November 3: Teams can resume performance testing activities after 8:00 AM EST on November 3, 2026.
- December 11 – 16: Teams can resume performance testing activities after 8:00 AM EST on December 16, 2026.
- January 12 – 16: Teams can resume performance testing activities after 8:00 AM EST on January 16, 2027.
October 1, 2026, 12:00 AM - January 16, 2027, 5:00 AM – All the timings listed below are listed in until unless specified
October 1, 2026 – Start of change guideline period
October 4, 11, 18 – Available Maintenance Window (Sunday 12:00 AM – 12:00 PM)
- October 4, 2026, is also the Production patching date for the September (Victor) patching cycle - this will be the last patching prior to OE for 2027.
- October 2, 2026, is also planned FFE OE October release code deployment at midnight.
- October 23, 2026, is also planned FFE Pre OE October release code deployment at midnight.
October 24, 25, 31 – Non-Maintenance Weekend
- No planned down-time – all Marketplace systems should be available.
- No infrastructure changes should be implemented.
- ALL the Security Scans should be paused 10/30/2026, 8:00 PM – 11/2/2026, 8:00 PM.
October 31, 2026 – November 3, 2026: No performance testing will be permitted in the lower environments. Teams can resume performance testing activities after 8:00 AM on November 3, 2026
Development Teams working on the Marketplace under the Office of Communication (OC) should work with their CMS Product Managers and Program Managers on any development or infrastructure changes that would require downtime to deploy or update and any releases that impact teams outside of OC. If you have questions, please contact Tatum Walker or Syam Koganti.
November 1, 2026 – Non-Maintenance Weekend
- No planned down-time – all Marketplace systems should be available.
- No infrastructure changes should be implemented.
November 1, 2026 – First Day of Open Enrollment (Sunday)
- November 1, 2026 – Daylight Savings Time ends at 2:00 AM (Sunday). Clocks will move back one hour to 1:00 AM. Please account for this time change when planning deployments or maintenance during this window. SSA Services will be unavailable from 12:01 AM - 4:00 AM.
November 8, 15, 22, 29 – Available Maintenance Window (Sunday 12:00 AM – 12:00 PM)
- November 8, 2026 - Production patching date for the October (Xray) cycle, OS patch deployment applies to all systems except components of the systems subject to these guidelines that do not support zero-downtime.
December 6, 2026 – Available Maintenance Window (Sunday 12:00 AM – 12:00 PM)
- December 6, 2026 - Production patching date for the November (Yankee) cycle OS patch deployment applies to all systems except components of the systems subject to these guidelines that do not support zero-downtime.
December 11 – 16 - No performance testing will be permitted in the lower environments. Teams can resume performance testing activities after 8:00 AM on December 16, 2026
December 12 - 15 – High Volume/Maintenance Period – No Maintenance (Before the deadline for 1/1/2027 coverage which ends on 12/16/2026 at 5:00 AM due to Alaska/Hawaii Extension)
- No planned down-time – all Marketplace systems should be available.
- No infrastructure changes should be implemented.
- All the Security Scans should be paused 12/13/2026, 8:00 PM – 12/16/2026, 8:00 PM.
January 3, 2027 – Available Maintenance Window (Sunday 12:00 AM – 12:00 PM)
- January 3, 2027 - Production patching for the December (Zulu) cycle OS patch deployment applies to all systems except components of the systems subject to these guidelines that do not support zero-downtime.
January 9 - 16 – High Volume/Maintenance Period – No Maintenance (Before the deadline for 2/1/2027 coverage which ends on 1/16/2027 at 5:00 AM when OE Ends for the FFE due to Alaska/Hawaii Extension)
- No planned down-time – all Marketplace systems should be available.
- No infrastructure changes should be implemented.
- All the Security Scans should be paused 1/13/2027, 8:00 PM – 1/16/2027, 8:00 PM.
January 12 – 16: No performance testing will be permitted in the lower environments. Teams can resume performance testing activities after 8:00 AM on January 16, 2027.
- January 15 – Last Day of Open Enrollment. **
- January 16 (at 5:00 AM) – Open Enrollment closes; Last day of the change guideline period.
**Should CMS extend the Marketplace Open Enrollment period, the change guideline period may also be extended.**
Development Teams working on the Marketplace under the Office of Communication (OC) should work with their CMS Product Managers and Program Managers on any development or infrastructure changes that would require downtime to deploy or update and any releases that impact teams outside of OC. If you have questions, please contact Tatum Walker or Syam Koganti.
Please direct any questions or concerns to the MSI Release Management Team.
Email: E_MSI_Release_Management@bah.com MSI Environment/Release Management Slack Channel: https://app.slack.com/client/TGYJGRB1T/CH7679KCH
Open Enrollment PDF details: Here
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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