AWS Cloud Infrastructure

Monitor and analyze AWS resources using Dynatrace Smartscape and DQL. Query AWS services, optimize costs, manage security, and plan capacity across your AWS infrastructure.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when the user needs to work with AWS resources in Dynatrace. Load the reference file for the task type:

• Inventory: "Show me all EC2 instances in us-east-1"
• Network: "Find all resources in VPC vpc-abc123"
• Database: "List all RDS instances with Multi-AZ enabled"
• Serverless: "Show Lambda functions with VPC access"
• Cost: "Find unattached EBS volumes for cost savings"
• Security: "Identify publicly accessible databases"
• Compliance: "Find resources missing Environment tags"
• Capacity: "Analyze subnet IP utilization"
• Troubleshoot: "Map load balancer to instances through target groups"
• Problem Analysis: "What changed before this AWS problem?" / "What events affected this resource?"
• Workload Context: "Is this instance behind a load balancer, in an EKS cluster, or managed by ECS?"
• Events: "Have there been any recent events in AWS affecting this resource?"

Core Concepts

Entity Types

AWS resources use the AWS_* prefix and can be queried using the smartscapeNodes function. All AWS entities are automatically discovered and modeled in Dynatrace Smartscape.

Compute: AWS_EC2_INSTANCE, AWS_LAMBDA_FUNCTION, AWS_ECS_CLUSTER, AWS_ECS_SERVICE, AWS_EKS_CLUSTER Networking: AWS_EC2_VPC, AWS_EC2_SUBNET, AWS_EC2_SECURITYGROUP, AWS_EC2_NATGATEWAY, AWS_EC2_VPCENDPOINT Database: AWS_RDS_DBINSTANCE, AWS_RDS_DBCLUSTER, AWS_DYNAMODB_TABLE, AWS_ELASTICACHE_CACHECLUSTER Storage: AWS_S3_BUCKET, AWS_EC2_VOLUME, AWS_EFS_FILESYSTEM Load Balancing: AWS_ELASTICLOADBALANCINGV2_LOADBALANCER, AWS_ELASTICLOADBALANCINGV2_TARGETGROUP Messaging: AWS_SQS_QUEUE, AWS_SNS_TOPIC, AWS_EVENTS_EVENTBUS, AWS_MSK_CLUSTER

Common AWS Fields

All AWS entities include:

• aws.account.id - AWS account identifier
• aws.region - AWS region (e.g., us-east-1)
• aws.resource.id - Unique resource identifier
• aws.resource.name - Resource name
• aws.arn - Amazon Resource Name
• aws.vpc.id - VPC identifier (for VPC-attached resources)
• aws.subnet.id - Subnet identifier
• aws.availability_zone - Availability zone
• aws.security_group.id - Security group IDs (array)
• tags - Resource tags (use tags[TagName])

AWS Fields on Logs and Bizevents

AWS-originated logs (fetch logs) carry these fields — no exploration needed:

• aws.region, aws.account.id, aws.service, aws.log_group, aws.log_stream
• Plus standard log fields: content, loglevel, timestamp, k8s.*, dt.smartscape.*

AWS-originated bizevents (fetch bizevents) carry:

• aws.region, aws.account.id, event.type, event.provider

Use filter isNotNull(aws.region) to scope to AWS-originated records.

Relationship Types

AWS entities use these relationship types:

• is_attached_to - Exclusive attachment (e.g., volume to instance)
• uses - Dependency relationship (e.g., instance uses security group)
• runs_on - Vertical relationship (e.g., instance runs on AZ)
• is_part_of - Composition (e.g., instance in cluster)
• belongs_to - Aggregation (e.g., service belongs to cluster)
• balances - Load balancing (e.g., target group balances instances)
• balanced_by - Inverse load-balancing relationship (e.g., load balancer balanced by target group)

AWS Metric Key Naming Convention

Dynatrace ingests AWS CloudWatch metrics using this pattern:

cloud.aws.<service>.<MetricName>.By.<DimensionName>

The <service> is the lowercase AWS service name, <MetricName> is the CloudWatch metric name (case-preserved), and <DimensionName> is the CloudWatch dimension.

Examples: cloud.aws.ec2.CPUUtilization.By.InstanceId, cloud.aws.lambda.Invocations.By.FunctionName, cloud.aws.rds.CPUUtilization.By.DBInstanceIdentifier

Use timeseries, not fetch, for these metrics. Group by dt.smartscape_source.id to split by entity.

→ See references/metrics-performance.md for the complete metric catalog by service with DQL query templates.

Key Workflows

1. AWS Resource Discovery

Get all AWS resources by type:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_*"
| summarize count = count(), by: {type}
| sort count desc

Filter by account and region:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_*"
| filter aws.account.id == "123456789012" and aws.region == "us-east-1"
| fields type, name, aws.resource.id

Using tags for filtering:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_*"
| filter tags[Environment] == "production"
| summarize count = count(), by: {type, aws.region}

→ For complete resource inventory patterns, see references/resource-management.md

2. VPC Networking Analysis

List all VPCs:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_EC2_VPC"
| fields name, aws.account.id, aws.region, aws.vpc.id

Find resources in a VPC:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_*"
| filter aws.vpc.id == "vpc-0be61db7c5d2d1bd1"
| summarize resource_count = count(), by: {type, aws.subnet.id}
| sort resource_count desc

Analyze security group usage:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_EC2_INSTANCE"
| filter contains(aws.security_group.id, "sg-abc123")
| fields name, aws.resource.id, aws.vpc.id, aws.subnet.id

→ For VPC networking, see references/vpc-networking-security.md
→ For security group patterns, see references/security-compliance.md

3. Database Monitoring

List all RDS instances:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_RDS_DBINSTANCE"
| fields name, aws.account.id, aws.region, aws.vpc.id, aws.availability_zone

Find Multi-AZ databases:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_RDS_DBINSTANCE"
| parse aws.object, "JSON:awsjson"
| fieldsAdd multiAZ = awsjson[configuration][multiAZ]
| filter multiAZ == true
| fields name, aws.resource.id, aws.region

Group by engine type:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_RDS_DBINSTANCE"
| parse aws.object, "JSON:awsjson"
| fieldsAdd engine = awsjson[configuration][engine]
| summarize db_count = count(), by: {engine, aws.region}
| sort db_count desc

→ For database monitoring, see references/database-monitoring.md

4. Serverless and Container Workloads

List Lambda functions:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_LAMBDA_FUNCTION"
| fields name, aws.account.id, aws.region, aws.vpc.id

Find ECS services in a cluster:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_ECS_SERVICE"
| traverse "belongs_to", "AWS_ECS_CLUSTER"
| fields name, aws.resource.id, aws.region

List EKS clusters:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_EKS_CLUSTER"
| fields name, aws.account.id, aws.region, aws.vpc.id

→ For serverless, see references/serverless-containers.md
→ For containers, see references/serverless-containers.md

5. Load Balancer Topology

Complete load balancer to instance mapping:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_ELASTICLOADBALANCINGV2_LOADBALANCER"
| parse aws.object, "JSON:awsjson"
| fieldsAdd dnsName = awsjson[configuration][dnsName], scheme = awsjson[configuration][scheme]
| filter scheme == "internet-facing"
| traverse "balanced_by", "AWS_ELASTICLOADBALANCINGV2_TARGETGROUP", direction:backward, fieldsKeep:{dnsName, id}
| fieldsAdd targetGroupName = aws.resource.name
| traverse "balances", "AWS_EC2_INSTANCE", fieldsKeep: {targetGroupName, id}
| fieldsAdd loadBalancerDnsName = dt.traverse.history[-2][dnsName],
            loadBalancerId = dt.traverse.history[-2][id],
            targetGroupId = dt.traverse.history[-1][id]

→ For load balancing, see references/load-balancing-api.md

6. Cost Optimization

Find unattached EBS volumes:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_EC2_VOLUME"
| parse aws.object, "JSON:awsjson"
| fieldsAdd state = awsjson[configuration][state]
| filter state == "available"
| fields name, aws.resource.id, aws.availability_zone, aws.account.id

Analyze EBS costs by type:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_EC2_VOLUME"
| parse aws.object, "JSON:awsjson"
| fieldsAdd volumeType = awsjson[configuration][volumeType],
            size = awsjson[configuration][size],
            state = awsjson[configuration][state]
| summarize total_volumes = count(), total_size_gb = sum(size), by: {volumeType, state}
| sort total_size_gb desc

→ For cost optimization, see references/cost-optimization.md

7. Security and Compliance

Find publicly accessible databases:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_RDS_DBINSTANCE"
| parse aws.object, "JSON:awsjson"
| fieldsAdd publiclyAccessible = awsjson[configuration][publiclyAccessible]
| filter publiclyAccessible == true
| fields name, aws.resource.id, aws.vpc.id, aws.account.id

Security group blast radius:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_EC2_INSTANCE"
| traverse "uses", "AWS_EC2_SECURITYGROUP"
| summarize instance_count = count(), by: {aws.resource.name, aws.vpc.id}
| sort instance_count desc
| limit 20

→ For security, see references/security-compliance.md

8. Resource Ownership and Tagging

Find untagged resources:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_*"
| filter isNull(tags)
| fields type, name, aws.resource.id, aws.account.id, aws.region

Cost allocation by cost center:

smartscapeNodes "AWS_*"
| filter isNotNull(tags[CostCenter])
| summarize resource_count = count(), by: {tags[CostCenter], type}
| sort resource_count desc

→ For resource ownership, see references/resource-ownership.md

Common Query Patterns

Best Practices

Query Optimization

1. Filter early by account and region
2. Use specific entity types (avoid "AWS_*" wildcards when possible)
3. Limit results with | limit N for exploration
4. Use isNotNull() checks before accessing nested fields

Configuration Parsing

1. Always parse aws.object with JSON parser: parse aws.object, "JSON:awsjson"
2. Use consistent field naming: fieldsAdd configField = awsjson[configuration][field]
3. Check for null values after parsing
4. Use toString() for complex nested objects

Security Fields

1. Security group IDs are arrays - use contains() or expand
2. Parse aws.object for detailed security context
3. Check publiclyAccessible, storageEncrypted, and similar flags
4. Validate IAM role assumptions

Tagging Strategy

1. Use tags[TagName] for filtering by specific tag value
2. tags is a JSON object, not an array — use isNull(tags) for untagged resources, never arraySize(tags)
3. Use isNull(tags[TagName]) to find resources missing a specific tag
4. Implement consistent tag naming conventions
5. Track tag coverage with summarize operations

Limitations and Notes

Smartscape Limitations

• AWS object configuration requires parsing with parse aws.object, "JSON:awsjson"
• AWS metrics are available as Dynatrace metrics using the cloud.aws.* naming convention (see AWS Metric Naming Convention)
• Resource discovery depends on AWS integration configuration
• Tag synchronization may have slight delays

Relationship Traversal

• Use direction:backward for reverse relationships (e.g., target group → load balancer)
• Use fieldsKeep to maintain important fields through traversal
• Access traversal history with dt.traverse.history[-N]
• Complex topologies may require multiple traverse operations

General Tips

• Use getNodeName() for human-readable resource names
• Handle null values gracefully with isNotNull() and isNull()
• Combine region and account filters for large environments
• Use countDistinct() for unique resource counts

When to Load References

This skill uses progressive disclosure. Start here for 80% of use cases. Load reference files for detailed specifications when needed.

Load vpc-networking-security.md when:

• Analyzing VPC topology and connectivity
• Investigating security group configurations
• Finding resources by security group
• Troubleshooting network interface issues

Load database-monitoring.md when:

• Managing RDS instances and clusters
• Analyzing database engine distributions
• Checking Multi-AZ configurations
• Monitoring cache clusters

Load serverless-containers.md when:

• Working with Lambda functions
• Analyzing ECS/EKS deployments
• Investigating container networking
• Planning serverless migrations

Load load-balancing-api.md when:

• Mapping load balancer topologies
• Analyzing target group health
• Working with API Gateway
• Configuring CloudFront

Load messaging-event-streaming.md when:

• Managing SQS queues and SNS topics
• Analyzing EventBridge event buses
• Working with Kinesis or MSK
• Monitoring Step Functions

Load resource-management.md when:

• Conducting resource audits
• Analyzing tag compliance
• Finding unattached resources
• Planning regional distribution

Load cost-optimization.md when:

• Identifying cost savings opportunities
• Analyzing storage costs
• Finding unused resources
• Optimizing instance types

Load capacity-planning.md when:

• Planning capacity expansions
• Analyzing resource utilization
• Monitoring subnet IP usage
• Sizing auto-scaling groups

Load security-compliance.md when:

• Conducting security audits
• Checking encryption status
• Analyzing IAM roles
• Finding public resources

Load resource-ownership.md when:

• Implementing chargeback
• Tracking resource ownership
• Allocating costs by team
• Managing multi-account environments

Load events.md when:

• Investigating what changed before or during a problem
• Checking for recent CloudFormation stack deployments
• Reviewing AWS Auto Scaling activity (scale-in/scale-out)
• Checking AWS Health service events affecting a resource

Load workload-detection.md when:

• Determining how an EC2 instance is orchestrated (ECS, EKS, Batch, ASG, standalone)
• Following a resolution path that depends on the workload pattern
• Understanding the blast radius of an instance failure

Check health alerts when:

• Verifying whether Dynatrace health alerts are configured for an AWS resource type
• Confirming alert coverage before or after a problem

Use dtctl to query the builtin:health-experience.cloud-alert settings schema. Replace CpuUtilization with the metric name relevant to the resource type being investigated:

dtctl get settings --schema builtin:health-experience.cloud-alert -o json --plain \
  | jq '[.[] | select(.value.alertKey | test("CpuUtilization"))]'

References

• vpc-networking-security.md - VPC infrastructure, security groups, and network connectivity
• database-monitoring.md - RDS, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, and Redshift monitoring
• serverless-containers.md - Lambda, ECS, EKS, and App Runner workloads
• load-balancing-api.md - Load balancers, API Gateway, and CloudFront
• messaging-event-streaming.md - SQS, SNS, EventBridge, Kinesis, and MSK
• resource-management.md - Resource inventory and lifecycle management
• cost-optimization.md - Cost savings and spending optimization
• capacity-planning.md - Capacity analysis and growth planning
• security-compliance.md - Security configurations and compliance monitoring
• resource-ownership.md - Cost allocation and ownership tracking
• events.md - AWS AutoScaling, Health, and CloudFormation events for problem timeline analysis
• workload-detection.md - Identify how an EC2 instance is orchestrated (LB, ASG, ECS, EKS, Batch)