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Elastic Beanstalk Diagnostics Reference

This page is a fast lookup reference for interpreting common Elastic Beanstalk operator outputs, health colors, and platform events.

Diagnostic Flow

flowchart TD
    A[Start with eb status] --> B[Need deeper health?]
    B -- Yes --> C[Run eb health]
    B -- No --> D[Check recent events]
    C --> E[Need evidence?]
    E -- Yes --> F[Run eb logs]
    E -- No --> D
    F --> D

eb status Output Interpretation

eb status is the fastest summary view for current environment identity and lifecycle state.

Output field What it means Why it matters
Environment name Current target environment Confirms you are inspecting the right environment
Application name Elastic Beanstalk application container Useful in multi-app accounts
Region AWS Region of the environment Prevents cross-region confusion
Deployed Version Current application version label Confirms rollout target
Environment ID Control plane identifier Useful for API-based diagnostics
Platform Current platform branch and version Distinguishes code issue from platform issue
Status Lifecycle state such as Ready or Updating Tells whether a change is still running
Health High-level health color Fast risk signal, not full diagnosis

eb health Output Interpretation

eb health adds enhanced health context, including color state, causes, and instance-level view.

Signal Interpretation Typical next step
Green Environment is healthy by current rules Validate application-level SLOs if users still report issues
Yellow Warning or partial degradation Inspect causes and recent events
Red Severe health issue Pull events and logs immediately
Grey Pending, suspended, or not enough data Check lifecycle state and health reporting configuration
Info / Causes Health engine explanation text Use as the first branch in troubleshooting
Instance list Per-instance state Detects replacement churn or one-bad-node pattern

eb logs Output Interpretation

eb logs is the bridge from control plane symptoms to instance evidence.

Command mode What you get Best use
eb logs Snapshot of standard logs Quick inspection after a failed update
eb logs --all Logs from all instances Multi-instance comparison
eb logs --zip Archive for offline analysis Incident evidence retention
eb logs --stream Live log stream Active incident or deploy watch
eb logs --cloudwatch-logs CloudWatch-backed retrieval Environments with log streaming enabled

Common log interpretation shortcuts:

  • eb-engine.log usually explains deployment, configuration, and hook failures.
  • Proxy error logs usually explain 502, 503, or timeout patterns.
  • Application stdout and stderr reveal startup crashes and runtime exceptions.

Enhanced Health Reporting Signals

Enhanced health uses multiple inputs, not only load balancer health checks.

Signal family Example What it reveals
Availability Instance reachable and in service Infrastructure readiness
Response App or proxy returns expected responses Runtime correctness
Latency Slow processing or timeouts Early saturation or dependency delay
Deployment Version mismatch or failed rollout Release process defect
Instance-level anomalies One node unhealthy, others fine Partial fleet issue

Health Color Codes and Typical Causes

Color Meaning Typical causes
Green Healthy Requests succeed, instances pass checks, no major warning signals
Yellow Warning Elevated latency, intermittent failures, one or more instances degraded
Red Severe Health check failure, app crash loop, dependency outage, deploy failure
Grey Unknown / pending Launching, updating, suspended reporting, or insufficient health data

Platform Event Interpretation

Environment events give the control plane timeline around launches, updates, swaps, scaling, and failures.

Event pattern Likely meaning Operator action
Environment update is starting. New config, deploy, or platform update accepted Watch until status returns to Ready
Successfully deployed new configuration Control plane update completed Validate runtime behavior, not only the event
Failed to deploy application Instance-level deploy or startup failure Pull eb logs and inspect hooks and app startup
Added instance ... repeatedly Replacement churn Inspect per-instance health and bootstrap logs
Environment health has transitioned Material health change Correlate with recent config, traffic, or dependency events

Fast Diagnostic Command Set

eb status "my-app-prod" \
    --profile "eb-ops" \
    --region "us-east-1"

eb health "my-app-prod" \
    --verbose \
    --refresh \
    --profile "eb-ops" \
    --region "us-east-1"

eb logs "my-app-prod" \
    --all \
    --zip \
    --profile "eb-ops" \
    --region "us-east-1"

See Also

Sources