enable the audit log feature for ApsaraDB for Redis Enhanced Edition instances - Tair

Tair provides the audit log feature based on Simple Log Service. This feature allows you to query, analyze, and export log data. Security auditors can use the feature to promptly detect unusual or unauthorized data manipulation activities, and rapidly pinpoint the identity of the user who altered the data and the exact time of alteration. Developers and O&M personnel can use the feature to identify performance-related issues. This feature also empowers business systems to meet security and compliance requirements.

Prerequisites

Instance requirements

The instance that you want to manage must be an ApsaraDB for Redis Community Edition instance, an ApsaraDB for Redis Enhanced Edition (Tair) DRAM-based instance, or an ApsaraDB for Redis Enhanced Edition (Tair) persistent memory-optimized instance.

Required permissions

To enable the audit log feature, a Resource Access Management (RAM) user must have the permissions to manage Simple Log Service.

You can attach the AliyunLogFullAccess system policy to a RAM user. After the RAM user is granted the permissions defined in the system policy, the RAM user can manage all Logstores. For more information, see Grant permissions to a RAM user.

You can also customize a policy to restrict the RAM user to only manage the audit logs of Tair .

Examples of custom policies

{
 "Version": "1",
 "Statement": [
  {
   "Action": "log:*",
   "Resource": "acs:log:*:*:project/nosql-*",
   "Effect": "Allow"
  }
 ]
}

Usage notes

After you enable the audit log feature for your Tair instance, the system audits and logs the write operations that are performed on the instance. The instance may experience a performance decrease of 5% to 15% and some degree of latency and jitter. The performance decrease and the level of latency and jitter vary based on the amount of data that is written or audited.
Important
Your application may write large amounts of data to your Tair instance. For example, your application frequently runs the INCR command to increment values. To prevent a performance decrease in such a scenario, we recommend that you enable the audit log feature only for troubleshooting issues or auditing instance security.
Typically, a large number of read operations are performed. If audit information is recorded for a large number of read operations, the instance performance may deteriorate. To prevent this issue, Tair records audit information only for write operations.

Billing

You are charged for the audit log feature based on storage usage and log retention period. The price varies based on the region that you select. For more information, see Billable items.

Procedure

Log on to the Tair console and go to the Instances page. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which the instance that you want to manage resides. Then, find the instance and click the instance ID.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose Logs > Audit Log.
Specify a log retention period.
Important
- The audit log retention period applies to all instances that have the audit log feature enabled in the current region.
- The retention period of audit logs ranges from 1 to 365 days.
Click Estimate Fees and Enable Audit Logs.
In the dialog box that appears, estimate log fees, read the prompt, and then click Enable.
Note
The audit log feature depends on Simple Log Service. If Simple Log Service is not activated for your Alibaba Cloud account, you are prompted to activate Simple Log Service.

Related API operations

API operation	Description
ModifyAuditLogConfig	Enables or disables the audit log feature for a Tair instance and specifies a retention period for audit logs.
DescribeAuditLogConfig	Queries the audit log settings of a Tair instance. These settings include whether the audit log feature is enabled and the retention period of audit logs.
DescribeAuditRecords	Queries the audit logs of a Tair instance.

FAQ

How do I disable the audit log feature for an instance?

On the Audit Log page, click Service Settings in the upper-right corner to turn off the Audit Logs switch for all nodes.

How do I download all audit logs?

You can use multiple methods to download audit logs. For more information, see Download logs. When you download all audit logs, take note of the following items:

You must select the redis_audit_log_standard Logstore and specify the project name in the following format: nosql-{ID of your Alibaba Cloud account}-{Region}. Example: nosql-1764984********-cn-hangzhou.
You must select Download with Cloud Shell or Download with CLI. If you select Download, you can download only the audit logs that are displayed on the current page.

Why does the audit log feature support only write operations but not read operations?

In most scenarios, the number of read operations is larger than the number of write operations. The auditing for read operations can cause serious performance degradation. In addition, a large number of audit logs need to be generated and stored for read operations. Therefore, the audit log feature does not support read operations.

If I specify different log retention periods for two instances in the same region that have the audit log feature enabled, which log retention period is applied to all the instances in the region?

The last log retention period that you specify is applied.

Why do I find that the client IP addresses recorded in specific audit logs are not the same as the IP address of the client on which my application runs?

The audit logs record write operations on the database system. You can filter out this type of information.