AWS Cloudwatch

Description

The Amazon CloudWatch destination sends logs and metrics to Amazon CloudWatch. Logs are written to CloudWatch Logs, and metrics are published as CloudWatch metrics using the embedded metric format (EMF).

Supported Types

Metrics	Logs	Traces	Bindplane Collector
✓	✓		v1.0.0+

Configuration

Field	Type	Default	Description
telemetry_types*	telemetrySelector	["Logs", "Metrics"]	Specifies which types of telemetry to export.
region*	enum	us-east-1	The AWS region to send telemetry to.
Logs
log_group_name*	string	/bindplane/logs	The CloudWatch Logs log group to send logs to. Created automatically if it does not exist.
log_stream_name*	string	otel	The CloudWatch Logs log stream to send logs to. Created automatically if it does not exist.
raw_log	bool	false	When enabled, the log body is sent as a raw string instead of a structured JSON record.
logs_log_retention	enum	0	Number of days to retain logs in the log group. 0 retains logs forever.
Metrics
namespace	string	Bindplane	The CloudWatch metric namespace that all metrics are published under.
metrics_log_group_name*	string	/bindplane/metrics	The CloudWatch Logs log group used to deliver metrics via EMF.
metrics_log_stream_name*	string	otel	The CloudWatch Logs log stream used to deliver metrics via EMF.
dimension_rollup_option	enum	NoDimensionRollup	How metric dimensions are rolled up. One of NoDimensionRollup, SingleDimensionRollupOnly, ZeroAndSingleDimensionRollup.
enable_resource_to_telemetry_conversion	bool	false	When enabled, all resource attributes are converted to metric labels (dimensions).
retain_initial_value_of_delta_metric	bool	false	When enabled, the first value of a delta metric is exported instead of being dropped.
metrics_log_retention	enum	0	Number of days to retain the EMF metric logs. 0 retains logs forever.
Authentication
role_arn	string	""	Optional IAM role ARN for the exporter to assume. Leave blank to use the agent's ambient AWS credentials.
external_id	string	""	Optional external ID used when assuming the IAM role in cross-account scenarios.
endpoint	string	""	Overrides the CloudWatch endpoint instead of constructing it from the region. Useful for FIPS or PrivateLink endpoints.

IMPORTANT

Metrics are delivered using the embedded metric format (EMF): the exporter writes EMF log records to the metrics log group (metrics_log_group_name), and CloudWatch automatically extracts them into metrics under your namespace. This means one metrics pipeline produces two artifacts, the raw EMF records in CloudWatch Logs, and the extracted metrics in CloudWatch Metrics. Set metrics_log_retention to control storage cost of the raw EMF logs. EMF metrics are standard CloudWatch metrics and are subject to the 30-dimension limit.

Retry and Queuing

This destination supports retry settings for logs.

Sending Queue	Persistent Queue	Retry on Failure
		✓ (Logs Only)

Example Configuration

Send logs and metrics to CloudWatch in us-east-1, with logs in /bindplane/logs and metrics published under the Bindplane namespace via EMF in /bindplane/metrics.

Web Interface

Standalone Destination

apiVersion: bindplane.observiq.com/v1
kind: Destination
metadata:
  id: cloudwatch
  name: cloudwatch
spec:
  type: cloudwatch
  parameters:
    - name: telemetry_types
      value: ['Logs', 'Metrics']
    - name: region
      value: us-east-1
    - name: log_group_name
      value: /bindplane/logs
    - name: log_stream_name
      value: otel
    - name: namespace
      value: Bindplane
    - name: metrics_log_group_name
      value: /bindplane/metrics
    - name: metrics_log_stream_name
      value: otel