AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials
Chapter 7 : Monitoring and Analytics
Video 1 : Introduction:
Running a business is all about observing, measuring, and responding. In a coffee shop, you’d want to
know:
• How many coffees were sold today?
• What was the average customer wait time?
• Did we run out of any items?
• Should I be notified if things go wrong?
In the cloud, this type of observation is known as monitoring.
What is Monitoring?
Monitoring involves:
• Collecting metrics (like CPU usage, error rates).
• Visualizing those metrics over time.
• Alerting users when thresholds are breached.
• Taking automated actions if needed.
Why It Matters in AWS:
AWS environments scale dynamically, so you need to monitor:
• Usage (e.g., CPU, memory, storage)
• System health (e.g., latency, error rates)
• Events (e.g., user logins, config changes)
For example, if one EC2 instance is over-utilized, AWS can automatically add more instances to handle the
load.
AWS provides multiple services to help you monitor and analyze your cloud environment effectively.
Video 2 : Amazon CloudWatch
Amazon CloudWatch is AWS’s native monitoring and observability service. It provides:
• Metrics: Numerical values over time (e.g., CPU utilization).
• Logs: Full records of system/app behavior.
• Dashboards: Real-time visualizations of metrics.
• Alarms: Set thresholds and trigger actions.
Use Case Example:
You want to clean the espresso machine after 100 uses. You can:
1. Track a custom metric "Espresso Count"
2. Set a CloudWatch Alarm when count = 100
3. Send an SNS notification (e.g., SMS to staff)
Features:
• Collect metrics from AWS resources like EC2, Lambda, RDS, etc.
• Create custom metrics for your apps.
• Build real-time dashboards to view multiple systems at once.
• Integrate with AWS SNS to send alerts (email, SMS, Lambda).
Benefits:
• Centralized visibility across apps, infrastructure, and services.
• Helps detect performance bottlenecks.
• Reduces Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR).
• Improves Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by enabling proactive management.
Video 3 : AWS CloudTrail
Where CloudWatch monitors performance, CloudTrail tracks activity.
What is AWS CloudTrail?
CloudTrail logs every API call made in your AWS environment, including:
• Who made the call?
• When was it made?
• From where (IP)?
• What action was performed?
• What was the result (success/failure)?
Why Use CloudTrail?
• It provides auditing and accountability.
• Helps meet compliance requirements.
• Detects unauthorized access or configuration changes.
Example:
If an EC2 security group was changed, CloudTrail helps prove who made the change and when.
Bonus:
• Stores logs in S3 buckets for long-term retention.
• Use Vault Lock for tamper-proof logging.
CloudTrail brings transparency and traceability, acting like the cash register audit log of your AWS
environment.
Video 4 : AWS Trusted Advisor
Running your cloud without feedback can cost money or lead to poor performance and vulnerabilities.
AWS Trusted Advisor acts like an expert consultant providing best-practice insights.
What It Does:
Trusted Advisor evaluates your AWS environment using five pillars:
1. Cost Optimization
2. Performance
3. Security
4. Fault Tolerance
5. Service Limits
How It Works:
• Runs checks for common issues.
• Flags risks and inefficiencies.
• Shows alerts using colors:
o Red: Immediate action recommended
o Orange: Investigation recommended
o Green: All good
Real Examples:
• Idle RDS or EC2 instances wasting money? Advisor lets you know.
• Security group open to public access? Advisor will flag it.
• AZ imbalance or no EBS backups? Advisor provides recommendations.
• Hit a VPC limit? Advisor alerts you before you run into problems.
Alerts:
Send email notifications to billing/security contacts so your team always knows when something needs
attention.
Video 5 : Summary
Recap of Key Tools:
1. Amazon CloudWatch:
o Monitors AWS resources (e.g., EC2, Lambda)
o Sends alerts based on thresholds
o Aggregates metrics into dashboards
2. AWS CloudTrail:
o Logs all API activity
o Answers: Who did what, when, and from where?
o Critical for audits, security investigations, and compliance
3. AWS Trusted Advisor:
o Performs automated checks for best practices
o Covers 5 pillars (cost, performance, security, fault tolerance, service limits)
o Offers suggestions and alerts to improve your setup
Final Thoughts:
Monitoring and analytics are critical to:
• Operational excellence
• Security and compliance
• Cost optimization
These AWS tools give you the visibility and control needed to run reliable and efficient cloud systems.
