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In this lesson you’ll learn how to subscribe to AWS Health events so you can be notified when AWS services or your account are affected. This covers where to find Health information in the console, the difference between account-level and global service events, and how to configure notifications (email, mobile push, and chat integrations). To begin, sign in to the AWS Management Console and search for “Health” to open the AWS Health Dashboard.
A screenshot of the AWS Management Console search results for "health checks," showing service cards like Amazon Connect Health, AWS Health Dashboard, and AWS HealthLake. The console is displayed in a dark theme with navigation and account elements visible at the top.
Open the Health Dashboard to view events that may affect either your AWS account or AWS services globally.
A screenshot of the AWS Health Dashboard displaying the "Your account health" header and a card about configuring an Amazon EventBridge rule. The left sidebar shows navigation links for Service health, account health, and related logs and notifications.
Key perspectives on the Health Dashboard
  • Account Health: events that specifically affect resources in your AWS account (for example, scheduled changes, planned maintenance, or operational issues impacting your resources).
  • Service Health: the global service status across regions (public service interruptions or degraded performance that may affect many accounts).
Account Health is scoped to your AWS account and resources. Service Health reports broader AWS service status across regions. Choose the view that matches the scope of incidents you need to monitor.
Detailed differences Scroll the dashboard to see lists of open and recent issues. Account-level entries include the event type (for example, “billing planned lifecycle event”), the region, start time, and affected resources. Each event’s log shows update timestamps and descriptive details about the impact and resolution. Operational issue entries commonly include:
  • Region and availability zone (if applicable)
  • Start and (if available) end times
  • A problem description and remediation details
  • Affected AWS services (for example, IAM Identity Center, AWS STS, Amazon Connect)
If you switch to Service Health > Open and recent issues or Service history, you’ll see a 12-month history of AWS service interruptions, including service state, regions, dates, and event details such as increased API error rates or connectivity problems.
A screenshot of the AWS Health Dashboard showing the "Service health" page, with a left navigation menu and a main panel listing service history and open issues. A callout on the right invites the user to "View your account health" with an orange "Open your account health" button.
Configure notifications (subscribe to Health events) To receive alerts when relevant Health events occur, create a notification configuration in the Notification Center (User Notifications). Follow these steps:
  1. Click the notifications icon (bell) to open the Notification Center (User Notifications).
  2. Choose a service to enable Common Notifications — select Health.
  3. Create a new notification configuration (for example, “Health quick setup”).
When creating the notification configuration you will specify:
  • Event type: choose AWS Health events.
  • Regions: pick one or more AWS Regions where events will be sourced (for example, US East (Ohio)).
  • Delivery channels: add delivery channels such as Email, AWS Console Mobile App, or chat integrations (Amazon Chime, Microsoft Teams, Slack).
Note that email delivery can be subject to regional endpoint constraints due to Amazon SES endpoints — ensure the chosen region supports the delivery method you need.
Screenshot of the AWS User Notifications console showing a green success banner that a "Health-quick-setup notification configuration" was created. The page displays the "Delivery channels" options (Email, AWS Console Mobile App, Chat channels) and the left navigation menu.
Delivery channels — options and common use cases When selecting Email as a delivery channel, you’ll be prompted to enter recipient details and a channel name. You can remove Email if you do not want email notifications — but be aware that removing it clears the entered email addresses for that channel.
A screenshot of the AWS User Notifications console with a pop-up dialog asking "Deselect email?" and warning that deselecting will remove all entered email addresses. The dialog shows "Cancel" and "Confirm" buttons over the Notification configurations page.
Email delivery for notifications may be restricted by regional SES endpoints. If you rely on email, confirm your selected region supports SES-based notifications or add alternate channels (mobile push or chat) to ensure delivery.
Editing and managing notification configurations After creating a configuration you can edit its Delivery channels, add additional recipients, or change the Regions and event types covered. A single configuration can include multiple delivery channels — check the AWS documentation for current service quotas on notification channels. The Notification configurations list displays each configuration’s name, description, creation timestamp, and active status. From this list you can:
  • Edit a configuration to change regions, event types, or channels
  • Delete a configuration
  • Create additional configurations to cover different regions, event types, or recipient groups
A screenshot of the AWS User Notifications console showing the "Notification configurations" page. It lists one active notification named "Health-quick-setup" and has a prominent "Create notification configuration" button.
Quick reference — steps to subscribe to AWS Health events
  1. Open the AWS Console and navigate to Health.
  2. Review Account Health vs Service Health to determine your scope.
  3. Open Notification Center (bell icon) → Enable Health common notifications.
  4. Create a notification configuration: select event types, regions, and delivery channels.
  5. Add recipients or channels (email, mobile app, chat) and save.
  6. Test or monitor to confirm notifications are received; edit configuration as needed.
Links and references That’s the end of this demonstration on subscribing to AWS Health events and managing notification configurations.

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