The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hybrid Cloud Team announces the following CMS Gold Image (GI) updates for March 2026:
March 2026 GI Updates
Transition from Windows 2016 (WIN2016) to Windows 2022 (WIN2022) before May 1, 2026
- Please work with your CMS Hosting Coordinator to schedule, track, and decommission all WIN2016 instances and migrate to WIN2022 before Friday, May 1, 2026.
- For more information, refer to:
Aging GI Clean-Up
The GI Team released a clean-up script to eliminate all Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) over a year old in February 2026. Only AMIs less than a year old are currently available.
Azure Commercial GIs Available in May 2026
Azure Commercial GIs for Windows 2019 (WIN2019), WIN2022, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8, and RHEL 9 will be available in May 2026.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) GI Consolidation on September 1, 2026
- The GI Team will consolidate AWS GIs on Tuesday, September 1, 2026. This will ensure that the Legacy Architecture systems will use the same images as the other accounts in AWS.
- You will receive more information before the change. If your application is part of the Legacy Architecture and you would like to volunteer as an early adopter, please email CMSCloudSecOps-GI@cms.hhs.gov to confirm that the consolidated GI will work seamlessly for your application.
Amazon Linux 2023 (AL2023) Advanced Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) Machine (ARM) GI Now Available in AWS Commercial and AWS GovCloud
- Application Delivery Organization (ADO) teams can now use the regular AL2023 GI or the ARM instance for potential cost savings (20%–40% of the cost of your Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instance).
- The Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)-optimized version is now available.
Amazon Linux 2 (AL2) End-of-Life (EOL)
The deadline to decommission all AL2 instances was March 1, 2026. All ADOs should have transitioned off of AL2 unless they have received an approved extension from the Security Operations (SecOps) Team.
Gold Image Accessibility
CMS GI availability is based on each team's details in the Hybrid Cloud Customer Relationship Management Database (HC CRM DB), which will replace the Customer Automation and Management Platform (CAMP). If your team wants to request a new CMS GI, please open a Hybrid Cloud support ticket and contact your assigned Hosting Coordinator.
For more information about CMS GIs, please review the available Gold Image documentation.
Questions or Concerns
For questions or concerns, please contact your assigned Hosting Coordinator or submit a Hybrid Cloud support ticket.
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