Amazon CloudWatch basics

Topic: Cloud aws core

CloudWatch provides metrics, logs, and alarms in AWS. EC2 and many services send metrics automatically. Use for monitoring and alerting on AWS resources.

Intent: How-to

Quick answer

  • Metrics are in CloudWatch Metrics. Namespace and metric name. Dimensions for instance, etc. Create alarm on metric with threshold and action.
  • CloudWatch Logs for log groups and streams. Send from EC2 agent or SDK. Query with Logs Insights. Set retention.
  • Alarms can trigger SNS, Lambda, or Auto Scaling. Use for CPU, disk, or custom metrics. Dashboards for visualization.

Prerequisites

Steps

  1. View metrics

    CloudWatch Metrics. Select namespace (e.g. EC2). Select metric. View graph. Add to dashboard.

  2. Create alarm

    Create alarm. Choose metric and threshold. Set period and evaluation. Add SNS or action.

  3. Logs

    Create log group. Install agent or send from app. Set retention. Use Logs Insights to query.

Summary

CloudWatch provides metrics, logs, and alarms. Use for monitoring and alerting on AWS resources.

Prerequisites

Steps

Step 1: View metrics

CloudWatch Metrics. Select namespace and metric. View graph. Add to dashboard.

Step 2: Create alarm

Create alarm. Choose metric and threshold. Add SNS or action.

Step 3: Logs

Create log group. Install agent or send from app. Set retention. Use Logs Insights to query.

Verification

  • Metrics and alarms visible. Logs arriving. Alarms trigger as configured.

Troubleshooting

No metrics — Check IAM and that agent or service is sending. Alarm not firing — Check threshold and period.

Next steps

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