An operations team needs to read AWS WAF logs and create alarms for patterns in those logs. The solution should require the least operational effort. What is the simplest way to provide log access and allow alarms to be created?

The simplest solution with the least operational effort is to send WAF logs directly to CloudWatch Logs. AWS WAF has native integration with CloudWatch Logs, allowing you to configure a web ACL to send logs to a specified log group. Once logs are in CloudWatch Logs, the operations team can easily create CloudWatch metric filters to identify specific patterns and then set up CloudWatch alarms based on these metrics. This approach leverages existing AWS services without requiring additional infrastructure setup or complex data processing pipelines. Provisioning an OpenSearch cluster, using Lambda functions, or setting up Athena all involve more complex architectures, additional service management, and higher operational overhead compared to the direct CloudWatch Logs integration.