Using the create-trail command to create a trail - AWS CloudTrail

Using the create-trail command to create a trail

You can run the create-trail command to create trails that are specifically configured to meet your business needs. When using the AWS CLI, remember that your commands run in the AWS Region configured for your profile. If you want to run the commands in a different Region, either change the default Region for your profile, or use the --region parameter with the command.

Creating a trail that applies to all Regions

To create a trail that applies to all Regions, use the --is-multi-region-trail option. By default, the create-trail command creates a trail that logs events only in the AWS Region where the trail was created. To ensure that you log global service events and capture all management event activity in your AWS account, you should create trails that log events in all AWS Regions.

Note

When you create a trail, if you specify an Amazon S3 bucket that was not created with CloudTrail, you need to attach the appropriate policy. See Amazon S3 bucket policy for CloudTrail.

The following example creates a trail with the name my-trail and a tag with a key named Group with a value of Marketing that delivers logs from all Regions to an existing bucket named amzn-s3-demo-bucket.

aws cloudtrail create-trail --name my-trail --s3-bucket-name amzn-s3-demo-bucket --is-multi-region-trail --tags-list [key=Group,value=Marketing]

To confirm that your trail exists in all Regions, the IsMultiRegionTrail element in the output shows true.

{ "IncludeGlobalServiceEvents": true, "Name": "my-trail", "TrailARN": "arn:aws:cloudtrail:us-east-2:123456789012:trail/my-trail", "LogFileValidationEnabled": false, "IsMultiRegionTrail": true, "IsOrganizationTrail": false, "S3BucketName": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket" }
Note

Use the start-logging command to start logging for your trail.

Start logging for the trail

After the create-trail command completes, run the start-logging command to start logging for that trail.

Note

When you create a trail with the CloudTrail console, logging is turned on automatically.

The following example starts logging for a trail.

aws cloudtrail start-logging --name my-trail

This command doesn't return an output, but you can use the get-trail-status command to verify that logging has started.

aws cloudtrail get-trail-status --name my-trail

To confirm that the trail is logging, the IsLogging element in the output shows true.

{ "LatestDeliveryTime": 1441139757.497, "LatestDeliveryAttemptTime": "2015-09-01T20:35:57Z", "LatestNotificationAttemptSucceeded": "2015-09-01T20:35:57Z", "LatestDeliveryAttemptSucceeded": "2015-09-01T20:35:57Z", "IsLogging": true, "TimeLoggingStarted": "2015-09-01T00:54:02Z", "StartLoggingTime": 1441068842.76, "LatestDigestDeliveryTime": 1441140723.629, "LatestNotificationAttemptTime": "2015-09-01T20:35:57Z", "TimeLoggingStopped": "" }

Creating a single-Region trail

The following command creates a single-Region trail. The specified Amazon S3 bucket must already exist and have the appropriate CloudTrail permissions applied. For more information, see Amazon S3 bucket policy for CloudTrail.

aws cloudtrail create-trail --name my-trail --s3-bucket-name amzn-s3-demo-bucket

The following is example output.

{ "IncludeGlobalServiceEvents": true, "Name": "my-trail", "TrailARN": "arn:aws:cloudtrail:us-east-2:123456789012:trail/my-trail", "LogFileValidationEnabled": false, "IsMultiRegionTrail": false, "IsOrganizationTrail": false, "S3BucketName": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket" }

Creating a trail that applies to all Regions and that has log file validation enabled

To enable log file validation when using create-trail, use the --enable-log-file-validation option.

For information about log file validation, see Validating CloudTrail log file integrity.

The following example creates a trail that delivers logs from all Regions to the specified bucket. The command uses the --enable-log-file-validation option.

aws cloudtrail create-trail --name my-trail --s3-bucket-name amzn-s3-demo-bucket --is-multi-region-trail --enable-log-file-validation

To confirm that log file validation is enabled, the LogFileValidationEnabled element in the output shows true.

{ "IncludeGlobalServiceEvents": true, "Name": "my-trail", "TrailARN": "arn:aws:cloudtrail:us-east-2:123456789012:trail/my-trail", "LogFileValidationEnabled": true, "IsMultiRegionTrail": true, "IsOrganizationTrail": false, "S3BucketName": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket" }