Once you build and start running systems, new questions arise. "The server is slow right now — is the CPU high?" "Who changed this security setting yesterday?" "Are our resources following company rules?" "Can't we patch 100 servers all at once?" The tools that answer these four questions are today's topic — CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Config, and Systems Manager.
At first the names all look similar, but what each one watches is different. CloudWatch watches performance, CloudTrail watches who did what, Config watches configuration state, and Systems Manager handles operational tasks. Nailing this one-line distinction is today's goal.