AWS Route 53

Collect AWS Route53 logs with Elastic Agent

What is an Elastic integration?

This integration is powered by Elastic Agent. Elastic Agent is a single, unified way to add monitoring for logs, metrics, and other types of data to a host. It can also protect hosts from security threats, query data from operating systems, forward data from remote services or hardware, and more. Refer to our documentation for a detailed comparison between Beats and Elastic Agent.

Prefer to use Beats for this use case? See Filebeat modules for logs or Metricbeat modules for metrics.

Get started with integrations

See the integrations quick start guides to get started:

The Route 53 integration allows you to monitor Amazon Route 53—a DNS web service.

Use the Route 53 integration to collect and parse logs related to DNS activity. Then visualize that data in Kibana, create alerts to notify you if something goes wrong, and reference logs when troubleshooting an issue.

For example, you could use the data from this integration to spot unusual activity in your network traffic routing. You could also use the data to troubleshoot the underlying issue by looking at additional context in the logs, such as the forwarding rules and DNS endpoints for relevant custom names.

IMPORTANT: Extra AWS charges on AWS API requests will be generated by this integration. Please refer to the AWS integration for more details.

Data streams

The Route 53 integration collects one type of data: logs.

Logs help you keep a record of events happening in Amazon Route 53. This integration collects Public Hosted Zone logs and Resolver logs. Logs collected by the Route 53 integration include the names being queried, the highest registered domain, the DNS response code, the edge location that served the request, and more. See more details in the Logs reference.

Requirements

You need Elasticsearch for storing and searching your data and Kibana for visualizing and managing it. You can use our hosted Elasticsearch Service on Elastic Cloud, which is recommended, or self-manage the Elastic Stack on your own hardware.

Before using any AWS integration you will need:

AWS Credentials to connect with your AWS account.
AWS Permissions to make sure the user you're using to connect has permission to share the relevant data.

For more details about these requirements, please take a look at the AWS integration documentation.

Setup

Use this integration if you only need to collect data from the Route 53 service.

If you want to collect data from two or more AWS services, consider using the AWS integration. When you configure the AWS integration, you can collect data from as many AWS services as you'd like.

For step-by-step instructions on how to set up an integration, see the Getting started guide.

Advanced options

CloudWatch

The CloudWatch logs input has several advanced options to fit specific use cases.

Latency

AWS CloudWatch Logs sometimes takes extra time to make the latest logs available to clients like the Agent.

The CloudWatch integration offers the latency setting to address this scenario. Latency translates the query's time range to consider the CloudWatch Logs latency. For example, a 5m latency means the integration will query CloudWatch for logs available 5 minutes ago.

Number of workers

If you are collecting log events from multiple log groups using log_group_name_prefix, you should review the value of the number_of_workers.

The number_of_workers setting defines the number of workers assigned to reading from log groups. Each log group matching the log_group_name_prefix requires a worker to keep log ingestion as close to real-time as possible. For example, if log_group_name_prefix matches five log groups, then number_of_workers should be set to 5. The default value is 1.

Logs reference

Public Hosted Zone logs

The route53_public_logs dataset collects information about public DNS queries that Route 53 receives.

Query logs contain only the queries that DNS resolvers forward to Route 53. If a DNS resolver has already cached the response to a query (such as the IP address for a load balancer for example.com), the resolver will continue to return the cached response without forwarding the query to Route 53 until the TTL for the corresponding record expires.

Depending on how many DNS queries are submitted for a domain name (example.com) or subdomain name (www.example.com), which resolvers your users are using, and the TTL for the record, query logs might contain information about only one query out of every several thousand queries that are submitted to DNS resolvers.

See the Route 53 Documentation for more information.

An example event for route53_public looks as following:

{
    "awscloudwatch": {
        "log_group": "test",
        "ingestion_time": "2021-12-06T02:18:20.000Z",
        "log_stream": "test"
    },
    "agent": {
        "name": "docker-fleet-agent",
        "id": "c00f804f-7a02-441b-88f4-aeb9da6410d9",
        "type": "filebeat",
        "ephemeral_id": "1cf87179-f6b3-44b0-a46f-3aa6bc0f995f",
        "version": "8.0.0"
    },
    "elastic_agent": {
        "id": "c00f804f-7a02-441b-88f4-aeb9da6410d9",
        "version": "8.0.0",
        "snapshot": true
    },
    "dns": {
        "response_code": "NOERROR",
        "question": {
            "registered_domain": "example.com",
            "top_level_domain": "com",
            "name": "txt.example.com",
            "subdomain": "txt",
            "type": "TXT"
        }
    },
    "source": {
        "as": {
            "number": 721,
            "organization": {
                "name": "DoD Network Information Center"
            }
        },
        "address": "55.36.5.7",
        "ip": "55.36.5.7"
    },
    "tags": [
        "preserve_original_event",
        "forwarded",
        "aws-route53-logs"
    ],
    "network": {
        "protocol": "dns",
        "transport": "udp",
        "type": "ipv4",
        "iana_number": "17"
    },
    "cloud": {
        "provider": "aws",
        "region": "us-east-1"
    },
    "input": {
        "type": "aws-cloudwatch"
    },
    "@timestamp": "2017-12-13T08:16:05.744Z",
    "ecs": {
        "version": "8.0.0"
    },
    "related": {
        "hosts": [
            "txt.example.com"
        ],
        "ip": [
            "55.36.5.7"
        ]
    },
    "data_stream": {
        "namespace": "default",
        "type": "logs",
        "dataset": "aws.route53_public_logs"
    },
    "log.file.path": "test/test",
    "event": {
        "agent_id_status": "verified",
        "ingested": "2021-12-06T02:37:25Z",
        "original": "1.0 2017-12-13T08:16:05.744Z Z123412341234 txt.example.com TXT NOERROR UDP JFK5 55.36.5.7 -",
        "kind": "event",
        "id": "36545504503447201576705984279898091551471012413796646912",
        "category": [
            "network"
        ],
        "type": [
            "protocol"
        ],
        "dataset": "aws.route53_public_logs",
        "outcome": "success"
    },
    "aws": {
        "route53": {
            "hosted_zone_id": "Z123412341234",
            "edge_location": "JFK5"
        }
    }
}

Exported fields

Field	Description	Type
@timestamp	Event timestamp.	date
aws.edge_location	The edge location that served the request. Each edge location is identified by a three-letter code and an arbitrarily assigned number (for example, DFW3). The three-letter code typically corresponds with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) airport code for an airport near the edge location’s geographic location.	alias
aws.route53.edge_location	The Route 53 edge location that responded to the query. Each edge location is identified by a three-letter code and an arbitrary number, for example, DFW3. The three-letter code typically corresponds with the International Air Transport Association airport code for an airport near the edge location. (These abbreviations might change in the future.)	keyword
aws.route53.edns_client_subnet	A partial IP address for the client that the request originated from, if available from the DNS resolver.	keyword
aws.route53.hosted_zone_id	The ID of the hosted zone that is associated with all the DNS queries in this log.	keyword
awscloudwatch.ingestion_time	AWS CloudWatch ingest time	date
awscloudwatch.log_group	AWS CloudWatch Log Group name	keyword
awscloudwatch.log_stream	AWS CloudWatch Log Stream name	keyword
cloud.account.id	The cloud account or organization id used to identify different entities in a multi-tenant environment. Examples: AWS account id, Google Cloud ORG Id, or other unique identifier.	keyword
cloud.availability_zone	Availability zone in which this host, resource, or service is located.	keyword
cloud.image.id	Image ID for the cloud instance.	keyword
cloud.instance.id	Instance ID of the host machine.	keyword
cloud.instance.name	Instance name of the host machine.	keyword
cloud.machine.type	Machine type of the host machine.	keyword
cloud.project.id	The cloud project identifier. Examples: Google Cloud Project id, Azure Project id.	keyword
cloud.provider	Name of the cloud provider. Example values are aws, azure, gcp, or digitalocean.	keyword
cloud.region	Region in which this host, resource, or service is located.	keyword
container.id	Unique container id.	keyword
container.image.name	Name of the image the container was built on.	keyword
container.labels	Image labels.	object
container.name	Container name.	keyword
data_stream.dataset	Data stream dataset.	constant_keyword
data_stream.namespace	Data stream namespace.	constant_keyword
data_stream.type	Data stream type.	constant_keyword
dns.question.name	The name being queried. If the name field contains non-printable characters (below 32 or above 126), those characters should be represented as escaped base 10 integers (\DDD). Back slashes and quotes should be escaped. Tabs, carriage returns, and line feeds should be converted to \t, \r, and \n respectively.	keyword
dns.question.registered_domain	The highest registered domain, stripped of the subdomain. For example, the registered domain for "foo.example.com" is "example.com". This value can be determined precisely with a list like the public suffix list (http://publicsuffix.org). Trying to approximate this by simply taking the last two labels will not work well for TLDs such as "co.uk".	keyword
dns.question.subdomain	The subdomain is all of the labels under the registered_domain. If the domain has multiple levels of subdomain, such as "sub2.sub1.example.com", the subdomain field should contain "sub2.sub1", with no trailing period.	keyword
dns.question.top_level_domain	The effective top level domain (eTLD), also known as the domain suffix, is the last part of the domain name. For example, the top level domain for example.com is "com". This value can be determined precisely with a list like the public suffix list (http://publicsuffix.org). Trying to approximate this by simply taking the last label will not work well for effective TLDs such as "co.uk".	keyword
dns.question.type	The type of record being queried.	keyword
dns.response_code	The DNS response code.	keyword
ecs.version	ECS version this event conforms to. `ecs.version` is a required field and must exist in all events. When querying across multiple indices -- which may conform to slightly different ECS versions -- this field lets integrations adjust to the schema version of the events.	keyword
error.message	Error message.	match_only_text
event.dataset	Event dataset	constant_keyword
event.module	Event module	constant_keyword
host.architecture	Operating system architecture.	keyword
host.containerized	If the host is a container.	boolean
host.domain	Name of the domain of which the host is a member. For example, on Windows this could be the host's Active Directory domain or NetBIOS domain name. For Linux this could be the domain of the host's LDAP provider.	keyword
host.hostname	Hostname of the host. It normally contains what the `hostname` command returns on the host machine.	keyword
host.id	Unique host id. As hostname is not always unique, use values that are meaningful in your environment. Example: The current usage of `beat.name`.	keyword
host.ip	Host ip addresses.	ip
host.mac	Host MAC addresses. The notation format from RFC 7042 is suggested: Each octet (that is, 8-bit byte) is represented by two [uppercase] hexadecimal digits giving the value of the octet as an unsigned integer. Successive octets are separated by a hyphen.	keyword
host.name	Name of the host. It can contain what hostname returns on Unix systems, the fully qualified domain name (FQDN), or a name specified by the user. The recommended value is the lowercase FQDN of the host.	keyword
host.os.build	OS build information.	keyword
host.os.codename	OS codename, if any.	keyword
host.os.family	OS family (such as redhat, debian, freebsd, windows).	keyword
host.os.kernel	Operating system kernel version as a raw string.	keyword
host.os.name	Operating system name, without the version.	keyword
host.os.name.text	Multi-field of `host.os.name`.	match_only_text
host.os.platform	Operating system platform (such centos, ubuntu, windows).	keyword
host.os.version	Operating system version as a raw string.	keyword
host.type	Type of host. For Cloud providers this can be the machine type like `t2.medium`. If vm, this could be the container, for example, or other information meaningful in your environment.	keyword
input.type	Type of Filebeat input.	keyword
log.file.path	Path to the log file.	keyword
message	For log events the message field contains the log message, optimized for viewing in a log viewer. For structured logs without an original message field, other fields can be concatenated to form a human-readable summary of the event. If multiple messages exist, they can be combined into one message.	match_only_text
network.iana_number	IANA Protocol Number (https://www.iana.org/assignments/protocol-numbers/protocol-numbers.xhtml). Standardized list of protocols. This aligns well with NetFlow and sFlow related logs which use the IANA Protocol Number.	keyword
network.protocol	In the OSI Model this would be the Application Layer protocol. For example, `http`, `dns`, or `ssh`. The field value must be normalized to lowercase for querying.	keyword
network.transport	Same as network.iana_number, but instead using the Keyword name of the transport layer (udp, tcp, ipv6-icmp, etc.) The field value must be normalized to lowercase for querying.	keyword
network.type	In the OSI Model this would be the Network Layer. ipv4, ipv6, ipsec, pim, etc The field value must be normalized to lowercase for querying.	keyword
related.hosts	All hostnames or other host identifiers seen on your event. Example identifiers include FQDNs, domain names, workstation names, or aliases.	keyword
related.ip	All of the IPs seen on your event.	ip
source.address	Some event source addresses are defined ambiguously. The event will sometimes list an IP, a domain or a unix socket. You should always store the raw address in the `.address` field. Then it should be duplicated to `.ip` or `.domain`, depending on which one it is.	keyword
source.as.number	Unique number allocated to the autonomous system. The autonomous system number (ASN) uniquely identifies each network on the Internet.	long
source.as.organization.name	Organization name.	keyword
source.as.organization.name.text	Multi-field of `source.as.organization.name`.	match_only_text
source.geo.city_name	City name.	keyword
source.geo.continent_name	Name of the continent.	keyword
source.geo.country_iso_code	Country ISO code.	keyword
source.geo.country_name	Country name.	keyword
source.geo.location	Longitude and latitude.	geo_point
source.geo.region_iso_code	Region ISO code.	keyword
source.geo.region_name	Region name.	keyword
source.ip	IP address of the source (IPv4 or IPv6).	ip
tags	List of keywords used to tag each event.	keyword

Resolver logs

The route53_resolver_logs dataset collects all DNS queries & responses for:

Queries that originate in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud VPCs that you specify, as well as the responses to those DNS queries.
Queries from on-premises resources that use an inbound Resolver endpoint.
Queries that use an outbound Resolver endpoint for recursive DNS resolution.
Queries that use Route 53 Resolver DNS Firewall rules to block, allow, or monitor domain lists.

As is standard for DNS resolvers, resolvers cache DNS queries for a length of time determined by the time-to-live (TTL) for the resolver. The Route 53 Resolver caches queries that originate in your VPCs, and responds from the cache whenever possible to speed up responses. Resolver query logging logs only unique queries, not queries that Resolver is able to respond to from the cache.

For example, suppose that an EC2 instance in one of the VPCs that a query logging configuration is logging queries for, submits a request for accounting.example.com. Resolver caches the response to that query, and logs the query. If the same instance’s elastic network interface makes a query for accounting.example.com within the TTL of the Resolver’s cache, Resolver responds to the query from the cache. The second query is not logged.