Config—your AWS compliance watchdog
AWS Config is not merely a configuration management service; it is a sophisticated, fully integrated platform engineered to streamline compliance and enhance security across your AWS ecosystem. Config continuously monitors and records the configuration of your supported AWS resources, but its power truly shines in combination with other services. For example, CloudTrail provides detailed logs of API activity, and when used alongside Config, you gain deep insights for investigations, allowing you to pinpoint not just a resource’s current state but how and when it changed. This creates a cohesive framework for managing configurations, ensuring compliance, and strengthening your overall security posture. This is particularly advantageous in complex cloud architectures where the need for real-time compliance monitoring and automated remediation is paramount.
Key features
Config has the following key features:
- Configuration snapshots and history: Config continuously records and stores configuration snapshots for your resources. This enables you to audit changes, investigate incidents, and ensure compliance over time.
- Proactive compliance checks: Going beyond mere monitoring, Config allows you to define custom rules that automatically evaluate your resources for compliance with specific policies or best practices. This proactive approach helps you maintain a compliant and secure environment.
- Resource relationships: Config provides a visual representation of the relationships between resources in your AWS environment. This is invaluable for understanding dependencies and the potential impact of changes or incidents.
- Config Aggregator: For organizations operating in multiple AWS accounts and regions, Config Aggregator consolidates all configuration and compliance data into a single view. This centralized approach simplifies governance and compliance management.
- Automated remediation: Config can be used to automatically correct non-compliant resources. This feature significantly reduces the manual effort required to maintain compliance.
- Customizable rules: With Config, you are not limited to predefined rules. You can create custom rules using Lambda, allowing for tailored compliance checks that suit your specific requirements.