I'm struggling to debug issues across AWS, particularly with services like Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, and SQS. It feels like I'm constantly switching between CloudWatch Logs, Metrics, X-Ray, CloudTrail, and various AWS tabs just to get a sense of what's happening with a specific feature or project.
I'm looking for any tools that allow you to group resources into a logical "stack" (like `auth-service`, `checkout-flow`, etc.) and provide a unified dashboard with related logs, metrics, alarms, and traces. What are your recommendations? Am I alone in this, or are there solutions out there to streamline the process instead of the usual tab-hopping and log searching?
3 Answers
I totally get what you're saying about the frustration with traditional methods. Using distributed tracing tools like OpenTelemetry (OTEL) can really enhance your debugging experience. It helps create a more coherent trace of your applications and makes it much easier to pinpoint issues.
Definitely consider using Terraform for organizing your resources and Grafana for monitoring them. Terraform helps in treating the components as a unit while Grafana gives you great visual insights into their performance and health. It makes it much easier to manage things altogether.
Tags are the main way to group resources in AWS, but I know that's not always the most practical solution when debugging. You can use tools like DataDog for logging and monitoring, which can give you a more cohesive dashboard experience. Still, what I really wish for is a slick UI where you can see everything in real-time without flipping through tons of tabs. If anyone knows of a tool that does that, I’d love to hear about it!
That's a great combo! I've been using Terraform for deployments, but I should dive into Grafana for visualizations. Sounds like a win!