Introduction
Cloud deployment can be a headache without proper tracking tools. AWS and Azure provide extensive tracking capabilities for their respective platforms - CloudTrail and Activity Log. Both are designed to help users monitor, analyze, and manage cloud-based events. In this article, we're going to compare AWS CloudTrail and Azure Activity Log to see how they differ, what they do best, and ultimately help you make an informed decision.
Basic Comparison
AWS CloudTrail and Azure Activity Log may seem similar at first. But they differ in various areas, from setup to functionality. Here's a quick rundown of what each tool offers:
AWS CloudTrail
AWS CloudTrail is a log monitoring platform that provides an audit trail of all activity related to your account. It helps you get a comprehensive view of your AWS functions, such as logins, API calls, and resource modifications. AWS CloudTrail can be used to audit security policies, detect suspicious activity, and troubleshoot operational issues.
Azure Activity Log
Azure Activity Log helps you understand the activity in your Azure resources. It captures management and data operations performed on resources in the subscription, with optional diagnostic logging. Azure Activity Log is designed to give users an easy-to-use audit experience in the Azure portal.
Detailed Comparison
Here are some areas where Azure Activity Log and AWS CloudTrail differ.
Compatibility
AWS CloudTrail is cross-platform, which means it works with third-party tools like Splunk, CloudWatch, and Elastic Search. These tools can augment the functionality provided by CloudTrail by adding more real-time alerts, trend analysis charts, and security reporting features.
Azure Activity Log, on the other hand, is limited to the Azure ecosystem. It is optimized to work with the Azure portal, CLI, PowerShell, and DevOps tools. While Microsoft provides a direct ingestion option to Splunk, it is still not as flexible as AWS CloudTrail’s options.
Logs Retention
AWS CloudTrail provides a 90-day window for on-demand access to the logs. What's more, it supports indefinite retention of log records – but at additional cost. Hence, it is necessary to understand the storage requirements and plan for the retention period accordingly.
Azure Activity Log, on the other hand, provides a default retention period of 90 days, but it only supports a maximum of 365 days. The retention period settings are adjustable. However, the maximum does not exceed the 365-day limit.
Storage and cost
Both platforms provide free logging service up to a certain level. AWS CloudTrail provides 10,000 events per month, while Azure Activity Log has a limit of 100GB of data. If you need more storage, both services offer different pricing models based on their functionalities, events, and retention periods.
AWS CloudTrail stores its data in Amazon S3, and the cost is based on regions and storage class. Azure activity logs data are stored in a storage account, and the pricing varies, based on the data type, subsets or range of events, user storage options, among others.
Access Control
AWS CloudTrail requires the user to have permissions for the trail, which means that users can only view events that they are authorized to see.
Azure Activity Log, in contrast, assigns permissions to specific resources. This assignment defines who can create, view, and manage those particular resources. Microsoft's approach of dividing permissions (management planes and data planes) provides more granular control over access.
Conclusion
Both AWS CloudTrail and Azure Activity Log are excellent tools for auditing and tracking cloud-based events. Depending on your needs, each tool can make a valuable contribution to your cloud infrastructure.
AWS CloudTrail provides more flexibility, and its cross-platform compatibility makes it a more versatile tool, whereas Azure Activity Log is tightly integrated with Azure’s offering and provides more granular permission management.
Ultimately, the decision boils down to your needs, usage patterns, and costs. Before deciding on a platform, it is best to give each of them a try and see which platform suits your needs better.