Introduction

In this lesson, we will learn how to use State Machines Logging with AWS Step Functions. AWS Step Functions is a serverless orchestration service that makes it easy to coordinate the components of distributed applications and microservices using visual workflows. Step Functions allows you to easily build and run state machines to execute tasks in a reliable and repeatable manner.

State Machines Logging is a feature of Step Functions that allows you to track the progress of your state machines and view the execution history of each state machine. This feature is especially useful for debugging and troubleshooting state machines.

In this lesson, we will cover the basics of State Machines Logging and how to use it with AWS Step Functions. We will also provide examples of how to use State Machines Logging with AWS CDK and Typescript, as well as small code snippets using Typescript and AWS CLI commands.

What is State Machines Logging?

State Machines Logging is a feature of AWS Step Functions that allows you to track the progress of your state machines and view the execution history of each state machine. This feature is especially useful for debugging and troubleshooting state machines.

When you enable State Machines Logging, Step Functions will log the execution of each state machine. This includes the start and end times of each state, the input and output of each state, and any errors that occurred during the execution of the state machine.

How to Enable State Machines Logging

Enabling State Machines Logging is a simple process. All you need to do is enable the feature in the Step Functions console.

To enable State Machines Logging, open the Step Functions console and select the “State Machines” tab. Select the state machine you want to enable logging for and click the “Edit” button. On the “Edit State Machine” page, select the “Logging” tab and check the “Enable Logging” checkbox.

Once you have enabled State Machines Logging, Step Functions will start logging the execution of your state machine.

How to View State Machines Logs

Once you have enabled State Machines Logging, you can view the execution history of your state machine in the Step Functions console. To view the logs, open the Step Functions console and select the “State Machines” tab. Select the state machine you want to view the logs for and click the “Logs” button.

On the “Logs” page, you will see a list of all the executions of your state machine. You can click on any execution to view the details of that execution, including the start and end times of each state, the input and output of each state, and any errors that occurred during the execution of the state machine.

Examples

In this section, we will provide examples of how to use State Machines Logging with AWS CDK and Typescript, as well as small code snippets using Typescript and AWS CLI commands.

Using AWS CDK and Typescript

The following example shows how to use State Machines Logging with AWS CDK and Typescript.

import * as cdk from '@aws-cdk/core';
import * as stepfunctions from '@aws-cdk/aws-stepfunctions';

export class MyStack extends cdk.Stack {
  constructor(scope: cdk.Construct, id: string, props?: cdk.StackProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    // Create a state machine
    const stateMachine = new stepfunctions.StateMachine(this, 'MyStateMachine', {
      definition: stepfunctions.Chain.start(stepfunctions.Task.define('MyTask')
        .next(stepfunctions.End.instance())
    });

    // Enable logging for the state machine
    stateMachine.logging = true;
  }
}

Using AWS CLI

The following example shows how to use State Machines Logging with the AWS CLI.

aws stepfunctions update-state-machine --state-machine-arn <state-machine-arn> --logging-configuration Enabled=true

Conclusion

In this lesson, we learned how to use State Machines Logging with AWS Step Functions. We covered the basics of State Machines Logging and how to enable and view the logs. We also provided examples of how to use State Machines Logging with AWS CDK and Typescript, as well as small code snippets using Typescript and AWS CLI commands.

By using State Machines Logging, you can easily track the progress of your state machines and view the execution history of each state machine. This feature is especially useful for debugging and troubleshooting state machines.