Tutorial / Cram Notes

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides a suite of monitoring services designed to help users efficiently observe their AWS resources and respond to changes in their environment. Two fundamental services within the AWS ecosystem for event monitoring and providing alarms are Amazon CloudWatch and Amazon EventBridge. These services play a critical role in maintaining the security and operational health of AWS-based applications.

Amazon CloudWatch

Overview

Amazon CloudWatch is a monitoring service for AWS cloud resources and the applications running on AWS. It allows users to collect and access operational data in the form of logs, metrics, and events. CloudWatch also provides functionalities for setting alarms, visualizing logs and metrics, and taking automated actions based on predefined rules.

Key Features:

  • Metrics: CloudWatch collects and stores various metrics from AWS services such as Amazon EC2 instances, Amazon RDS databases, and Amazon S3 buckets.
  • Logs: Users can collect, monitor, analyze, and store log files from their AWS resources.
  • Events: CloudWatch Events help in responding to state changes in AWS resources.
  • Alarms: These allow users to set up notifications or automated actions based on metric thresholds or absence of metrics.

Example Use Case:

A DevOps team might use CloudWatch to monitor the CPU utilization of their EC2 instances. If the CPU usage exceeds a certain threshold, an alarm could be triggered to notify the team via Amazon SNS or even to scale the instances automatically using Auto Scaling.

Amazon EventBridge

Overview

Amazon EventBridge (formerly known as CloudWatch Events) is a service that simplifies the routing of events between AWS services, integrated Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications, and custom applications. It provides a centralized event bus that captures events from AWS services, your own applications, and other sources, and delivers them to targets like Lambda functions, HTTP endpoints, or Step Functions.

Key Features:

  • Event Buses: EventBridge allows for different event buses for AWS events, custom applications, and third-party SaaS events.
  • Rules: Users can create rules that match incoming events and route them to targets for processing.
  • Schema Registry: EventBridge includes a schema registry that can be used to discover, create, and manage event schemas.

Example Use Case:

An application might emit a custom event when a new user signs up. EventBridge could be set up to catch this event and invoke an AWS Lambda function to initiate a welcome email sequence through Amazon SES.

Comparison between CloudWatch and EventBridge

Feature CloudWatch EventBridge
Service Type Monitoring and Operational Insight Event Routing and Event Bus
Main Use Cases Metrics Collection, Alarming, Logs Event-driven Applications, Workflows
Custom Events Limited Yes, with custom event buses
Third-party Integrations No direct integration Supports SaaS applications integration
Alarms Direct support for alarms No direct support* for alarms
Schema Registry Not available Available

*EventBridge does not support alarms directly, but it can route events to CloudWatch or other services that can trigger alarms.

It’s important to note that, while CloudWatch focuses on monitoring and is essential for performance and operational health, EventBridge is oriented towards event-driven application architecture and workflow orchestration. Both can be used in conjunction, with EventBridge routing specific events to CloudWatch when monitoring or alarming needs are tied to those events.

For certification exam preparation, candidates would want to familiarize themselves with detailed configurations, such as creating CloudWatch alarms using the AWS Management Console, CLI, or SDK. Also, they should know how to set up EventBridge rules and event targets, potentially using CloudFormation for infrastructure as code deployments.

In conclusion, CloudWatch and EventBridge are two pivotal services for monitoring events and providing alarms within AWS. They serve the needs of different use cases but complement each other well, ensuring AWS environments can be observed securely and efficiently. A comprehensive understanding of these services is essential for those aiming to achieve AWS Certified Security – Specialty certification.

Practice Test with Explanation

True/False: Amazon CloudWatch can be used to monitor AWS resource and application performance across your AWS account.

  • Answer: True

Explanation: Amazon CloudWatch provides data and actionable insights to monitor your AWS applications, understand and respond to system-wide performance changes, optimize resource utilization, and get a unified view of operational health.

Single Select: Which AWS service allows you to automate responses to specific events recorded by AWS services?

  • A) AWS Config
  • B) AWS CloudTrail
  • C) Amazon CloudWatch Events
  • D) AWS EventBridge

Answer: D) AWS EventBridge

Explanation: AWS EventBridge is a serverless event bus service that enables you to automate your AWS ecosystem responses to the events that happen within your AWS services.

True/False: Amazon CloudWatch can be used to trigger alarms based on Amazon S3 bucket event notifications.

  • Answer: False

Explanation: Amazon S3 event notifications typically use Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS), AWS Lambda, or Amazon SQS to deliver messages. CloudWatch Alarms are triggered by metrics, not S3 event notifications directly.

Multiple Select: Which of the following metrics can Amazon CloudWatch monitor directly? (Select two)

  • A) CPU utilization of EC2 instances
  • B) Memory utilization of EC2 instances
  • C) Bucket size of S3
  • D) Database connections in RDS

Answer: A) CPU utilization of EC2 instances, D) Database connections in RDS

Explanation: Amazon CloudWatch can monitor CPU utilization of EC2 instances and database connections in Amazon RDS directly. Memory utilization of EC2 instances can be monitored but requires installing custom metrics.

True/False: AWS CloudTrail can be configured to deliver log files to an Amazon S3 bucket for long-term storage.

  • Answer: True

Explanation: AWS CloudTrail can be configured to deliver log files to your specified Amazon S3 bucket for storage, analysis, and long-term retention.

Single Select: Which feature of Amazon CloudWatch allows you to view a streamlined, operational picture by aggregating metrics and alarms across different AWS accounts and regions?

  • A) CloudWatch Alarms
  • B) CloudWatch Dashboards
  • C) CloudWatch Logs
  • D) CloudWatch Cross-Account Cross-Region Dashboards

Answer: D) CloudWatch Cross-Account Cross-Region Dashboards

Explanation: CloudWatch Cross-Account Cross-Region Dashboards allow you to aggregate metrics and alarms across multiple accounts and regions, providing a centralized operational view.

True/False: AWS EventBridge only supports AWS services as event sources.

  • Answer: False

Explanation: AWS EventBridge supports events from AWS services as well as from Software as a Service (SaaS) applications and other applications.

Multiple Select: Which AWS service(s) would you use to monitor network requests to and from your VPC? (Select two)

  • A) AWS Config
  • B) AWS CloudTrail
  • C) VPC Flow Logs
  • D) Amazon CloudWatch

Answer: C) VPC Flow Logs, D) Amazon CloudWatch

Explanation: VPC Flow Logs capture information about the IP traffic going to and from network interfaces in your VPC. You can publish the flow logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs.

True/False: Amazon EventBridge and Amazon CloudWatch Events are different services for event monitoring within AWS.

  • Answer: False

Explanation: Amazon EventBridge is the new name and an extended version of Amazon CloudWatch Events, with additional features and integrations.

Single Select: Which AWS service is primarily used for configuration compliance auditing?

  • A) AWS Inspector
  • B) AWS Config
  • C) AWS GuardDuty
  • D) AWS Trusted Advisor

Answer: B) AWS Config

Explanation: AWS Config is a service that enables you to assess, audit, and evaluate the configurations of your AWS resources for compliance auditing.

True/False: AWS CloudTrail provides event history of your AWS account activity, including actions taken through the AWS Management Console, AWS SDKs, command line tools, and other AWS services.

  • Answer: True

Explanation: AWS CloudTrail is a service that provides event history of your AWS account activity, including actions taken through various interfaces.

Multiple Select: Which of the following are types of incidents that Amazon CloudWatch can alarm on? (Select two)

  • A) Unauthorized API calls
  • B) Change in instance state
  • C) Application code changes
  • D) High memory usage

Answer: B) Change in instance state, D) High memory usage

Explanation: Although CloudWatch can trigger alarms on various metrics such as instance state change and high memory usage, detecting unauthorized API calls is a feature of AWS CloudTrail, and tracking application code changes is typically handled by AWS CodeCommit or other version control systems.

Interview Questions

What is the main purpose of AWS CloudWatch?

The main purpose of AWS CloudWatch is to provide monitoring and observability of AWS resources and customer workloads running on AWS. It collects and tracks metrics, collects and monitors log files, sets alarms, and automatically reacts to changes in AWS resources.

Can you explain how you would use AWS CloudWatch to detect potential security threats?

AWS CloudWatch can be used to detect potential security threats by setting up monitoring on logs and metrics that could indicate unauthorized or suspicious activity. For example, an alarm could be set for an abnormally high number of login attempts, which could indicate a brute force attack. CloudTrail logs can be monitored for unusual API activity, and CloudWatch Insights can be used to query and analyze these logs for patterns that could suggest a security threat.

How do events in AWS CloudWatch Events and Amazon EventBridge differ, and what was the reason for introducing EventBridge when CloudWatch Events already existed?

AWS CloudWatch Events mainly allows you to respond to state changes in AWS resources. Amazon EventBridge, on the other hand, builds upon and extends CloudWatch Events by offering a broader event bus service that not only handles AWS events but also supports events from SaaS applications and other AWS accounts, allowing for a more flexible and scalable event-driven architecture. EventBridge was introduced to provide a more robust solution for event-driven application architectures and offers features such as Schema Registry and different event buses for better event management and discovery.

How can CloudWatch Alarms be used to automate responses to security incidents?

CloudWatch Alarms can automatically trigger actions in response to security incidents when a certain threshold is breached. These actions can include launching Auto Scaling policies, triggering Lambda functions, or sending notifications through SNS. For example, a Lambda function could be invoked to isolate a compromised EC2 instance when an alarm is triggered due to unexpected outbound traffic patterns.

What AWS service would you use to execute automated workflows in response to events without writing code for polling or managing message queues, and how does it relate to monitoring events and alarms?

I would use AWS Step Functions, which can orchestrate multiple AWS services into serverless workflows triggered by events without the need for polling or managing message queues. This relates to monitoring events and alarms as Step Functions can be triggered by CloudWatch Events or EventBridge, enabling automatic response to alarms or changes in your AWS environment.

How would you set up an alarm to monitor for DDoS attacks using AWS services, and which service metrics would you use?

To monitor for DDoS attacks, I would set up CloudWatch Alarms on metrics such as network in/out bytes or request counts that are provided by services like Amazon CloudFront, AWS WAF, or Elastic Load Balancing. Sudden spikes in these metrics could indicate a potential DDoS attack. AWS Shield Advanced also provides additional DDoS protection metrics that can be used to create alarms.

What is the difference between Amazon CloudWatch Logs and Amazon CloudWatch Metrics, and how are they both used in monitoring?

Amazon CloudWatch Logs is used to monitor, store, and access log files from AWS resources, Lambda functions, and other sources. CloudWatch Metrics, on the other hand, provides numerical data about the performance of AWS services and resources. Both are used in monitoring to get a comprehensive view of system health and performance, with Logs providing detailed event records (such as user activity or error messages) and Metrics providing quantitative measures (such as CPU utilization or disk I/O).

In the context of AWS, what is log retention and how is it configured in CloudWatch?

Log retention in AWS refers to the duration for which log data is kept in CloudWatch Logs before it is automatically deleted. It is configured in CloudWatch by setting a retention policy on a log group, which can vary from one day to indefinitely (never expire), depending on the importance of the logs and compliance requirements.

Can you describe how you would use Amazon EventBridge to integrate custom applications with AWS services for security monitoring?

Amazon EventBridge can be used to integrate custom applications by sending events from the application to a custom EventBridge bus. These events can then be matched with rules that route them to various AWS services, enabling actions such as invoking a Lambda function to analyze the event for security anomalies or storing the events in an S3 bucket for long-term analysis.

How would you use AWS CloudWatch’s anomaly detection feature to enhance security monitoring, and what kind of anomalies might you monitor?

AWS CloudWatch’s anomaly detection feature can be used to create alarms based on expected patterns of metrics, and identify when actual metrics deviate from these expected patterns. For security monitoring, you might monitor anomalies in network traffic, such as a sudden spike in outbound traffic that could indicate data exfiltration, or an abnormal increase in login failures that might suggest a brute force attack.

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Michaele Albert
4 months ago

This blog post is very informative about AWS monitoring services! CloudWatch and EventBridge are really crucial for the AWS Certified Security – Specialty exam.

Nadja Staiger
5 months ago

Can someone explain the main differences between CloudWatch and EventBridge?

Veera Linna
5 months ago

Great post, really helped me understand how to set alarms with CloudWatch!

Kavya Raval
5 months ago

How secure is AWS CloudWatch when it comes to safeguarding monitoring data?

پرهام کوتی
4 months ago

I appreciate the way you’ve broken down each service’s role.

Anna Hansen
5 months ago

CloudWatch can integrate with other services like SNS for notifications, right?

Eric Harvey
5 months ago

The information on EventBridge is good, but isn’t EventBridge mostly used for serverless architectures?

Leyla Denis
5 months ago

Thanks for the detailed insights!

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