Which solution will meet these requirements in the MOST operationally efficient manner?
Configure the unified Amazon CloudWatch agent on the EC2 instances to publish the application logs files to a CloudWatch log group. Configure a metric filter on the CloudWatch log group to detect the critical errors and to create a custom metric. Create an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic. Configure a CloudWatch alarm to use the custom metric to notify the SNS topic. Subscribe the application team’s email address to the SNS topic.
Install the Amazon Kinesis agent on the EC2 instances. Configure the Kinesis agent with the location of the log files. Stream the logs to a Kinesis Data Firehose delivery stream with an Amazon CloudWatch metrics stream as a destination. Configure an AWS Lambda function to detect the error message and to create a custom metric. Associate the Lambda function with the stream. Create an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic. Configure a CloudWatch alarm to use the custom metric to notify the SNS topic. Subscribe the application team’s email address to the SNS topic.
Install the AWS X-Ray daemon on the EC2 instances. Instrument the application with the AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry (ADOT). Configure the ADOT collector with the location of the custom log files and the name of an Amazon CloudWatch log group. Use the CloudWatch embedded metric format to generate a custom metric that is based on the error message. Create an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic. Configure a CloudWatch alarm to use the custom metric to notify the SNS topic. Subscribe the application team’s email address to the SNS topic.
Configure the unified Amazon CloudWatch agent on the EC2 instances to publish the application logs files to a CloudWatch log group. Create an Amazon OpenSearch Service domain. Subscribe the CloudWatch log group to the OpenSearch Service domain. Create an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic. Configure an OpenSearch Service alert monitor to notify the SNS topic. Subscribe the application team’s email address to the SNS topic.
Explanations:
This option utilizes the Amazon CloudWatch agent to publish application logs to a CloudWatch log group, which is a straightforward approach for log aggregation. A metric filter can be set up to detect specific error messages, creating a custom metric that triggers a CloudWatch alarm. The alarm can then send notifications to an SNS topic, which can easily notify the application team via email. This solution is operationally efficient, as it leverages managed services and requires minimal setup and maintenance.
While this option involves using the Amazon Kinesis agent and streaming logs to Kinesis Data Firehose, it adds unnecessary complexity for simply aggregating logs and notifying based on error messages. The setup of Kinesis, including a Lambda function to process the logs and create a custom metric, is more complicated than needed for the requirements. It requires additional components that can increase operational overhead without significant benefits over the simpler CloudWatch-based solution.
This option introduces the AWS X-Ray daemon and AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry, which are primarily used for tracing and monitoring application performance rather than simply aggregating logs. The process of instrumenting the application and configuring the OpenTelemetry collector adds unnecessary complexity for the use case of detecting error messages in logs. Furthermore, it requires more operational management compared to using CloudWatch logs directly.
This option also uses the CloudWatch agent for log aggregation, but it adds complexity by introducing an Amazon OpenSearch Service domain for log storage and analysis. The setup of an OpenSearch alert monitor for notifications is more complex and less direct than simply using CloudWatch alarms with SNS. This solution introduces additional components that are not needed for the straightforward requirement of error message notification, making it less efficient operationally.
I guess:
Configure the unified Amazon CloudWatch agent on the EC2 instances to publish the application logs files to a CloudWatch log group. Configure a metric filter on the CloudWatch log group to detect the critical errors and to create a custom metric. Create an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic. Configure a CloudWatch alarm to use the custom metric to notify the SNS topic. Subscribe the application team’s email address to the SNS topic.