CloudWatch, X-Ray, CloudTrail Flashcards
(25 cards)
What are the three main AWS services for monitoring and auditing?
Amazon CloudWatch, AWS X-Ray, AWS CloudTrail
What does CloudWatch provide?
Metrics, Logs, Events, Alarms
What is the default monitoring frequency for EC2 without detailed monitoring?
Every 5 minutes
How often is EC2 monitored with detailed monitoring enabled?
Every 1 minute
How do you push custom metrics to CloudWatch?
Use the PutMetricData API
What tool can you use to search and analyze logs in CloudWatch?
CloudWatch Logs Insights
What are CloudWatch Log Groups and Log Streams?
Log Groups = applications or systems; Log Streams = individual log sources (like EC2 or containers)
What is a metric filter in CloudWatch Logs?
A filter to create metrics from specific log patterns
What is a common use of CloudWatch Alarms?
Trigger SNS notifications, EC2 actions (stop/reboot/terminate), or Auto Scaling policies
What are the three alarm states in CloudWatch?
OK, ALARM, INSUFFICIENT_DATA
What is a composite alarm in CloudWatch?
An alarm that combines multiple alarms using logical AND/OR
What agent collects additional system-level metrics and logs?
CloudWatch Unified Agent
What is the purpose of CloudWatch Synthetics?
Monitor APIs, URLs, or websites using canaries (scripted browser sessions)
What does Amazon EventBridge allow you to do?
Create rules to route events from AWS services and SaaS to targets (Lambda, Step Functions, etc.)
How can EventBridge help in cross-account scenarios?
Use resource-based policies to share custom event buses
What AWS service helps with distributed tracing and performance troubleshooting?
AWS X-Ray
What does the X-Ray SDK capture?
AWS SDK calls HTTP requests, DB queries, and queue operations
What must a Lambda function have to use X-Ray?
Active Tracing enabled and AWSXRayDaemonWriteAccess IAM permission
What are X-Ray sampling rules?
Define how many requests to trace (default is 1 req/sec + 5% of others)
Where are CloudTrail logs stored?
Amazon S3 or CloudWatch Logs
What does CloudTrail log by default?
Management Events (read/write API calls to AWS services)
What are Data Events in CloudTrail?
High-volume data access like GetObject on S3 or Invoke on Lambda
What feature in CloudTrail detects unusual activity?
CloudTrail Insights
How long does CloudTrail retain events by default?
90 days (in the event history view)
