1Actionable Insights
Trusted Advisor isn't just a dashboard; it integrates with EventBridge. You can create a rule that triggers a Lambda function to automatically lock down an S3 bucket the moment Trusted Advisor detects it was made public.
2Step-by-Step Breakdown
What is Trusted Advisor?. An online tool that provides real-time guidance to help you provision your resources following AWS best practices.
The 5 Categories. Trusted Advisor evaluates your account across 5 categories: Cost Optimization, Performance, Security, Fault Tolerance, and Service Limits.
Cost Optimization. It scans for idle RDS databases, unassociated Elastic IPs, and underutilized EC2 instances, showing you exactly how much money you can save.
Security Checks. It alerts you immediately if you have an S3 bucket with public read/write access, or if your root account does not have MFA enabled.
Knowledge Check. Which AWS service acts as an automated consultant, actively scanning your account to find idle instances you are wasting money on?
- →Trusted Advisor
- →CloudTrail
Fault Tolerance. It checks if your EBS volumes have recent snapshots and if your RDS databases have Multi-AZ enabled.
Service Limits. AWS puts soft limits on accounts to prevent accidental massive bills (e.g., max 20 EC2 instances). Trusted Advisor warns you when you approach these limits.
Performance. It checks if your security groups have too many rules (which slows down network traffic) or if EBS volumes are hitting their IOPS limits.
Support Plans. All customers get the core Security and Limits checks for free. You must upgrade to Business or Enterprise Support to unlock all 100+ checks.
Summary. Check Trusted Advisor weekly to keep your account healthy and cheap.
