aws / aws/containers-roadmap

[EKS] [Logging]: Add ability to configure control plane log level (TRACE/DEBUG/INFO/WARN/ERROR)

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EKS
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Description

## Feature Request

### Summary

Amazon EKS does not currently expose a way to configure the log level for control plane components. Users have no control over log verbosity, which has both cost and operational implications.

### Problem Statement

EKS control plane logs are streamed to CloudWatch at a fixed verbosity level. Without the ability to tune log levels, users face two pain points:

1. **Cost**: In stable production environments, verbose logs (DEBUG/TRACE) generate unnecessary log volume, driving up CloudWatch ingestion and storage costs. Most of the time, `WARN` or `ERROR` level is sufficient.
2. **Troubleshooting**: When an issue does arise, there should be a way to temporarily raise the log level to `DEBUG` or `TRACE` to get the detail needed for diagnosis — without recreating the cluster or relying on AWS Support.

### Use Cases

- **Normal operations**: Run at `WARN`/`ERROR` to minimize CloudWatch log volume and reduce cost.
- **Active troubleshooting**: Temporarily elevate to `DEBUG` or `TRACE` on demand to diagnose control plane behavior (e.g., API server errors, scheduling issues, controller reconciliation).
- **Incident response**: Quickly raise verbosity during an incident without cluster downtime or recreation.

### Requested Feature

Please add support for configuring the log level for EKS control plane components, ideally:

1. Dynamically (without cluster recreation) via `UpdateClusterConfig` or a dedicated API
2. Per-component granularity (e.g., `kube-apiserver`, `kube-scheduler`, `kube-controller-manager`)
3. Supported levels: `TRACE`, `DEBUG`, `INFO`, `WARN`, `ERROR`

### References

- EKS Control Plane Logging docs: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/control-plane-logs.html
- Kubernetes log verbosity: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/cluster-administration/logging/

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reviewing the linked EKS Control Plane Logging and Kubernetes log verbosity documentation. The issue does not name repository files, tests, or an implementation entry point; first determine whether the requested configuration is exposed by an AWS API and define the scope for dynamic, per-component log levels. Done would require an agreed feature design and implementation path.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
aws, kubernetes
Domain
cloud, infrastructure
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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