A Guide to set Alerts in Amazon OpenSearch

Overview

Amazon OpenSearch Alerts is a valuable component of OpenSearch, an open-source search and analytics platform. This feature allows users to set up notifications to monitor and receive alerts regarding specific data events or changes. These notifications can be triggered by user-defined criteria, such as identifying unusual data patterns, spikes in data, or anomalies. Amazon OpenSearch Alerts are crucial for organizations to stay informed about important system metrics, security incidents, and other data-related events. This proactive approach enables businesses to respond promptly to potential issues and maintain the security and functionality of their systems. Amazon OpenSearch Alerts is widely utilized in IT operations, cybersecurity, and business intelligence for real-time monitoring and data-informed decision-making.

Introduction

A feature of the Amazon OpenSearch search and analytics platform called Amazon OpenSearch Alerts was created to notify users immediately about certain occurrences or circumstances in their data. Amazon OpenSearch is a very flexible open-source search and analytics engine, making it the perfect option for businesses and developers who need to handle and analyze enormous volumes of data.

Users can configure and set up alerts with Amazon OpenSearch Alerts for various use cases, including checking server logs for faults, monitoring changes in website traffic, and spotting security breaches. Users can proactively address possible concerns or opportunities in their data by configuring these alerts to initiate activities like sending messages, running scripts, or starting automated replies when particular circumstances are satisfied.

Steps to Set Alerts in Amazon OpenSearch

Step 1: Log in to the Amazon OpenSearch dashboard

Step 2: Log in to the AWS dashboard and go to Amazon SNS (Simple notification service). Create a topic.

After creating the topic, create a subscription with your email and confirm the subscription from the given email.

Step 3: Create a role for Amazon EC2 service (edit the trust relationship under principle replace ec2: with es:)
And attach an inline policy for permitting the publishing of Amazon SNS from Amazon OpenSearch.

Step 4: In the Amazon OpenSearch dashboard, go to Notification. Create a channel by naming the channel under configurations, give Amazon SNS as the channel type, and give Amazon SNS ARN and AWS IAM role ARN. Create the channel.

Step 5: Go to the Amazon CloudWatch dashboard, select the log group you want to stream to Amazon OpenSearch and create a subscription filter.
(Note: If log group logs are already streamed to Amazon OpenSearch, move to step 6.)

Step 6: In the Amazon OpenSearch dashboard, go to alerting.

Create a monitor by selecting the monitor type here, and we have selected the Per document monitor.

Select the frequency you want the monitor to scan for issue and select the index under data source.

Under query select the field you want to scan and the required time range.

Create a data filter under which you want filter the issue here we have selected messages for Errors.

Select the triggers for how often we consider the error/issue for sending an alert. In action, select the channel we created earlier and create the monitor.

Step 7: Now, we can test the alert. Whenever an Error keyword is in the message, we get an alert on our subscription created in Amazon SNS, and we can see the number of alerts triggered in the Amazon OpenSearch dashboard under the monitor.

Conclusion

This open-source solution allows for highly customizable alert configurations, making it versatile and adaptable for various use cases. Whether monitoring system health, tracking website performance, or ensuring data security, Amazon OpenSearch Alerts empowers organizations and developers to stay proactive and responsive in managing their data, leading to more informed decision-making and improved operational efficiency.

Drop a query if you have any questions regarding Amazon OpenSearch and we will get back to you quickly.

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