AWS AmazonCloudWatch documentation change

Service: AmazonCloudWatch · 2025-06-13 · Documentation low

File: AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/CloudWatch_Embedded_Metric_Format_Specification.md

Summary

Added documentation for entity information in EMF format including platform attributes and processing details

Security assessment

While improved observability can support security monitoring, the changes primarily enhance telemetry context without directly addressing security vulnerabilities or describing security-specific features.

Diff

diff --git a/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/CloudWatch_Embedded_Metric_Format_Specification.md b/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/CloudWatch_Embedded_Metric_Format_Specification.md
index 76123178a..8c08d09b9 100644
--- a//AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/CloudWatch_Embedded_Metric_Format_Specification.md
+++ b//AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/CloudWatch_Embedded_Metric_Format_Specification.md
@@ -5 +5 @@
-ConventionsEmbedded metric format document structure
+ConventionsEmbedded metric format document structureEntity information in EMF format
@@ -323,0 +324,133 @@ You can use the following schema to validate embedded metric format documents.
+## Entity information in EMF format
+
+When you publish logs to Amazon CloudWatch using Embedded Metric Format (EMF), you can include entity information in the log event. This section describes how to specify entity information and how CloudWatch processes this information.
+
+### Entity types
+
+When no Entity is specified with the `PutLogEvents` request, CloudWatch will look for entity information in the EMF log content:
+
+  * **Service-type entities**
+
+Required fields: `Service` and `Environment`
+
+  * **Resource-type entities**
+
+Required fields: `ResourceType` and `Identifier`
+
+
+
+
+### Platform attributes
+
+CloudWatch automatically determines the platform type based on these attributes:
+
+  * **Kubernetes (K8s):**
+
+Required: `K8s.Cluster`
+
+Optional: `K8s.Namespace`, `K8s.Workload`, `K8s.Node`, `K8s.Pod`, `EC2.InstanceId`, `EC2.AutoScalingGroup`
+
+  * **Amazon EKS**
+
+Required: `EKS.Cluster`
+
+Optional: `K8s.Namespace`, `K8s.Workload`, `K8s.Node`, `K8s.Pod`, `EC2.InstanceId`
+
+  * **Amazon ECS:**
+
+Required: `ECS.Cluster`
+
+Optional: `ECS.Service`, `ECS.Task`
+
+  * **Amazon EC2**
+
+Required: `EC2.InstanceId`
+
+Optional: `EC2.AutoScalingGroup`
+
+  * **Lambda:**
+
+Required: `Lambda.Function`
+
+  * **Generic hosts:**
+
+Required: `Host`
+
+
+
+
+### Example EMF log format
+    
+    
+    {
+        "_aws": {
+            "CloudWatchMetrics": [
+                {
+                    "Metrics": [
+                        {"Name": "RequestLatency", "Unit": "Milliseconds"}
+                    ],
+                    "Namespace": "MyApplication"
+                }
+            ]
+        },
+        "Service": "PaymentService",
+        "Environment": "Production",
+        "K8s.Cluster": "main-cluster",
+        "K8s.Namespace": "payment-ns",
+        "K8s.Pod": "payment-pod-123",
+        "K8s.Node": "worker-node-1",
+        "K8s.Workload": "payment-deployment",
+        "RequestLatency": 135.5,
+        "timestamp": 1622163600000
+    }
+
+### Generated Entity
+
+The above EMF log will generate the following Entity:
+    
+    
+    {
+        "KeyAttributes": {
+            "Type": "Service",
+            "Name": "PaymentService",
+            "Environment": "Production"
+        },
+        "Attributes": {
+            "PlatformType": "K8s",
+            "K8s.Cluster": "main-cluster",
+            "K8s.Namespace": "payment-ns",
+            "K8s.Pod": "payment-pod-123",
+            "K8s.Node": "worker-node-1",
+            "K8s.Workload": "payment-deployment"
+        }
+    }
+
+### Entity processing
+
+CloudWatch processes the entity information as follows:
+
+  * **KeyAttributes:**
+
+    * Determines entity type based on required fields
+
+    * For Service-type, extracts Service name and Environment
+
+    * These become the primary identifiers for the entity
+
+  * **Attributes:**
+
+    * Sets PlatformType based on included platform attributes
+
+    * Includes all relevant platform-specific information
+
+    * Maintains relationship context for the telemetry data
+
+
+
+
+CloudWatch uses this entity information to establish relationships between different pieces of telemetry data, enabling enhanced observability and contextual analysis of your applications and infrastructure. For more information, see [How to add related information to custom telemetry sent to CloudWatch ](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/adding-your-own-related-telemetry.html).
+
+###### Note
+
+Entity information helps CloudWatch create a complete picture of your application's telemetry data and its relationships within your infrastructure.
+