aws-health-aware

AWS Health Aware (AHA) is an automated notification tool for sending well-formatted AWS Health Alerts to Amazon Chime, Slack, Microsoft Teams, E-mail or an AWS Eventbridge compatible endpoint as long as you have Business or Enterprise Support.

AHA is an incident management & communication framework to provide real-time alert customers when there are active AWS event(s). For customers with AWS Organizations, customers can get aggregated active account level events of all the accounts in the Organization. Customers not using AWS Organizations still benefit alerting at the account level.

Architecture

Configuring an Endpoint

AHA can send to multiple endpoints (webhook URLs, Email or EventBridge). To use any of these you'll need to set it up before-hand as some of these are done on 3rd party websites. We'll go over some of the common ones here.

Creating a Amazon Chime Webhook URL

You will need to have access to create a Amazon Chime room and manage webhooks.

1. Create a new chat room for events (i.e. aws_events).
2. In the chat room created in step 1, click on the gear icon and click manage webhooks and bots.
3. Click Add webhook.
4. Type a name for the bot (e.g. AWS Health Bot) and click Create.
5. Click Copy URL, we will need it for the deployment.

Creating a Slack Webhook URL

You will need to have access to add a new channel and app to your Slack Workspace.

Webhook

1. Create a new channel for events (i.e. aws_events)
2. In your browser go to: workspace-name.slack.com/apps where workspace-name is the name of your Slack Workspace.
3. In the search bar, search for: Incoming Webhooks and click on it.
4. Click on Add to Slack.
5. From the dropdown click on the channel your created in step 1 and click Add Incoming Webhooks integration.
6. From this page you can change the name of the webhook (i.e. AWS Bot), the icon/emoji to use, etc.
7. For the deployment we will need the Webhook URL.

Workflow

1. Create a new channel for events (i.e. aws_events)
2. Within Slack click on your workspace name drop down arrow in the upper left. click on Tools > Workflow Builder
3. Click Create in the upper right hand corner of the Workflow Builder and give your workflow a name click next.
4. Click on select next to Webhook and then click add variable add the following variables one at a time in the Key section. All data type will be text:
   -text
   -accounts
   -resources
   -service
   -region
   -status
   -start_time
   -event_arn
   -updates
5. When done you should have 9 variables, double check them as they are case sensitive and will be referenced. When checked click on done and next.
6. Click on add step and then on the add a workflow step click add next to send a message.
7. Under send this message to: select the channel you created in Step 1 in message text you can should recreate this following:
   
8. Click save and the click publish
9. For the deployment we will need the Webhook URL.

Creating a Microsoft Teams Webhook URL

You will need to have access to add a new channel and app to your Microsoft Teams channel.

1. Create a new channel for events (i.e. aws_events)
2. Within your Microsoft Team go to Apps
3. In the search bar, search for: Incoming Webhook and click on it.
4. Click on Add to team.
5. Type in the name of your on the channel your created in step 1 and click Set up a connector.
6. From this page you can change the name of the webhook (i.e. AWS Bot), the icon/emoji to use, etc. Click Create when done.
7. For the deployment we will need the webhook URL that is presented.

Configuring an Email

1. You'll be able to send email alerts to one or many addresses. However, you must first verify the email(s) in the Simple Email Service (SES) console.
2. AHA utilizes Amazon SES so all you need is to enter in a To: address and a From: address.
3. You may have to allow a rule in your environment so that the emails don't get labeled as SPAM. This will be something you have to congfigure on your own.

Creating a Amazon EventBridge Ingestion ARN

1. In the AWS Console, search for Amazon EventBridge.
2. On the left hand side, click Event buses.
3. Under Custom event bus click Create event bus
4. Give your Event bus a name and click Create.
5. For the deployment we will need the Name of the Event bus (not the ARN).

Setup

There are 2 available ways to deploy AHA, both are done via the same CloudFormation template to make deployment as easy as possible.

The 2 deployment methods for AHA are:

1. AHA for users NOT using AWS Organizations: Users NOT using AWS Organizations will be able to get Service Health Dashboard (SHD) events ONLY.

2. AHA for users who ARE using AWS Organizations: Users who ARE using AWS Organizations will be able to get Service Health Dashboard (SHD) events AND aggregated Personal Health Dashboard (PHD) events for all accounts in their AWS Organization. This option offers two deployment methods –

   DEPLOYMENT IN AWS MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT (Available by default when customers select “Yes” for IsOrganizationsEnabled )
   DEPLOYMENT IN AWS MEMBER ACCOUNT (Requires additional setup, step by step instructions are available)

AHA Without AWS Organizations

Prerequisites

1. Have at least 1 endpoint configured (you can have multiple)
2. Have access to deploy Cloudformation Templates with the following resources: AWS IAM policies, Amazon DynamoDB Tables, AWS Lambda, Amazon EventBridge and AWS Secrets Manager.

Deployment

1. Clone the AHA package that from this repository. If you're not familiar with the process, here is some documentation. The URL to clone is in the upper right-hand corner labeled Clone uri
2. In the root of this package you'll have two files; handler.py and messagegenerator.py. Use your tool of choice to zip them both up and name them with a unique name (e.g. aha-v1.8.zip). Note: Putting the version number in the name will make upgrading AHA seamless.
3. Upload the .zip you created in Step 1 to an S3 in the same region you plan to deploy this in.
4. In your AWS console go to CloudFormation.
5. In the CloudFormation console click Create stack > With new resources (standard).
6. Under Template Source click Upload a template file and click Choose file and select 02_CFN_DEPLOY_AHA.yml Click Next.
7. -In Stack name type a stack name (i.e. AHA-Deployment).
   -In AWSOrganizationsEnabled leave it set to default which is No. If you do have AWS Organizations enabled and you want to aggregate across all your accounts, you should be following the step for AHA for users who ARE using AWS Organizations
   -In AWSHealthEventType select whether you want to receive all event types or only issues.
   -In S3Bucket type just the bucket name of the S3 bucket used in step 3 (e.g. my-aha-bucket).
   -In S3Key type just the name of the .zip file you created in Step 2 (e.g. aha-v1.8.zip).
   -In the Communications Channels section enter the URLs, Emails and/or ARN of the endpoints you configured previously.
   -In the Email Setup section enter the From and To Email addresses as well as the Email subject. If you aren't configuring email, just leave it as is.
   -In EventSearchBack enter in the amount of hours you want to search back for events. Default is 1 hour.
   -In Regions enter in the regions you want to search for events in. Default is all regions. You can filter for up to 10, comma separated (e.g. us-east-1, us-east-2).
8. Scroll to the bottom and click Next.
9. Scroll to the bottom and click Next again.
10. Scroll to the bottom and click the checkbox and click Create stack.
11. Wait until Status changes to CREATE_COMPLETE (roughly 2-4 minutes).

AHA With AWS Organizations

Prerequisites

1. Enable Health Organizational View from the console, so that you can aggregate all Personal Health Dashboard (PHD) events for all accounts in your AWS Organization.
2. Have at least 1 endpoint configured (you can have multiple)
3. Have access to deploy Cloudformation Templates with the following resources: AWS IAM policies, Amazon DynamoDB Tables, AWS Lambda, Amazon EventBridge and AWS Secrets Manager in the AWS Organizations Master Account.

Deployment in AWS Organization (Management Account)

1. Clone the AHA package that from this repository. If you're not familiar with the process, here is some documentation. The URL to clone is in the upper right-hand corner labeled Clone uri
2. In the root of this package you'll have two files; handler.py and messagegenerator.py. Use your tool of choice to zip them both up and name them with a unique name (e.g. aha-v1.8.zip). Note: Putting the version number in the name will make upgrading AHA seamless.
3. Upload the .zip you created in Step 1 to an S3 in the same region you plan to deploy this in.
4. In your AWS console go to CloudFormation.
5. In the CloudFormation console click Create stack > With new resources (standard).
6. Under Template Source click Upload a template file and click Choose file and select 02_CFN_DEPLOY_AHA.yml Click Next.
7. -In Stack name type a stack name (i.e. AHA-Deployment).
   -In AWSOrganizationsEnabled change the dropdown to Yes. If you do NOT have AWS Organizations enabled you should be following the steps for AHA for users who are NOT using AWS Organizations
   -In AWSHealthEventType select whether you want to receive all event types or only issues.
   -In S3Bucket type S3BucketName the bucket name of the S3 bucket used in step 3 (e.g. my-aha-bucket).
   -In S3Key type .zipfileName the name of the .zip file you created in Step 2 (e.g. aha-v1.8.zip).
   -In the Communications Channels section enter the URLs, Emails and/or ARN of the endpoints you configured previously.
   -In the Email Setup section enter the From and To Email addresses as well as the Email subject. If you aren't configuring email, just leave it as is.
   -In EventSearchBack enter in the amount of hours you want to search back for events. Default is 1 hour.
   -In Regions enter in the regions you want to search for events in. Default is all regions. You can filter for up to 10, comma separated with (e.g. us-east-1, us-east-2).
8. Scroll to the bottom and click Next.
9. Scroll to the bottom and click Next again.
10. Scroll to the bottom and click the checkbox and click Create stack.
11. Wait until Status changes to CREATE_COMPLETE (roughly 2-4 minutes).

Deployment in AWS Organization (Member Account - Requires Additional Setup than the Default Options!)

1. Clone the AHA package that from this repository. If you're not familiar with the process, here is some documentation. The URL to clone is in the upper right-hand corner labeled Clone uri
2. In your top-level management account AWS console go to CloudFormation
3. In the CloudFormation console click Create stack > With new resources (standard).
4. Under Template Source click Upload a template file and click Choose file and select 01_CFN_MGMT_ROLE.yml Click Next.
5. -In Stack name type a stack name (i.e. aha-assume-role).
   -In OrgMemberAccountId put in the account id of the member account you plan to run AHA in (e.g. 000123456789).
6. Scroll to the bottom and click Next.
7. Scroll to the bottom and click Next again.
8. Scroll to the bottom and click the checkbox and click Create stack.
9. Wait until Status changes to CREATE_COMPLETE (roughly 1-2 minutes). This will create an IAM role with the necessary AWS Organizations and AWS Health API permissions for the member account to assume.
10. In the Outputs tab, there will be a value for AWSHealthAwareRoleForPHDEventsArn (e.g. arn:aws:iam::000123456789:role/aha-org-role-AWSHealthAwareRoleForPHDEvents-ABCSDE12201), copy that down as you will need it for step 16.
11. Back In the root of the package you downloaded/cloned you'll have two files; handler.py and messagegenerator.py. Use your tool of choice to zip them both up and name them with a unique name (e.g. aha-v1.8.zip). Note: Putting the version number in the name will make upgrading AHA seamless.
12. Upload the .zip you created in Step 10 to an S3 in the same region you plan to deploy this in.
13. Login to the member account you plan to deploy this in and in your AWS console go to CloudFormation.
14. In the CloudFormation console click Create stack > With new resources (standard).
15. Under Template Source click Upload a template file and click Choose file and select 02_CFN_DEPLOY_AHA.yml Click Next.
    -In Stack name type a stack name (i.e. AHA-Deployment).
    -In AWSOrganizationsEnabled change the dropdown to Yes. If you do NOT have AWS Organizations enabled you should be following the steps for AHA for users who are NOT using AWS Organizations
    -In AWSHealthEventType select whether you want to receive all event types or only issues.
    -In S3Bucket type S3bucketName the bucket name of the S3 bucket used in step 11 (e.g. my-aha-bucket).
    -In S3Key type .zipfileName the name of the .zip file you created in Step 10 (e.g. aha-v1.8.zip).
    -In the Communications Channels section enter the URLs, Emails and/or ARN of the endpoints you configured previously.
    -In the Email Setup section enter the From and To Email addresses as well as the Email subject. If you aren't configuring email, just leave it as is.
    -In EventSearchBack enter in the amount of hours you want to search back for events. Default is 1 hour.
    -In Regions enter in the regions you want to search for events in. Default is all regions. You can filter for up to 10, comma separated with (e.g. us-east-1, us-east-2).
    -In ManagementAccountRoleArn enter in the full IAM arn from step 10 (e.g. arn:aws:iam::000123456789:role/aha-org-role-AWSHealthAwareRoleForPHDEvents-ABCSDE12201)
16. Scroll to the bottom and click Next.
17. Scroll to the bottom and click Next again.
18. Scroll to the bottom and click the checkbox and click Create stack.
19. Wait until Status changes to CREATE_COMPLETE (roughly 2-4 minutes).

Updating

Until this project is migrated to the AWS Serverless Application Model (SAM), updates will have to be done as described below:

1. Download the updated CloudFormation Template .yml file and 2 .py files.
2. Zip up the 2 .py files and name the .zip with a different version number than before (e.g. if the .zip you originally uploaded is aha-v1.8.zip the new one should be aha-v1.9.zip)
3. In the AWS CloudFormation console click on the name of your stack, then click Update.
4. In the Prepare template section click Replace current template, click Upload a template file, click Choose file, select the newer 02_CFN_DEPLOY_AHA.yml file you downloaded and finally click Next.
5. In the S3Key text box change the version number in the name of the .zip to match name of the .zip you uploaded in Step 2 (The name of the .zip has to be different for CloudFormation to recognize a change). Click Next.
6. At the next screen click Next and finally click Update stack. This will now upgrade your environment to the latest version you downloaded.

If for some reason, you still have issues after updating, you can easily just delete the stack and redeploy. The infrastructure can be destroyed and rebuilt within minutes through CloudFormation.

New Features

We are happy to announce the launch of new enhancements to AHA. Please try them out and keep sendings us your feedback!

1. Multi-region deployment (Available in BETA)
2. Ability to filter accounts (Refer to AccountIDs CFN parameter for more info on how to exclude accounts from AHA notifications)
3. Ability to view Account Names for a given Account ID in the PHD alerts
4. If you are running AHA with the Non-Org mode, AHA will send the Account #' and resource(s) impacts if applicable for a given alert
5. Ability to deploy AHA with the Org mode on a member account
6. Support for a new Health Event Type - "Investigation"

Troubleshooting

• If for whatever reason you need to update the Webhook URL; just update the CloudFormation Template with the new Webhook URL.
• If you are expecting an event and it did not show up it may be an oddly formed event. Take a look at CloudWatch > Log groups and search for the name of your Cloudformation stack and Lambda function. See what the error is and reach out to us email for help.

GitHub

https://github.com/aws-samples/aws-health-aware