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Architecture diagram

New Relic observability on AWS

Three collection channels into the same platform: the API integration for AWS services, the APM agent on the application instance, the browser agent on the front end. An infrastructure agent deployed on ECS covers the whole database estate on top of that.

Generic diagram: instances, repositories, channels and modules are named by function. The architecture is shown for illustration, independently of any organisation.

Observed AWS service New Relic component AWS boundary
01 — three collection channels

What is reported, and through what

None of the three agents sees the same thing: the integration queries the AWS APIs, the APM instruments the application process, the browser agent measures what the user actually experiences. The return arrow is the only inbound one — New Relic goes and fetches metrics from the AWS APIs.

aws cloud aws services RDS instances databases ECS services application containers Browser apps user-facing front end new relic agents AWS integration metrics and events from the APIs ec2 instance New Relic APM application metrics, events, logs New Relic Browser Agent browser metrics, events, logs metrics, events metrics, events, logs metrics, events, logs New Relic observability platform integration with the AWS service APIs
The three outbound arrows carry different payloads; only the bottom one comes back into the AWS account, to read the service APIs.
02 — the monitored database estate

Infrastructure agent on ECS

A single agent, deployed as an ECS service, covers the primary instances and their read replicas — production, staging, BI and application.

aws cloud aws services RDS production primary instance RDS staging primary instance production BI tool production read replica staging read replica production application replica ecs New Relic infrastructure agent metrics, events, logs New Relic platform
The agent runs next to the databases, not on them: it queries them from ECS, which avoids installing anything on the managed instances.

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