Suggestion for Centralized Logging in AWS ECS Reference Architecture

[VINAYNKantanavar50]

I hope this message finds you well! I would like to gently bring to your attention the opportunity to enhance the AWS ECS Reference Architecture by incorporating a centralized logging solution. Centralized logging plays a vital role in monitoring, troubleshooting, and maintaining applications effectively in production environments. Current State The current architecture provides a solid foundation for deploying microservices with ECS. However, it seems there isn’t a mention of integrating a centralized logging system, such as OpenSearch, Amazon CloudWatch Logs, or the ELK Stack. Proposed Solution To further enhance observability and facilitate debugging, I kindly suggest considering the addition of a centralized logging solution to the architecture. This could involve: Integrating Amazon CloudWatch Logs to aggregate logs from ECS tasks and services. Utilizing a logging agent (e.g., Fluent Bit or Fluentd) to forward logs from containers to CloudWatch or OpenSearch. Documenting the logging strategy within the architecture's README file to assist users in implementing this feature. Additional Context Implementing centralized logging can offer several benefits, including: Easier log management and enhanced search capabilities. The ability to correlate logs across different microservices, improving overall insights. Simplified troubleshooting processes, leading to faster resolution times. Conclusion I believe that integrating centralized logging into the AWS ECS Reference Architecture could significantly improve its usability and effectiveness. I would love to discuss this suggestion further and explore how we can enhance the architecture together. Thank you very much for considering this idea!

[Hoseong-Seo]

Thanks for your interest and great suggestions. I think I should explain one of the main backgrounds of this SaaS ECS reference architecture. The AWS SaaS Factory team has been providing EKS and Serverless references for several years already. Earlier this year, the team published the SaaS Builder Toolkit(SBT) as an open source to support SaaS implementations that apply key patterns. With the release of the SaaS Builder Toolkit, we have also provided an ECS reference that was not available until now. This ECS reference, like EKS and Serverless, uses SBT to manage key SaaS features. The centralized logs (metrics) you provided can also be connected to key ISV services as a plugin to SBT. Recently, Amberflo has provided the source code on Github by integrating with SBT through this plugin-style mechanism. Therefore, ECS will also be updated to connect ISVs that provide key metrics using SBT as a plugin. Thanks for your interest and good suggestions. I think I should explain one of the main backgrounds of this SaaS ECS reference architecture. The AWS SaaS Factory team has already provided EKS and Serverless references for several years. Earlier this year, the team open-sourced the SaaS Builder Toolkit to support SaaS implementations that apply key patterns. With the release of the SaaS Builder Toolkit, we have also provided an ECS reference that was not available until now. This ECS reference, like EKS and Serverless, uses SBT to manage key SaaS features. The centralized logs (metrics) you provided can also be connected to key ISV services as a plugin to SBT. Recently, Amberflo has provided the source code on Github by integrating with SBT through this plugin-style mechanism. Therefore, ECS will also be updated to connect ISVs that provide key metrics using SBT as a plugin.

Thank you again for your interest.