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Overview

This guide provides Terraform configuration examples for setting up the AWS infrastructure required for Meter’s SIEM integration. You’ll create a Kinesis Data Stream and IAM role that allows Meter to securely write security events to your AWS account.

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Prerequisites

  • Terraform installed (version 1.0 or later recommended)
  • AWS account with permissions to create IAM roles, policies, and Kinesis streams
  • AWS credentials configured for Terraform (via environment variables, AWS CLI, or IAM role)
  • Basic familiarity with Terraform and AWS IAM concepts

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Use cases

  • Automate SIEM integration infrastructure deployment across multiple AWS accounts
  • Maintain infrastructure-as-code for audit and compliance requirements
  • Quickly replicate SIEM setup for dev, staging, and production environments
  • Version control your security integration configuration

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Minimal configuration

This minimal example creates the required AWS resources with secure defaults.

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Variables

Define these variables in your Terraform configuration: 
variable "aws_region" {
  description = "AWS region for Kinesis stream"
  type        = string
  default     = "us-east-1"
}

variable "meter_service_role_arn" {
  description = "ARN of Meter's IAM service role that will assume your role"
  type        = string
  default     = "arn:aws:iam::458553032353:role/Meter-data-export"
}

variable "external_id" {
  description = "Secret external ID for secure role assumption"
  type        = string
  sensitive   = true
}

variable "kinesis_stream_name" {
  description = "Name of the Kinesis stream for SIEM events"
  type        = string
  default     = "meter-siem-events"
}

variable "kinesis_shard_count" {
  description = "Number of shards for the Kinesis stream"
  type        = number
  default     = 1
}

variable "kinesis_retention_hours" {
  description = "Data retention period in hours (24-8760)"
  type        = number
  default     = 24
}

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Provider configuration

terraform {
  required_version = ">= 1.0"

  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "~> 5.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "aws" {
  region = var.aws_region
}

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Kinesis Data Stream

Create a Kinesis stream to receive events from Meter: 
resource "aws_kinesis_stream" "meter_siem" {
  name             = var.kinesis_stream_name
  shard_count      = var.kinesis_shard_count
  retention_period = var.kinesis_retention_hours

  shard_level_metrics = [
    "IncomingBytes",
    "IncomingRecords",
    "OutgoingBytes",
    "OutgoingRecords",
  ]

  stream_mode_details {
    stream_mode = "PROVISIONED"
  }

  tags = {
    Name        = "Meter SIEM Integration"
    ManagedBy   = "Terraform"
    Purpose     = "Security Event Ingestion"
  }
}

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IAM role for Meter

Create an IAM role that Meter can assume to write to your Kinesis stream: 
resource "aws_iam_role" "meter_siem_publisher" {
  name        = "MeterSIEMIntegrationRole"
  description = "Allows Meter to publish security events to Kinesis"

  assume_role_policy = jsonencode({
    Version = "2012-10-17"
    Statement = [
      {
        Effect = "Allow"
        Principal = {
          AWS = var.meter_service_role_arn
        }
        Action = "sts:AssumeRole"
        Condition = {
          StringEquals = {
            "sts:ExternalId" = var.external_id
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  })

  tags = {
    Name      = "Meter SIEM Integration"
    ManagedBy = "Terraform"
  }
}

​
IAM policy for Kinesis write access

Create a policy that grants write permissions to the Kinesis stream: 
resource "aws_iam_policy" "meter_kinesis_write" {
  name        = "MeterSIEMKinesisWritePolicy"
  description = "Allows writing records to Meter SIEM Kinesis stream"

  policy = jsonencode({
    Version = "2012-10-17"
    Statement = [
      {
        Effect = "Allow"
        Action = [
          "kinesis:PutRecord",
          "kinesis:PutRecords"
        ]
        Resource = aws_kinesis_stream.meter_siem.arn
      }
    ]
  })
}

​
Attach policy to role

resource "aws_iam_role_policy_attachment" "meter_kinesis_attach" {
  role       = aws_iam_role.meter_siem_publisher.name
  policy_arn = aws_iam_policy.meter_kinesis_write.arn
}

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Outputs

Export the values needed for Dashboard configuration: 
output "kinesis_stream_arn" {
  description = "ARN of the Kinesis stream - use this in Dashboard"
  value       = aws_kinesis_stream.meter_siem.arn
}

output "iam_role_arn" {
  description = "ARN of the IAM role - use this in Dashboard"
  value       = aws_iam_role.meter_siem_publisher.arn
}

output "external_id" {
  description = "External ID for role assumption - use this in Dashboard"
  value       = var.external_id
  sensitive   = true
}

output "kinesis_stream_name" {
  description = "Name of the Kinesis stream"
  value       = aws_kinesis_stream.meter_siem.name
}

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Configuration options

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Kinesis stream settings

ParameterTypeDefaultDescription
namestringRequiredName of the Kinesis stream
shard_countnumber1Number of shards (each shard: 1 MB/sec in, 2 MB/sec out)
retention_periodnumber24Data retention in hours (24-8760)
stream_modestring”PROVISIONED”Use “PROVISIONED” for predictable costs, “ON_DEMAND” for variable traffic
shard_level_metricslistSee exampleCloudWatch metrics to enable for monitoring

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IAM role configuration

ParameterTypeRequiredDescription
meter_service_role_arnstringYesARN of Meter’s service role (provided by Meter)
external_idstringYesRandom secret string (64+ characters recommended)

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Advanced configuration

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On-demand Kinesis stream

For unpredictable event volumes, use on-demand mode: 
resource "aws_kinesis_stream" "meter_siem" {
  name             = var.kinesis_stream_name
  retention_period = var.kinesis_retention_hours

  stream_mode_details {
    stream_mode = "ON_DEMAND"
  }

  shard_level_metrics = [
    "IncomingBytes",
    "IncomingRecords",
  ]

  tags = {
    Name = "Meter SIEM Integration (On-Demand)"
  }
}

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Enhanced monitoring with CloudWatch alarms

Add CloudWatch alarms to monitor integration health: 
resource "aws_cloudwatch_metric_alarm" "kinesis_no_incoming_records" {
  alarm_name          = "meter-siem-no-events"
  comparison_operator = "LessThanThreshold"
  evaluation_periods  = 2
  metric_name         = "IncomingRecords"
  namespace           = "AWS/Kinesis"
  period              = 300
  statistic           = "Sum"
  threshold           = 1
  alarm_description   = "Alert if no SIEM events received for 10 minutes"
  treat_missing_data  = "breaching"

  dimensions = {
    StreamName = aws_kinesis_stream.meter_siem.name
  }

  alarm_actions = [var.sns_topic_arn]
}

resource "aws_cloudwatch_metric_alarm" "kinesis_write_throttled" {
  alarm_name          = "meter-siem-write-throttled"
  comparison_operator = "GreaterThanThreshold"
  evaluation_periods  = 1
  metric_name         = "WriteProvisionedThroughputExceeded"
  namespace           = "AWS/Kinesis"
  period              = 60
  statistic           = "Sum"
  threshold           = 0
  alarm_description   = "Alert if Kinesis writes are being throttled"

  dimensions = {
    StreamName = aws_kinesis_stream.meter_siem.name
  }

  alarm_actions = [var.sns_topic_arn]
}

​
Server-side encryption

Enable encryption at rest for compliance: 
resource "aws_kinesis_stream" "meter_siem" {
  name             = var.kinesis_stream_name
  shard_count      = var.kinesis_shard_count
  retention_period = var.kinesis_retention_hours

  encryption_type = "KMS"
  kms_key_id      = aws_kms_key.kinesis_encryption.id

  stream_mode_details {
    stream_mode = "PROVISIONED"
  }
}

resource "aws_kms_key" "kinesis_encryption" {
  description             = "KMS key for Meter SIEM Kinesis stream encryption"
  deletion_window_in_days = 10
  enable_key_rotation     = true

  tags = {
    Name = "Meter SIEM Kinesis Encryption"
  }
}

resource "aws_kms_alias" "kinesis_encryption" {
  name          = "alias/meter-siem-kinesis"
  target_key_id = aws_kms_key.kinesis_encryption.key_id
}

# Update IAM policy to allow KMS operations
resource "aws_iam_policy" "meter_kinesis_write_encrypted" {
  name        = "MeterSIEMKinesisWritePolicy"
  description = "Allows writing records to encrypted Meter SIEM Kinesis stream"

  policy = jsonencode({
    Version = "2012-10-17"
    Statement = [
      {
        Effect = "Allow"
        Action = [
          "kinesis:PutRecord",
          "kinesis:PutRecords"
        ]
        Resource = aws_kinesis_stream.meter_siem.arn
      },
      {
        Effect = "Allow"
        Action = [
          "kms:Decrypt",
          "kms:GenerateDataKey"
        ]
        Resource = aws_kms_key.kinesis_encryption.arn
      }
    ]
  })
}

​
VPC endpoints for private connectivity

Route Kinesis traffic through your VPC: 
resource "aws_vpc_endpoint" "kinesis_streams" {
  vpc_id            = var.vpc_id
  service_name      = "com.amazonaws.${var.aws_region}.kinesis-streams"
  vpc_endpoint_type = "Interface"

  subnet_ids = var.private_subnet_ids

  security_group_ids = [
    aws_security_group.kinesis_endpoint.id
  ]

  private_dns_enabled = true

  tags = {
    Name = "Meter SIEM Kinesis VPC Endpoint"
  }
}

resource "aws_security_group" "kinesis_endpoint" {
  name        = "meter-siem-kinesis-endpoint"
  description = "Security group for Kinesis VPC endpoint"
  vpc_id      = var.vpc_id

  ingress {
    description = "HTTPS from VPC"
    from_port   = 443
    to_port     = 443
    protocol    = "tcp"
    cidr_blocks = [var.vpc_cidr]
  }

  egress {
    from_port   = 0
    to_port     = 0
    protocol    = "-1"
    cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]
  }
}

​
Integration with Kinesis Firehose

Forward events to S3 for long-term storage: 
resource "aws_kinesis_firehose_delivery_stream" "meter_siem_to_s3" {
  name        = "meter-siem-to-s3"
  destination = "extended_s3"

  kinesis_source_configuration {
    kinesis_stream_arn = aws_kinesis_stream.meter_siem.arn
    role_arn           = aws_iam_role.firehose_role.arn
  }

  extended_s3_configuration {
    role_arn   = aws_iam_role.firehose_role.arn
    bucket_arn = aws_s3_bucket.siem_events.arn
    prefix     = "siem-events/year=!{timestamp:yyyy}/month=!{timestamp:MM}/day=!{timestamp:dd}/"

    compression_format = "GZIP"

    buffer_size     = 5
    buffer_interval = 300
  }
}

resource "aws_s3_bucket" "siem_events" {
  bucket = "your-org-meter-siem-events"
}

resource "aws_s3_bucket_lifecycle_configuration" "siem_events_lifecycle" {
  bucket = aws_s3_bucket.siem_events.id

  rule {
    id     = "archive-old-events"
    status = "Enabled"

    transition {
      days          = 90
      storage_class = "GLACIER"
    }

    expiration {
      days = 365
    }
  }
}

​
Deployment steps

  1. Generate an external ID: 
    openssl rand -hex 32
    Save this value securely (e.g., AWS Secrets Manager, 1Password).
  2. Create a terraform.tfvars file: 
    aws_region              = "us-east-1"
meter_service_role_arn  = "arn:aws:iam::458553032353:role/Meter-data-export"
external_id             = "YOUR_GENERATED_EXTERNAL_ID"
kinesis_stream_name     = "meter-siem-events"
kinesis_shard_count     = 1
kinesis_retention_hours = 24
  3. Initialize Terraform: 
    terraform init
  4. Review the plan: 
    terraform plan
  5. Apply the configuration: 
    terraform apply
  6. Capture the outputs: 
    terraform output kinesis_stream_arn
terraform output iam_role_arn
terraform output -raw external_id
  7. Configure in Meter Dashboard:

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Best practices

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Security

  • Store external ID securely: Never commit the external ID to version control. Use Terraform variables with sensitive = true and store the value in AWS Secrets Manager or a secure secrets management tool.
  • Enable encryption: Use KMS encryption for streams containing sensitive security data.
  • Least privilege: Only grant PutRecord and PutRecords permissions, not full Kinesis access.
  • Enable CloudTrail: Log all API calls to your Kinesis stream and IAM role for audit purposes.

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Cost optimization

  • Right-size shards: Start with 1 shard and monitor IncomingBytes and WriteProvisionedThroughputExceeded metrics. Add shards only when needed.
  • Optimize retention: The default 24-hour retention is sufficient if you’re consuming events in real-time. Longer retention increases costs.
  • Use on-demand carefully: On-demand mode is convenient but can be more expensive for consistent, high-volume streams.

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Operational

  • Tag resources: Add consistent tags for cost tracking and resource management.
  • Monitor metrics: Enable shard-level metrics and set up CloudWatch alarms for proactive monitoring.
  • Test before production: Deploy to a test environment first and send test events to validate the configuration.
  • Document your setup: Keep a record of your Terraform module version, external ID rotation schedule, and any customizations.

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Troubleshooting

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Terraform apply fails with “AccessDenied”

Cause: Your AWS credentials lack permissions to create IAM roles or Kinesis streams. Solution: Ensure your Terraform execution role has permissions for iam:CreateRole, iam:CreatePolicy, kinesis:CreateStream, etc.

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Integration shows “Unauthorized” in Dashboard

Cause: The IAM role trust policy or external ID is misconfigured. Solution:
  • Verify var.meter_service_role_arn is the correct ARN provided by Meter
  • Ensure the external_id in Terraform exactly matches what you entered in Dashboard
  • Check the IAM role was created successfully: aws iam get-role --role-name MeterSIEMIntegrationRole

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Kinesis stream throttling errors

Cause: Event rate exceeds your provisioned shard capacity. Solution:
  • Increase kinesis_shard_count (each shard adds 1 MB/sec write capacity)
  • Or switch to on-demand mode: stream_mode = "ON_DEMAND"
  • Monitor WriteProvisionedThroughputExceeded metric

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High AWS costs

Cause: Over-provisioned shards or long retention periods. Solution:
  • Review your actual event volume in CloudWatch metrics
  • Reduce kinesis_shard_count if utilization is low
  • Decrease kinesis_retention_hours if you don’t need long-term buffering
  • Consider archiving to S3 with Firehose instead of extended Kinesis retention

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Need help?

If you run into any issues or have questions, please reach out to our Support Engineering team by opening a ticket via the Dashboard: https://dashboard.meter.com/support Last updated by Meter Support Engineering on 09/29/2025
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