Streaming CloudWatch metrics to VPC-based OpenTelemetry collectors using Lambda

This article demonstrates how to stream CloudWatch metrics to VPC-based OpenTelemetry collectors using Lambda and AWS services.

• Push-based architecture reduces API throttling and polling costs versus pull-based Prometheus monitoring
• CloudWatch Metric Streams sends metrics to Data Firehose, which invokes Lambda to transform and deliver data
• Lambda function bridges gap by pushing metrics through Network Load Balancer to internal OpenTelemetry collector
• OpenTelemetry provides vendor-neutral observability with no licensing fees or vendor lock-in
• Solution includes CloudWatch Streams, Data Firehose, Lambda, and EC2-hosted OpenTelemetry collector
• Deployment options via AWS CloudFormation or AWS CLI with detailed step-by-step instructions provided
• Enables sub-minute latency for real-time alerting and unified observability dashboard

This approach combines CloudWatch Metric Streams with OpenTelemetry to create a scalable, cost-effective monitoring solution that maintains data privacy within VPCs while avoiding third-party licensing costs.