Amazon CloudTrail is a service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables governance, compliance, operational auditing, and risk auditing of your AWS account. It records API calls and related events made on your account and delivers log files to an Amazon S3 bucket for analysis.
Key Features
- Event Logging: CloudTrail records API calls, including the identity of the caller, the time of the call, the source IP address, the request parameters, and the response elements.
- Log File Storage: Log files are stored in an Amazon S3 bucket, allowing you to retain and analyze historical data. You can configure the service to encrypt log files for additional security.
- Event History: CloudTrail provides an event history of your AWS account activity, including API calls made through the AWS Management Console, AWS SDKs, command-line tools, and other AWS services.
- Integration with AWS Services: CloudTrail is integrated with many AWS services, capturing events from services like AWS Lambda, S3, EC2, IAM, and more.
- Real-time Monitoring: CloudTrail supports real-time event delivery to Amazon CloudWatch, allowing you to create alarms and gain insights into events as they occur.
Use Cases
Amazon CloudTrail is commonly used for the following purposes:
- Security Analysis: Monitor and investigate security-related events and changes to resources in your AWS account for security analysis and troubleshooting.
- Compliance: Assist in meeting regulatory compliance requirements by providing an auditable trail of activities within your AWS environment.
- Operational Insights: Gain operational insights into changes made to resources, helping with troubleshooting and performance optimization.
- Automation and Scripting: Track and audit API calls made by automation scripts, AWS CLI, or SDKs to ensure compliance with organizational policies.
Amazon CloudTrail is an essential tool for maintaining visibility and control over your AWS environment, supporting security, compliance, and operational needs.