SMS Events Not Logging to CloudWatch

Question

SMS messages sent via AWS End User Messaging SMS (Pinpoint SMS Voice V2) are not generating any CloudWatch log events despite having a properly configured logging setup.

I have been testing and troubleshooting the configuration for many hours and I am successfully receiving SMS messages. I would expect at least 1 `TEXT_SENT` event to be logged.

I have used Amazon Q to analyze my setup and it has found no issues with the current configuration and suggested this might be a service level issue and recommended AWS support investigation.

**Current Configuration Status**

Verified Working Components:

*CloudWatch Log Group*: eum/messaging-events exists in us-east-2 (14-day retention)

*IAM Role*: eum-logging-service-role with permissions:
* logs:CreateLogGroup
* logs:CreateLogStream
* logs:DescribeLogStreams
* logs:PutLogEvents

Trust Policy:

Configuration Set: production-config-set exists with enabled CloudWatch event destination

Configuration Set Event Destination Details:
```
{
    "EventDestinationName": "sms-events-cloudwatch",
    "Enabled": true,
    "MatchingEventTypes": [
        "TEXT_BLOCKED", "TEXT_CARRIER_BLOCKED", "TEXT_CARRIER_UNREACHABLE",
        "TEXT_DELIVERED", "TEXT_INVALID", "TEXT_INVALID_MESSAGE", 
        "TEXT_PENDING", "TEXT_QUEUED", "TEXT_SENT", "TEXT_SPAM",
        "TEXT_SUCCESSFUL", "TEXT_UNKNOWN", "TEXT_UNREACHABLE",
        "MEDIA_ALL", "VOICE_ALL"
    ],
    "CloudWatchLogsDestination": {
        "IamRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/eum-logging-service-role",
        "LogGroupArn": "arn:aws:logs:us-east-2:123456789012:log-group:eum/messaging-events"
    }
}
```

**Testing Performed (Run in CloudShell)**

Test Message Sent:

Request:
```
aws pinpoint-sms-voice-v2 send-text-message \
  --destination-phone-number "+1 ?" \
  --origination-identity "+1  ?" \
  --message-body "Configuration test - $(date)" \
  --configuration-set-name "production-config-set" \
  --region us-east-2
```

Response:
```
{
    "MessageId": " ? "
}
```

Log Verification Results:
**Command 1 - Check Log Streams:**
```
aws logs describe-log-streams \
  --log-group-name "eum/messaging-events" \
  --region us-east-2 \
  --order-by LastEventTime \
  --descending
```

**Result:** 
```{"logStreams": []}```

**Command 2 - Check Recent Events:**
```
aws logs filter-log-events \
  --log-group-name "eum/messaging-events" \
  --region us-east-2 \
  --start-time $(date -d '15 minutes ago' +%s)000
```

**Result: **
```{"events": [], "searchedLogStreams": []}```

**Command 3 - Search for Message ID:**
```
aws logs filter-log-events \
  --log-group-name "eum/messaging-events" \
  --region us-east-2 \
  --filter-pattern " ? "
```

**Result: **
```{"events": [], "searchedLogStreams": []}```

**Troubleshooting Steps Attempted**
IAM Permission Verification: Confirmed all required CloudWatch Logs permissions are present
Trust Policy Validation: Verified SMS Voice service can assume the logging role
Configuration Set Verification: Confirmed event destination is properly configured and enabled
Log Group Verification: Confirmed target log group exists and is accessible
End-to-End Testing: Successfully sent SMS with configuration set parameter
Log Monitoring: Waited 15+ minutes and checked multiple times for log events

re:Post Agent · Answer

When AWS End User Messaging SMS events are not appearing in CloudWatch logs despite a seemingly correct configuration, there are several potential issues to investigate:

1. **Configuration Set Association**: When sending SMS messages, you must explicitly include the configuration set name in your API requests. Based on your test command, you are correctly including the `--configuration-set-name "production-config-set"` parameter, so this appears to be properly configured.

2. **Event Delivery Delay**: There can be a delay between when messages are sent and when events appear in CloudWatch. However, since you've waited 15+ minutes, this is likely not the issue.

3. **Event Types**: You've configured a comprehensive list of event types including `TEXT_SENT`, which should capture the initial sending of the message.

4. **IAM Role Permissions**: Your IAM role appears to have the necessary permissions for CloudWatch Logs operations.

5. **Missing Event Publishing**: One possibility is that event publishing might not be enabled. In the AWS End User Messaging SMS console, when configuring the event destination, there's a step to "Choose Event publishing" which needs to be turned on.

6. **API Request Format**: When using the SendTextMessage API, ensure that the configuration set name is correctly formatted and matches exactly with your created configuration set.

7. **Event Destination Status**: Verify that the event destination is actually enabled. Your configuration shows `"Enabled": true`, which is correct.

8. **Region Consistency**: Ensure that the configuration set, CloudWatch log group, and SMS sending operations are all in the same AWS region (us-east-2 in your case).

9. **Service Limits**: Check if you've reached any service limits or quotas that might affect event delivery.

10. **Event Destination Creation Time**: If the event destination was recently created, it might take some time to become fully operational.

If all these aspects are correctly configured and you're still not seeing events, it could indeed be a service-level issue that requires AWS Support intervention. You might want to try creating a new configuration set and event destination to see if that resolves the issue, or check if there are any AWS service health notifications that might be relevant.  
**Sources**  
[Set up End User Messaging logging | AWS re:Post](https://repost.aws/knowledge-center/logging-end-user-messaging)  
[Create an Amazon CloudWatch event destination in AWS End User Messaging SMS - AWS End User Messaging SMS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sms-voice/latest/userguide/configuration-sets-cloud-watch-add.html)  
[Edit an Amazon CloudWatch event destination in AWS End User Messaging SMS - AWS End User Messaging SMS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sms-voice/latest/userguide/configuration-sets-cloud-watch-edit.html)

User-1349818 · Answer

This behavior is expected for AWS End User Messaging – SMS (Pinpoint SMS Voice V2).

CloudWatch Logs event destinations only emit log entries when delivery status or error events are received from downstream carriers. Successful SMS sends without carrier delivery receipts—which are common depending on carrier and route—may not generate any CloudWatch log events, even when TEXT_SENT is included in the configuration set.

As a result, the absence of CloudWatch log streams does not indicate a configuration or IAM issue. To validate logging functionality, generate events such as TEXT_INVALID or carrier-blocked scenarios.

For production monitoring, AWS recommends using CloudWatch Metrics under the AWS/EndUserMessaging namespace or configuring an SNS event destination for more consistent event delivery.

SMS Events Not Logging to CloudWatch

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