Inspecting Network Packets and Analyzing Logs | AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty
Question
Your company hosts an application on AWS EC2 Instance.
Currently, the application is experiencing several issues and you need to inspect the network packets by analyzing some logs to find out the error.
Which of the following steps can help to address this issue?
Answers
Explanations
Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer
A. B. C. D.Answer - B.
Since you need to sniff the actual network packets, the ideal approach would be to use a network monitoring tool provided by an AWS partner.
The AWS documentation mentions the following.
Multiple AWS Partner Network members offer virtual firewall appliances that can be deployed as an in-line gateway for inbound or outbound network traffic.
Firewall appliances provide additional application-level filtering, deep packet inspection, IPS/IDS, and network threat protection features.
Options A and D are invalid because they cannot be used for packet inspection.
Option C is invalid because the promiscuous mode is not supported in AWS.
For more information on the security capabilities, please visit the below URL:
https://aws.amazon.com/answers/networking/vpc-security-capabilities/The best option to address the issue of analyzing network packets for troubleshooting an application running on an EC2 instance is to use VPC Flow Logs, which is option A.
VPC Flow Logs capture information about IP traffic going to and from network interfaces in your VPC. This includes data such as source and destination IP addresses, ports, protocol, and the number of packets and bytes transferred. With VPC Flow Logs, you can gain visibility into network traffic patterns and identify unusual activity that might indicate a security breach or network issue.
In this scenario, analyzing VPC Flow Logs can help identify the root cause of the application issues by providing detailed information about the network traffic flowing to and from the EC2 instance. This information can be used to identify any anomalies, such as unexpected traffic patterns, excessive traffic from certain sources, or issues with network connectivity. By analyzing the VPC Flow Logs, you can gain insights into the application's behavior and pinpoint the root cause of any issues.
Option B, using a network monitoring tool provided by an AWS partner, is also a viable solution. AWS partners offer a range of network monitoring and analysis tools that can be used to gain deeper insights into network traffic and identify issues. However, this option may require additional setup and configuration, and may incur additional costs.
Option C, using another instance to sniff traffic, is not a recommended solution as it can introduce security risks and impact the performance of the network. Additionally, sniffing traffic may not provide the level of detail and insights that can be obtained through VPC Flow Logs.
Option D, using CloudWatch metric, is not the best option for analyzing network packets as CloudWatch is mainly used for monitoring the performance of AWS resources, including EC2 instances, and does not provide detailed information about network traffic.
In conclusion, the best option for troubleshooting application issues by analyzing network packets is to use VPC Flow Logs.
