Starting AWS Config with the AWS CLI

Considerations Step 1: Run the put-configuration-recorder command Step 2: Run the put-delivery-channel command Step 3: Run the start-configuration-recorder command

To start AWS Config with the AWS CLI, use the put-configuration-recorder, put-delivery-channel, and start-configuration-recorder commands, as follows:

The put-configuration-recorder command creates a new configuration recorder to record your specified resource configurations.
The put-delivery-channel command creates a delivery channel object to deliver configuration information to an S3 bucket and SNS topic.
After a delivery channel is created, the start-configuration-recorder starts recording your selected resource configurations, which you can see in your AWS account.

You can specify the name of the recorder and the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the IAM role assumed by AWS Config and used by the configuration recorder. AWS Config automatically assigns the name of "default" when creating the configuration recorder. You cannot change the name of the configuration recorder after it has been created. To change the configuration recorder name, you must delete it and create a new configuration recorder with a new name.

To set up AWS Config for Multi-Account Multi-Region Data Aggregation with the AWS CLI, see Setting Up an Aggregator Using the AWS Command Line Interface. You must create a separate configuration recorder for each Region in each AWS account that you would want to record configuration items.

Topics

Considerations
Step 1: Run the put-configuration-recorder command
Step 2: Run the put-delivery-channel command
Step 3: Run the start-configuration-recorder command

Prerequisites

Before setting up AWS Config with the AWS CLI, you need to create an S3 bucket, an SNS topic, and an IAM role with attached policies as prerequisites. You can then use the AWS CLI to specify the bucket, topic, and role for AWS Config. To set up your prerequisites for AWS Config, see Prerequisites.

One configuration recorder per Region per account

You can have only one configuration recorder channel for per AWS Region per AWS account, and the configuration recorder is required to use AWS Config.

One delivery channel per Region per account

You can have only one delivery channel per AWS Region region per AWS account, and the delivery channel is required to use AWS Config.

Your put-configuration-recorder command should look like the following example.


$ aws configservice put-configuration-recorder \
--configuration-recorder file://configurationRecorder.json \
--recording-group file://recordingGroup.json

This command uses the --configuration-recorder and ---recording-group fields.

Note

Recording group and configuration recorder

The --recording-group field specifies which resource types are recorded.

The --configuration-recorder field specifies name and roleArn as well as the default recording frequency for the configuration recorder (recordingMode). You can also use this field override the recording frequency for specific resource types.

put-configuration-recorder uses the following options for the --recording-group parameter:

allSupported=true – AWS Config records configuration changes for all supported resource types, excluding the global IAM resource types. When AWS Config adds support for a new resource type, AWS Config automatically starts recording resources of that type.
includeGlobalResourceTypes=true – This option is a bundle which only applies to the global IAM resource types: IAM users, groups, roles, and customer managed policies. These global IAM resource types can only be recorded by AWS Config in Regions where AWS Config was available before February 2022. You cannot be record the global IAM resouce types in Regions supported by AWS Config after February 2022. For a list of those Regions, see Recording AWS Resources | Global Resources.
Important
Aurora global clusters are recorded in all enabled Regions
The AWS::RDS::GlobalCluster resource type will be recorded in all supported AWS Config Regions where the configuration recorder is enabled, even if includeGlobalResourceTypes is set to false. The includeGlobalResourceTypes option is a bundle which only applies to IAM users, groups, roles, and customer managed policies.
If you do not want to record AWS::RDS::GlobalCluster in all enabled Regions, use one of the following recording strategies:
1. Record all current and future resource types with exclusions (EXCLUSION_BY_RESOURCE_TYPES), or
2. Record specific resource types (INCLUSION_BY_RESOURCE_TYPES).
For more information, see Selecting Which Resources are Recorded.
Important
includeGlobalResourceTypes and the exclusion recording strategy
The includeGlobalResourceTypes field has no impact on the EXCLUSION_BY_RESOURCE_TYPES recording strategy. This means that the global IAM resource types (IAM users, groups, roles, and customer managed policies) will not be automatically added as exclusions for exclusionByResourceTypes when includeGlobalResourceTypes is set to false.
The includeGlobalResourceTypes field should only be used to modify the AllSupported field, as the default for the AllSupported field is to record configuration changes for all supported resource types excluding the global IAM resource types. To include the global IAM resource types when AllSupported is set to true, make sure to set includeGlobalResourceTypes to true.
To exclude the global IAM resource types for the EXCLUSION_BY_RESOURCE_TYPES recording strategy, you need to manually add them to the resourceTypes field of exclusionByResourceTypes.

Note
Required and optional fields
Before you can set includeGlobalResourceTypes to true, set the allSupported field to true.
Optionally, you can set the useOnly field of RecordingStrategy to ALL_SUPPORTED_RESOURCE_TYPES.

Note
Overriding fields
If you set includeGlobalResourceTypesto false but list global IAM resource types in the resourceTypes field of RecordingGroup, AWS Config will still record configuration changes for those specified resource types regardless of if you set the includeGlobalResourceTypes field to false.
If you do not want to record configuration changes to the global IAM resource types (IAM users, groups, roles, and customer managed policies), make sure to not list them in the resourceTypes field in addition to setting the includeGlobalResourceTypes field to false.
recordingStrategy – Specifies the recording strategy for the configuration recorder. The recordingGroup.json file specifies which types of resources AWS Config will record:
- If you set the useOnly field of RecordingStrategy to ALL_SUPPORTED_RESOURCE_TYPES, AWS Config records configuration changes for all supported resource types, excluding the global IAM resource types. Optionally, you can set the allSupported field of RecordingGroup to true. When AWS Config adds support for a new resource type, AWS Config automatically starts recording resources of that type.
- If you set the useOnly field of RecordingStrategy to INCLUSION_BY_RESOURCE_TYPES, AWS Config records configuration changes for only the resource types you specify in the resourceTypes field of RecordingGroup.
- If you set the useOnly field of RecordingStrategy to EXCLUSION_BY_RESOURCE_TYPES, AWS Config records configuration changes for all supported resource types except the resource types that you specify as to exclude from being recorded in the resourceTypes field of ExclusionByResourceTypes.
Note
Required and optional fields
The recordingStrategy field is optional when you set the allSupported field of --recording-group to true.
The recordingStrategy field is optional when you list resource types in the resourceTypes field of --recording-group.
The recordingStrategy field is required if you list resource types to exclude from recording in the resourceTypes field of exclusionByResourceTypes.

Note
Overriding fields
If you choose EXCLUSION_BY_RESOURCE_TYPES for the recording strategy, the exclusionByResourceTypes field will override other properties in the request.
For example, even if you set includeGlobalResourceTypes to false, the global IAM resource types will still be automatically recorded in this option unless those resource types are specifically listed as exemptions in the resourceTypes field of exclusionByResourceTypes.

Note
Global resource types and the resource exclusion recording strategy
By default, if you choose the EXCLUSION_BY_RESOURCE_TYPES recording strategy, when AWS Config adds support for a new resource type in the Region where you set up the configuration recorder, including global resource types, AWS Config starts recording resources of that type automatically.
Unless specifically listed as exclusions, AWS::RDS::GlobalCluster will be recorded automatically in all supported AWS Config Regions were the configuration recorder is enabled.
IAM users, groups, roles, and customer managed policies will be recorded in the Region where you set up the configuration recorder if that is a Region where AWS Config was available before February 2022. You cannot be record the global IAM resouce types in Regions supported by AWS Config after February 2022. For a list of those Regions, see Recording AWS Resources | Global Resources.

The following shows the Request syntax for the recordingGroup.json.
```
{ 
    "allSupported": boolean,
    "exclusionByResourceTypes": { 
        "resourceTypes": [ Comma-separated list of resource types to exclude ]
    },
    "includeGlobalResourceTypes": boolean,
    "recordingStrategy": { 
        "useOnly": "Recording strategy for the configuration recorder"
    },
    "resourceTypes": [ Comma-separated list of resource types to include]
}
```
Note
Authorization Policies for AWS Organizations Can Prevent Acceses
If you use a pre-existing IAM role, make sure there is not an authorization policy for AWS Organizations which prevents AWS Config from having permission to record your resources. For more information on authorization policies for AWS Organizations, see Managing policies in AWS Organizations in the AWS Organizations User Guide.
Keep Minimum Permisions When Reusing an IAM role
If you use an AWS service that uses AWS Config, such as AWS Security Hub or AWS Control Tower, and an IAM role has already been created, make sure that the IAM role that you use when setting up AWS Config keeps the same minimum permissions as the pre-existing IAM role. You must do this to ensure that the other AWS service continues to run as expected.
For example, if AWS Control Tower has an IAM role that allows AWS Config to read S3 objects, make sure that the same permissions are granted to the IAM role you use when setting up AWS Config. Otherwise, it may interfere with how AWS Control Tower operates.

Note
High Number of AWS Config Evaluations
You may notice increased activity in your account during your initial month recording with AWS Config when compared to subsequent months. During the initial bootstrapping process, AWS Config runs evaluations on all the resources in your account that you have selected for AWS Config to record.
If you are running ephemeral workloads, you may see increased activity from AWS Config as it records configuration changes associated with creating and deleting these temporary resources. An ephemeral workload is a temporary use of computing resources that are loaded and run when needed. Examples include Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Spot Instances, Amazon EMR jobs, and AWS Auto Scaling. . If you want to avoid the increased activity from running ephemeral workloads, you can set up the configuration recorder to exclude these resource types from being recorded, or run these types of workloads in a separate account with AWS Config turned off to avoid increased configuration recording and rule evaluations.

Note
Region Availability
Before specifying a resource type for AWS Config to track, check Resource Coverage by Region Availability to see if the resource type is supported in the AWS Region where you are setting up AWS Config. If a resource type is supported by AWS Config in at least one Region, you can enable the recording of that resource type in all Regions supported by AWS Config, even if the specified resource type is not supported in the AWS Region where you are setting up AWS Config.

put-configuration-recorder uses the following fields for the --configuration-recorder parameter:

name – The name of the configuration recorder. AWS Config automatically assigns the name of "default" when creating the configuration recorder.
roleARN – Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the IAM role assumed by AWS Config and used by the configuration recorder.
recordingMode – Specifies the default recording frequency that AWS Config uses to record configuration changes. AWS Config supports Continuous recording and Daily recording. Continuous recording allows you to record configuration changes continuously whenever a change occurs. Daily recording allows you to receive a configuration item (CI) representing the most recent state of your resources over the last 24-hour period, only if it’s different from the previous CI recorded.
- recordingFrequency – The default recording frequency that AWS Config uses to record configuration changes.
  
  Note
  AWS Firewall Manager depends on continuous recording to monitor your resources. If you are using Firewall Manager, it is recommended that you set the recording frequency to Continuous.
- recordingModeOverrides – This field allows you to specify your overrides for the recording mode. It is an array of recordingModeOverride objects. Each recordingModeOverride object in the recordingModeOverrides array consists of three fields:
  - description – A description that you provide for the override.
  - recordingFrequency – The recording frequency that will be applied to all the resource types specified in the override.
  - resourceTypes – A comma-separated list that specifies which resource types AWS Config includes in the override.

Note

Required and optional fields

The recordingMode field for put-configuration-recorder is optional. By default, the recording frequency for the configuration recorder is set to Continuous recording.

Note

Limits

Daily recording is not supported for the following resource types:

AWS::Config::ResourceCompliance
AWS::Config::ConformancePackCompliance
AWS::Config::ConfigurationRecorder

For the Record all current and future supported resource types (ALL_SUPPORTED_RESOURCE_TYPES) recording strategy, these resource types will be set to Continuous recording.

The configurationRecorder.json file specifies name and roleArn as well as the default recording frequency for the configuration recorder (recordingMode). You can also use this field override the recording frequency for specific resource types.


{
  "name": "default",
  "roleARN": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/config-role",
  "recordingMode": {
    "recordingFrequency": CONTINUOUS or DAILY,
    "recordingModeOverrides": [ 
        { 
            "description": "Description you provide for the override",
            "recordingFrequency": CONTINUOUS or DAILY,
            "resourceTypes": [ Comma-separated list of resource types to include in the override ]
        }
    ]
  }
}

The following code examples show how to use PutDeliveryChannel.

CLI

AWS CLI

To create a delivery channel

The following command provides the settings for the delivery channel as JSON code:


aws configservice put-delivery-channel --delivery-channel file://deliveryChannel.json

The deliveryChannel.json file specifies the delivery channel attributes:


{
    "name": "default",
    "s3BucketName": "config-bucket-123456789012",
    "snsTopicARN": "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:config-topic",
    "configSnapshotDeliveryProperties": {
        "deliveryFrequency": "Twelve_Hours"
    }
}

This example sets the following attributes:

name - The name of the delivery channel. By default, AWS Config assigns the name default to a new delivery channel.You cannot update the delivery channel name with the put-delivery-channel command. For the steps to change the name, see Renaming the Delivery Channel.s3BucketName - The name of the Amazon S3 bucket to which AWS Config delivers configuration snapshots and configuration history files.If you specify a bucket that belongs to another AWS account, that bucket must have policies that grant access permissions to AWS Config. For more information, see Permissions for the Amazon S3 Bucket.

snsTopicARN - The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the Amazon SNS topic to which AWS Config sends notifications about configuration changes.If you choose a topic from another account, the topic must have policies that grant access permissions to AWS Config. For more information, see Permissions for the Amazon SNS Topic.

configSnapshotDeliveryProperties - Contains the deliveryFrequency attribute, which sets how often AWS Config delivers configuration snapshots and how often it invokes evaluations for periodic Config rules.

If the command succeeds, AWS Config returns no output. To verify the settings of your delivery channel, run the describe-delivery-channels command.

For API details, see PutDeliveryChannel in AWS CLI Command Reference.

PowerShell

Tools for PowerShell

Example 1: This example changes the deliveryFrequency property of an existing delivery channel.


Write-CFGDeliveryChannel -ConfigSnapshotDeliveryProperties_DeliveryFrequency TwentyFour_Hours -DeliveryChannelName default -DeliveryChannel_S3BucketName config-bucket-NA -DeliveryChannel_S3KeyPrefix my

For API details, see PutDeliveryChannel in AWS Tools for PowerShell Cmdlet Reference.

To finish turning on AWS Config, use the start-configuration-recorder command.


$ aws configservice start-configuration-recorder --configuration-recorder-name configRecorderName

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Document Conventions

Prerequisites

Verifying Setup

Starting AWS Config with the AWS CLI

Topics

Considerations

Contents

Step 1: Run the put-configuration-recorder command

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Step 2: Run the put-delivery-channel command

Step 3: Run the start-configuration-recorder command