Log4J2 CloudWatch Appender

Question

I'm looking for an official AWS CloudWatch Appender for Log4J2. I've search all over and didn't find any.

Anybody there using CloudWatch in Java Apps with Log4J2?

Toughen

Answer 1

I've been reading that the best approach to integrate with AWS Cloud Watch logs is using the Cloud Watch Log Agent.

It seems that having an independent agent will be much more reliable that the Application logging directly to Cloud Watch.

[Update] Why it may be more reliable?

• If CloudWatch or the WebServer connection is down, the Appender may miss the Log Event. A write to disk would never be miss.

• Nothing is faster than write to a stream file on local disk. When high log volume, sending data through a TCP connection could have performance impact or bottolnecks in the Application.

Toughen

Hi Gonzalo. Could you please help explain in more detail? I think that having an appender would be much easier in term of configuration – Audreyaudri

Can you more insight on why independent agent is much more reliable for logging ? – Ermelindaermengarde

@seal, i've just added some reasons. Overall, when dealing with big amounts of logging, writing to disk is always better. – Toughen

Answer 2

I would support the answer from Gonzalo.

I just want to update the answer with the new unified agent that can collect both logs and performances.

Collecting Metrics and Logs from Amazon EC2 Instances

Jackofalltrades

A bit more of context explanations on the new unified agent usage along-side the link would raise the quality of your answer. – Bramante