AWS Centralized Logging

The AWS Centralized Logging solution, as seen in the aws-centralized-logging and centralized-logging-with-opensearch implementations, manages managing and analyzing logs from multiple AWS accounts and regions in a centralized manner.

This solution leverages Amazon OpenSearch Service (AOS), the successor to Amazon Elasticsearch Service, as the core component for log ingestion, indexing, and visualization. The architecture includes log ingestion mechanisms, such as CloudWatch Logs, CloudTrail Logs, and VPC Flow Logs, which are aggregated into a centralized account using AWS CloudFormation templates. These templates deploy the necessary resources, including OpenSearch domains and Kibana for visualization.

The solution requires careful configuration of IAM roles and permissions to ensure seamless log ingestion from various AWS services and accounts. It also involves setting up CloudWatch Logs Destinations and transforming Kinesis data stream records into Elasticsearch documents. The use of CloudFormation simplifies the deployment process but requires attention to parameter settings, such as specifying spoke accounts and jumpbox configurations.

The log ingestion process is designed to handle large volumes of data, with support for real-time and batch processing. The solution integrates with AWS services like CloudTrail, CloudWatch, and VPC Flow Logs, allowing for comprehensive log collection. The OpenSearch Service provides fast search capabilities over large log volumes, and Kibana offers out-of-the-box dashboard templates for common software and AWS services. However, scalability and performance can be impacted by the volume of logs and the complexity of the queries, necessitating careful resource allocation and monitoring.

While the solution offers a high degree of customization through the modification of solution manifest files and CloudFormation templates, it requires technical expertise in AWS services and log management. The solution's scalability is supported by Amazon EMR for large-scale log processing, but this adds complexity to the setup and management. Additionally, costs can escalate with large log volumes, particularly for storage and query operations.

In summary, the AWS Centralized Logging solution provides a robust framework for centralized log management but demands careful planning, configuration, and ongoing management to ensure optimal performance and cost efficiency.