Simplify VPC Flow Logs with EC2 resource tags and next-hop metadata

This article introduces Version 11 of Amazon VPC Flow Logs, which adds EC2 resource tags and next-hop metadata capabilities for simplified network traffic analysis.

• Embed EC2 instance, network interface, and Auto Scaling group tags directly in flow log records
• Capture next-hop interface metadata including ID, subnet, AZ, VPC, and interface type
• Eliminate need for custom enrichment pipelines and manual resource correlation
• Filter and aggregate traffic by application, environment, project, or cost center tags
• Trace traffic paths through NAT gateways, Network Load Balancers, and Transit Gateways
• Requires IAM permissions for ec2:DescribeTags and autoscaling:DescribeTags
• Configure up to two tag keys per resource type via TagFieldSpecifications

Version 11 simplifies network monitoring and security investigations by providing rich resource context and traffic path visibility directly within flow log records.