AWS WAF allows you to log traffic of your web ACLs, providing detailed insights such as the request details, matched rules, and timestamps. Here’s a concise guide to enable and manage logging using Amazon CloudWatch Logs.
1. Configuring Logging
To log web ACL traffic:
- Navigate to the AWS WAF console.
- Select the desired web ACL.
- Click Logging and Metrics and choose to enable logging.
- Set the destination as an Amazon CloudWatch Logs log group, or other supported destinations such as Amazon S3 or Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose.
2. Log Management Options
- Field Redaction: Protect sensitive data by redacting fields like URI paths, query strings, or headers. Redacted fields appear as
REDACTEDin logs. - Log Filtering: Apply filters to log only specific web requests based on criteria like rule action or labels.
3. Analyzing Logs
Logs provide insights into:
- Incoming web requests.
- Matched rules and their actions.
- Details like IP address, HTTP method, and headers.
These logs can be used for performance monitoring, troubleshooting, and compliance auditing.
4. Monitoring and Alerts
Use Amazon CloudWatch to:
- Set alarms based on specific metrics.
- Create dashboards for visualizing traffic patterns in real-time.
By leveraging AWS WAF logging with CloudWatch, you can gain comprehensive visibility into your application’s security posture.
