How do I resolve the error that I receive in CloudFormation when I try to publish slow logs to CloudWatch Logs?

Short description

To resolve this error, use a separate policy at the log group level to allow Amazon Elasticsearch Service (Amazon ES) to push logs to CloudWatch Logs. Then, use AccessPolicies in the AWS::Elasticsearch::Domain resource to set permissions for Amazon ES domains.

The following steps show you how to publish slow logs to CloudWatch with CloudFormation by using an AWS Lambda-backed custom resource created in Python 3.6. The custom resource triggers a Lambda function, which triggers the PutResourcePolicy API to publish slow logs.

Note: When CloudFormation enables log publishing to CloudWatch, the AWS::Logs::LogGroup resource doesn't have a property to assign a resource access policy. The resource access policy specified for the CloudWatch Logs log group should grant sufficient permissions for Amazon ES to publish the log stream. You can't create an access policy permission directly using a CloudFormation resource. This is because the PutResourcePolicy API call for the AWS::Logs::LogGroup resource isn't supported by CloudFormation.

Resolution

Note: If you receive errors when running AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) commands, make sure that you’re using the most recent AWS CLI version.

The following CloudFormation template uses a custom resource to get the name of the log group. Then, the template applies the policy that allows the Amazon ES service to make API calls on the log group.

1.    Create a CloudFormation template called ESlogsPermission.yaml:

Copyright Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this
software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software
without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify,
merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

AWSTemplateFormatVersion: 2010-09-09
Description: AWS cloudFormation template to publish slow logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs.
Parameters:
  LogGroupName:
    Type: String
    Description: Please don't change the log group name while updating
  ESDomainName:
    Description: A name for the Amazon Elastic Search domain
    Type: String
  LambdaFunctionName:
    Description: Lambda Function Name
    Type: String
Resources:
  AwsLogGroup:
    Type: 'AWS::Logs::LogGroup'
    Properties:
      LogGroupName: !Ref LogGroupName
  LambdaLogGroup:
    Type: 'AWS::Logs::LogGroup'
    Properties:
      LogGroupName: !Sub '/aws/lambda/${LambdaFunctionName}'
  LambdaExecutionRole:
    Type: 'AWS::IAM::Role'
    Properties:
      AssumeRolePolicyDocument:
        Version: 2012-10-17
        Statement:
          - Effect: Allow
            Principal:
              Service:
                - lambda.amazonaws.com
            Action:
              - 'sts:AssumeRole'
      Path: /
      Policies:
        - PolicyName: root1
          PolicyDocument:
            Version: 2012-10-17
            Statement:
              - Effect: Allow
                Action:
                  - 'logs:CreateLogStream'
                  - 'logs:PutLogEvents'
                Resource: !Sub >-
                  arn:aws:logs:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:log-group:/aws/lambda/${LambdaFunctionName}:log-stream:*
        - PolicyName: root2
          PolicyDocument:
            Version: 2012-10-17
            Statement:
              - Effect: Allow
                Action:
                  - 'logs:CreateLogGroup'
                Resource:
                  - !Sub >-
                    arn:aws:logs:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:log-group:/aws/lambda/${LambdaFunctionName}
                  - !Sub >-
                    arn:aws:logs:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:log-group:/${LogGroupName}
              - Effect: Allow
                Action:
                  - 'logs:PutResourcePolicy'
                  - 'logs:DeleteResourcePolicy'
                Resource: !Sub 'arn:aws:logs:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:*'
  logGroupPolicyFunction:
    DependsOn: LambdaLogGroup
    Type: 'AWS::Lambda::Function'
    Properties:
      FunctionName: !Ref LambdaFunctionName
      Code:
        ZipFile: >
          import urllib3

          import json

          import boto3

          http = urllib3.PoolManager()

          SUCCESS = "SUCCESS"

          FAILED = "FAILED"

          def send(event, context, responseStatus, responseData,
          physicalResourceId=None, noEcho=False):
              responseUrl = event['ResponseURL']
              print(responseUrl)
              responseBody = {}
              responseBody['Status'] = responseStatus
              responseBody['Reason'] = 'See the details in CloudWatch Log Stream: ' + context.log_stream_name
              responseBody['PhysicalResourceId'] = physicalResourceId or context.log_stream_name
              responseBody['StackId'] = event['StackId']
              responseBody['RequestId'] = event['RequestId']
              responseBody['LogicalResourceId'] = event['LogicalResourceId']
              responseBody['NoEcho'] = noEcho
              responseBody['Data'] = responseData
              json_responseBody = json.dumps(responseBody)
              print("Response body:\n" + json_responseBody)
              headers = {
                  'content-type' : '',
                  'content-length' : str(len(json_responseBody))
              }
              try:
                  response = http.request('PUT',responseUrl,body=json_responseBody.encode('utf-8'),headers=headers)
                  print("Status code: " + response.reason)
              except Exception as e:
                  print("send(..) failed executing requests.put(..): " + str(e))
          def handler(event, context):
              logsgroup_policy_name=event['ResourceProperties']['CWLOGS_NAME']
              cw_log_group_arn=event['ResourceProperties']['CWLOG_ARN']
              cwlogs = boto3.client('logs')
              loggroup_policy={
                  "Version": "2012-10-17",
                  "Statement": [{
                  "Sid": "",
                  "Effect": "Allow",
                  "Principal": { "Service": "es.amazonaws.com"},
                  "Action":[
                  "logs:PutLogEvents",
                  " logs:PutLogEventsBatch",
                  "logs:CreateLogStream"
                      ],
                  'Resource': f'{cw_log_group_arn}'
                  }]
                  }
              loggroup_policy = json.dumps(loggroup_policy)
              if(event['RequestType'] == 'Delete'):
                  print("Request Type:",event['RequestType'])
                  cwlogs.delete_resource_policy(
                  policyName=logsgroup_policy_name
                 )
                  responseData={}
                  send(event, context, SUCCESS, responseData)
              elif(event['RequestType'] == 'Create'):
                  try:
                      cwlogs.put_resource_policy(
                      policyName = logsgroup_policy_name,
                      policyDocument = loggroup_policy
                       )
                      responseData={}
                      print("Sending response to custom resource")
                      send(event, context, SUCCESS, responseData)
                  except Exception as  e:
                      print('Failed to process:', e)
                      send(event, context, FAILED, responseData)
              elif(event['RequestType'] == 'Update'):
                  try:
                      responseData={}
                      print("Update is not supported on this resource")
                      send(event, context, SUCCESS, responseData)
                  except Exception as  e:
                      print('Failed to process:', e)
                      send(event, context, FAILED, responseData)
      Handler: index.handler
      Role: !GetAtt 
        - LambdaExecutionRole
        - Arn
      Runtime: python3.6
  logGroupPolicycustomresource:
    Type: 'Custom::LogGroupPolicy'
    Properties:
      ServiceToken: !GetAtt 
        - logGroupPolicyFunction
        - Arn
      CWLOGS_NAME: !Ref LogGroupName
      CWLOG_ARN: !GetAtt 
        - AwsLogGroup
        - Arn
  ElasticsearchDomain:
    Type: 'AWS::Elasticsearch::Domain'
    DependsOn: logGroupPolicycustomresource
    Properties:
      DomainName: !Ref ESDomainName
      ElasticsearchVersion: '6.2'
      EBSOptions:
        EBSEnabled: true
        VolumeSize: 10
        VolumeType: gp2
      LogPublishingOptions:
        SEARCH_SLOW_LOGS:
          CloudWatchLogsLogGroupArn: !GetAtt 
            - AwsLogGroup
            - Arn
          Enabled: true

2.    To launch a CloudFormation stack with the ESlogsPermission.yaml file, use the CloudFormation console or the following AWS CLI command:

aws cloudformation create-stack --stack-name yourStackName --template-body file://yourTemplateName --parameters ParameterKey=LogGroupName,ParameterValue=Your-LogGroup-Name, ParameterKey=ESDomainName,ParameterValue=Your-ES-Name --capabilities CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM --region yourRegion

Note: Replace yourStackName, yourTemplateName, Your-LogGroup-Name, Your-ES-Name, and yourRegion with your values.

The CloudFormation template does the following for you:

1.    Creates a log group.

2.    Creates a Lambda function. The Lambda function gets the log group name from the Parameters section of the CloudFormation template by using a custom resource. The Lambda function calls the PutResourcePolicy API for the log group name. The log group must have a policy to allow the Amazon ES domain to put the logs.

3.    Creates a Lambda-backed custom resource to invoke the Lambda function created in step 2. The custom resource helps apply PutResourcePolicy on the log group Amazon Resource Name (ARN) so that Amazon ES can stream logs. In the template, CloudFormation uses a custom resource to create an Amazon ES domain with the LogPublishingOption.