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Group 15: Management & Governance
Monitoring, compliance, and operational insight services: CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Config, Systems Manager, Organizations.
Governance Principle: Implement observability, compliance monitoring, and centralized management based on operational maturity and regulatory requirements.
Services & Roles
CloudWatch
Comprehensive monitoring with metrics, logs, alarms, and dashboards.
- Metrics & alarms
- Log aggregation
- Custom dashboards
CloudTrail
API call logging and governance with data event tracking.
- API call logging
- Data events
- Multi-region trails
Config
Configuration compliance monitoring with automated remediation.
- Configuration tracking
- Compliance rules
- Change notifications
Systems Manager
Operational insights and automation for EC2 and hybrid environments.
- Patch management
- Parameter store
- Session Manager
Organizations
Multi-account management with centralized billing and governance.
- Account management
- Service control policies
- Consolidated billing
Key Differences
| Dimension | CloudWatch | CloudTrail | Config | Systems Manager | Organizations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | Performance monitoring | Audit logging | Configuration compliance | Operational automation | Account governance |
| Data Type | Metrics & logs | API calls | Resource configurations | System state | Account policies |
| Use Case | Operational monitoring | Security auditing | Compliance tracking | System administration | Multi-account management |
| Scope | Application/infrastructure | Account-wide | Resource-specific | Instance-level | Organization-wide |
| Automation | Alarms & actions | Event triggering | Remediation rules | Documents & automation | Policy enforcement |
Selection Model
0–10 sliders weight governance requirements, monitoring depth, and organizational complexity.
Score_CloudWatch = 0.30*C_performanceMonitoring + 0.26*C_metricsAndLogs + 0.18*C_alarmsAndDashboards + 0.12*C_applicationInsights + 0.08*C_customMetrics + 0.06*C_logAggregation
Score_CloudTrail = 0.32*C_auditLogging + 0.28*C_apiCallTracking + 0.18*C_securityCompliance + 0.12*C_dataEvents + 0.06*C_multiRegionTrails + 0.04*C_eventHistory
Score_Config = 0.30*C_configurationCompliance + 0.26*C_complianceMonitoring + 0.18*C_changeTracking + 0.12*C_automatedRemediation + 0.08*C_configurationRules + 0.06*C_resourceInventory
Score_SystemsManager = 0.28*C_operationalAutomation + 0.24*C_patchManagement + 0.18*C_parameterStore + 0.14*C_sessionManager + 0.10*C_runCommands + 0.06*C_hybridManagement
Score_Organizations = 0.32*C_multiAccountManagement + 0.26*C_centralizedGovernance + 0.18*C_serviceControlPolicies + 0.12*C_consolidatedBilling + 0.08*C_accountCreation + 0.04*C_crossAccountAccess
CloudWatch {{vm.scores.cloudwatch|number:2}}
CloudTrail {{vm.scores.cloudtrail|number:2}}
Config {{vm.scores.config|number:2}}
Systems Manager {{vm.scores.systemsmanager|number:2}}
Organizations {{vm.scores.organizations|number:2}}
Primary Emphasis: {{vm.recommended.name}} ({{vm.recommended.score|number:2}})
Heuristics
- High C_performanceMonitoring + C_metricsAndLogs → CloudWatch for operational insights.
- Strong C_auditLogging + C_apiCallTracking → CloudTrail for security auditing.
- High C_configurationCompliance + C_complianceMonitoring → Config for compliance.
- C_operationalAutomation + C_patchManagement → Systems Manager for administration.
- C_multiAccountManagement + C_centralizedGovernance → Organizations for governance.
Anti-Patterns
- Using CloudWatch for audit trails (use CloudTrail instead).
- Using CloudTrail for performance monitoring (use CloudWatch).
- Using Config for operational automation (use Systems Manager).
- Managing multiple accounts without Organizations (governance complexity).
Summary
Choose CloudWatch for monitoring, CloudTrail for auditing, Config for compliance, Systems Manager for automation, Organizations for governance.