Using service-linked roles for CloudWatch Logs

Amazon CloudWatch Logs uses AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) service-linked roles. A service-linked role is a unique type of IAM role that is linked directly to CloudWatch Logs. Service-linked roles are predefined by CloudWatch Logs and include all the permissions that the service requires to call other AWS services on your behalf.

A service-linked role makes setting up CloudWatch Logs more efficient because you aren't required to manually add the necessary permissions. CloudWatch Logs defines the permissions of its service-linked roles, and unless defined otherwise, only CloudWatch Logs can assume those roles. The defined permissions include the trust policy and the permissions policy. That permissions policy cannot be attached to any other IAM entity.

For information about other services that support service-linked roles, see AWS Services That Work with IAM. Look for the services that have Yes in the Service-Linked Role column. Choose a Yes with a link to view the service-linked role documentation for that service.

Service-linked role permissions for CloudWatch Logs

CloudWatch Logs uses the service-linked role named AWSServiceRoleForLogDelivery. CloudWatch Logs uses this service-linked role to write logs directly to Firehose. For more information, see Enabling logging from AWS services.

The AWSServiceRoleForLogDelivery service-linked role trusts the following services to assume the role:

• logs.amazonaws.com

The role permissions policy allows CloudWatch Logs to complete the following actions on the specified resources:

• Action: firehose:PutRecord and firehose:PutRecordBatch on all Firehose streams that have a tag with a LogDeliveryEnabled key with a value of True. This tag is automatically attached to an Firehose stream when you create a subscription to deliver the logs to Firehose.

You must configure permissions to allow an IAM entity to create, edit, or delete a service-linked role. This entity could be a user, group, or role. For more information, see Service-Linked Role Permissions in the IAM User Guide.

Creating a service-linked role for CloudWatch Logs

You aren't required to manually create a service-linked role. When you set up logs to be sent directly to a Firehose stream in the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the AWS API, CloudWatch Logs creates the service-linked role for you.

If you delete this service-linked role, and then need to create it again, you can use the same process to recreate the role in your account. When you again set up logs to be sent directly to a Firehose stream, CloudWatch Logs creates the service-linked role for you again.

Editing a service-linked role for CloudWatch Logs

CloudWatch Logs does not allow you to edit AWSServiceRoleForLogDelivery, or any other service-linked role, after you create it. You cannot change the name of the role because various entities might reference the role. However, you can edit the description of the role using IAM. For more information, see Editing a Service-Linked Role in the IAM User Guide.

Deleting a service-linked role for CloudWatch Logs

If you no longer need to use a feature or service that requires a service-linked role, we recommend that you delete that role. That way you don’t have an unused entity that is not actively monitored or maintained. However, you must clean up the resources for your service-linked role before you can manually delete it.

Note

If the CloudWatch Logs service is using the role when you try to delete the resources, then the deletion might fail. If that happens, wait for a few minutes and try the operation again.

To delete CloudWatch Logs resources used by the AWSServiceRoleForLogDelivery service-linked role

• Stop sending logs directly to Firehose streams.

To manually delete the service-linked role using IAM

Use the IAM console, the AWS CLI, or the AWS API to delete the AWSServiceRoleForLogDelivery service-linked role. For more information, see Deleting a Service-Linked Role

Supported Regions for CloudWatch Logs service-linked roles

CloudWatch Logs supports using service-linked roles in all of the AWS Regions where the service is available. For more information, see CloudWatch Logs Regions and Endpoints.