Amazon CloudWatch

Overview

Amazon CloudWatch Logs is a powerful service that allows you to monitor, store, access, and analyze log data from various AWS services and systems, including Amazon EC2, CloudTrail, and Route 53. It provides a centralized platform for managing logs across your environment, enabling easy access, real-time monitoring, and secure archiving.

Key Features:

  1. Log Centralization & Querying:

    • Consolidates logs from different sources into a single, scalable platform.

    • Search and analyze logs using CloudWatch Logs Insights with a dedicated query language.

    • Supports Live Tail to view streaming logs in real time for faster debugging.

  2. Log Classes:

    • Standard Log Class: Full feature set for real-time monitoring.

    • Infrequent Access Log Class: Cost-efficient for rarely accessed logs.

  3. Monitoring & Alerts:

    • Tracks specific error codes or patterns and sends alerts if thresholds are exceeded.

    • Can integrate with CloudTrail to monitor API activity.

    • Supports encrypted log data both in transit and at rest.

  4. Sensitive Data Masking & Retention:

    • Allows auditing and masking of sensitive data with customizable policies.

    • Supports adjustable retention policies for logs, ranging from 1 day to 10 years.

  5. Integration & Archiving:

    • Archives logs in durable storage and allows retrieval of raw log data.

    • Integrates with services like Route 53 for DNS logging and Kinesis for data aggregation.

    • Logs can trigger Lambda functions for automated responses to new log events.

  • CloudTrail: Captures API activity and logs to S3.

  • IAM: Manages access to CloudWatch resources.

  • Kinesis Data Streams: Processes logs in real time.

  • Lambda: Automates actions based on log events.

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