OPS08-BP02 Analyze workload logs
Regularly analyzing workload logs is essential for gaining a deeper understanding of the operational aspects of your application. By efficiently sifting through, visualizing, and interpreting log data, you can continually optimize application performance and security.
Desired outcome: Rich insights into application behavior and operations derived from thorough log analysis, ensuring proactive issue detection and mitigation.
Common anti-patterns:
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Neglecting the analysis of logs until a critical issue arises.
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Not using the full suite of tools available for log analysis, missing out on critical insights.
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Solely relying on manual review of logs without leveraging automation and querying capabilities.
Benefits of establishing this best practice:
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Proactive identification of operational bottlenecks, security threats, and other potential issues.
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Efficient utilization of log data for continuous application optimization.
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Enhanced understanding of application behavior, aiding in debugging and troubleshooting.
Level of risk exposed if this best practice is not established: Medium
Implementation guidance
Amazon CloudWatch Logs is a powerful tool for log analysis. Integrated features like CloudWatch Logs Insights and Contributor Insights make the process of deriving meaningful information from logs intuitive and efficient.
Implementation steps
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Set up CloudWatch Logs: Configure applications and services to send logs to CloudWatch Logs.
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Use log anomaly detection: Utilize Amazon CloudWatch Logs anomaly detection to automatically identify and alert on unusual log patterns. This tool helps you proactively manage anomalies in your logs and detect potential issues early.
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Set up CloudWatch Logs Insights: Use CloudWatch Logs Insights to interactively search and analyze your log data.
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Craft queries to extract patterns, visualize log data, and derive actionable insights.
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Use CloudWatch Logs Insights pattern analysis to analyze and visualize frequent log patterns. This feature helps you understand common operational trends and potential outliers in your log data.
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Use CloudWatch Logs compare (diff) to perform differential analysis between different time periods or across different log groups. Use this capability to pinpoint changes and assess their impacts on your system's performance or behavior.
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Monitor logs in real-time with Live Tail: Use Amazon CloudWatch Logs Live Tail to view log data in real-time. You can actively monitor your application's operational activities as they occur, which provides immediate visibility into system performance and potential issues.
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Leverage Contributor Insights: Use CloudWatch Contributor Insights to identify top talkers in high cardinality dimensions like IP addresses or user-agents.
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Implement CloudWatch Logs metric filters: Configure CloudWatch Logs metric filters to convert log data into actionable metrics. This allows you to set alarms or further analyze patterns.
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Implement CloudWatch cross-account observability: Monitor and troubleshoot applications that span multiple accounts within a Region.
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Regular review and refinement: Periodically review your log analysis strategies to capture all relevant information and continually optimize application performance.
Level of effort for the implementation plan: Medium
Resources
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