Week 5 Worklog

Week 5 Objectives:

  • Operational Excellence: Automate operational tasks (server start/stop) using AWS Lambda and integrate with communication tools (Slack).
  • Monitoring & Observability: Build advanced dashboards using Grafana integrated with Amazon CloudWatch for deep system insights.
  • Governance & Tagging: Implement resource organization strategies using Tags, Resource Groups, and enforce Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) via IAM.
  • Systems Management (SSM): Explore server management without SSH using Session Manager and understand automated patching workflows (Patch Manager).
  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Begin automating infrastructure deployment using AWS CloudFormation.

Tasks to be carried out this week:

DayTaskStart DateCompletion DateReference Material
2Cost Optimization & Automation
- Create Lambda functions (Python boto3) to automatically Start/Stop EC2 instances based on schedules.
- Integrate Lambda with Slack Webhooks for operational notifications.
- Configure EventBridge (CloudWatch Events) triggers.		06/10/202506/10/2025https://000022.awsstudygroup.com/
3Advanced Monitoring (Grafana)
- Launch EC2 to host Grafana (Open Source).
- Connect Grafana to Amazon CloudWatch data source.
- Create custom dashboards visualizing CPU, Network, and Disk metrics from EC2.		07/10/202507/10/2025https://000029.awsstudygroup.com/
4Governance & Security (Tags & IAM)
- Tagging Strategy: Apply consistent tags to resources (Env, Owner, CostCenter).
- Create Resource Groups to manage resources by tags.
- ABAC Implementation: Configure IAM Policies to control EC2 access based on matching tags between User and Resource.		08/10/202508/10/2025https://000027.awsstudygroup.com/

https://000028.awsstudygroup.com/
5Systems Management (SSM)
- Session Manager: Connect to private/public instances without opening SSH ports (Port Forwarding, Audit Logs to S3).
- Run Command: Execute remote commands across multiple instances.
- Theory/Review: Patch Manager workflows (scanning & compliance) due to potential Free Tier/Lab permission limits.		09/10/202509/10/2025https://000058.awsstudygroup.com/

https://000031.awsstudygroup.com/
6Infrastructure as Code (CloudFormation)
- Write basic CloudFormation templates (YAML/JSON) to deploy VPC and EC2.
- Understand Stacks, Parameters, Mappings, and Outputs.
- Explore Drift Detection to identify manual changes to infrastructure.		10/10/202510/10/2025https://000037.awsstudygroup.com/

Week 5 Achievements

Automation & Cost Management

  • Successfully implemented automated cost-saving mechanisms by scheduling non-production EC2 instances to stop during off-hours using AWS Lambda.
  • Deployed a notification system where operational events trigger messages to a Slack channel, improving team visibility.
  • Reduced manual intervention by leveraging EventBridge Rules to trigger automation workflows.

Monitoring Visualization

  • Deployed a self-hosted Grafana instance on EC2.
  • successfully integrated Amazon CloudWatch as a data source for Grafana, enabling the visualization of AWS metrics in a unified, customizable interface.
  • Created specific dashboards to monitor EC2 health, overcoming the limitations of default CloudWatch views.

Resource Governance & Security

  • Mastered Tagging strategies to organize resources by environment (Dev/Prod) and project.
  • Implemented Resource Groups to bulk-manage resources sharing common tags.
  • Enhanced security using Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC): Configured IAM policies that strictly allow users to manage only the EC2 instances that match their specific department tags, effectively isolating environments.

Systems Operations (SysOps)

  • Eliminated the need for Bastion Hosts/SSH keys by using AWS Systems Manager Session Manager for secure instance access.
  • Configured Session Logging to S3 for auditing and compliance purposes.
  • Studied and simulated the Patch Manager process for automating OS updates and maintaining compliance across fleets of instances.
  • Utilized Run Command to execute administrative scripts across multiple servers simultaneously without logging into each one.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

  • Transitioned from manual console clicks to defining infrastructure in code using AWS CloudFormation.
  • Created and deployed Stacks to provision VPCs and EC2 instances, ensuring consistent and repeatable deployments.
  • Learned to detect “Configuration Drift” to identify where actual infrastructure state deviates from the defined CloudFormation templates.