AWS Logging Best Practices for Effective Monitoring

Checking logs in AWS is essential for monitoring, troubleshooting, and auditing your cloud environment. AWS offers services like CloudWatch and AWS CloudTrail to help manage and analyze logs. Here are AWS logging best practices.

Table of contents

1. AWS logging and monitoring tools
   1. CloudWatch Logs
2. Cloudwatch in 60 Minutes
   1. AWS CloudTrail
   2. Viewing CloudWatch Logs
   3. Viewing CloudTrail Logs
   4. Automate and Monitor

AWS logging and monitoring tools

CloudWatch Logs

1. Navigate to CloudWatch Console
   • Go to the AWS Management Console.
   • Type “CloudWatch” in the search bar and select it.
2. Create Log Groups
   • In the CloudWatch console, select Logs from the navigation pane.
   • Click Create log group and provide a name for the log group.
   • Log groups help organize and manage logs for various applications or services.
3. Configure Log Streams
   • Within the log group, create a log stream to categorize logs further. For example, create separate streams for different instances or applications.
4. Install and Configure the CloudWatch Agent (if needed)
   • Install the CloudWatch Logs agent on your EC2 instances or servers.
   • Configure the agent to send logs to CloudWatch Logs. You can use the awslogs configuration file or the CloudWatch Agent Configuration Wizard.
5. Set Up Log Retention Policies
   • Configure how long logs should be retained in CloudWatch Logs.
   • Go to the Log Groups section, select your log group, and then choose Actions > Edit Retention to set the desired retention period.

AWS CloudTrail

1. Navigate to CloudTrail Console
   • Go to the AWS Management Console.
   • Search for “CloudTrail” and select it.
2. Create a Trail
   • Select Trails from the navigation pane.
   • Click Create trail to set up a new trail.
   • Name your trail and specify whether you want it to apply to all regions or specific ones.
3. Specify an S3 Bucket
   • Choose an S3 bucket to store CloudTrail logs.
   • CloudTrail logs will be delivered to this bucket, so ensure that you have the necessary permissions and bucket policies in place.
4. Configure Log File Integrity Validation
   • Optionally, enable log file integrity validation to ensure that log files have not been tampered with.
5. Set Up SNS Notifications (optional)
   • You can configure Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service) to send notifications when new logs are delivered to your S3 bucket.
6. View and Analyze Logs

Viewing CloudWatch Logs

1. Access Log Groups and Log Streams
   • In the CloudWatch console, go to Logs > Log Groups.
   • Select the log group and then the log stream you want to view.
2. Search and Filter Logs
   • Use the search functionality to find specific log events or patterns.
   • Apply filters to narrow the logs based on criteria such as time range, keywords, or log levels.
3. Create Metric Filters (Optional)
   • Create metric filters to convert log data into CloudWatch metrics.
   • This allows you to set up alarms based on log patterns or thresholds.

Viewing CloudTrail Logs

1. Access CloudTrail Event History
   • In the CloudTrail console, select Event history.
   • Use the search bar and filters to find specific events based on attributes like event name, date range, or resource type.
2. Analyze Logs in S3
   • Go to the S3 console, and navigate to the bucket where CloudTrail logs are stored.
   • You can download and analyze log files directly or use services like Athena to query the logs.
3. Use Athena for Querying
   • Set up Athena to query CloudTrail logs stored in S3.
   • Create a table in Athena that maps to the log data format and runs SQL queries to extract meaningful insights.

Automate and Monitor

1. Set Up Alarms and Notifications
   • Create CloudWatch Alarms to monitor log metrics and receive notifications if certain thresholds are breached.
   • Configure SNS topics to receive alerts based on these alarms.
2. Implement Automated Responses
   • Use AWS Lambda functions to automatically respond to certain log events or conditions, such as scaling resources or mitigating security incidents.
3. Integrate with Third-Party Tools (Optional)
   • Integrate AWS logs with third-party log management and SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) tools for more advanced analysis and correlation.

By following these steps, you can effectively oversee logs in AWS to uphold health, security, and performance.

References

• Learning AWS A Hands-on-Guide