<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: Amazon CloudWatch Sensor
The Amazon CloudWatch sensor monitors performance of Amazon Cloud services.
The following services are available:
- Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
- Simple Queue Service (SQS)
- Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)
- Elastic Block Store (EBS)
- Simple Notification Service (SNS)
- Relational Database Service (RDS)
- ElastiCache
Depending on the selected service, the sensor can show the following:
- CPU utilization
- Network load in and out
- Disk read and write speed
- Number of disk read and write operations per second
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the monitored device and the sensor setup.
Amazon CloudWatch Sensor
Click here to enlarge: http://media.paessler.com/prtg-screenshots/amazon_cloudwatch.png
- You must enable the CloudWatch option for the instance you want to monitor. You can do this, for example, using Amazon's AWS console.
- Requires access rights for CloudWatch queries. For details, please see the Knowledge Base: How do I define access rights for Amazon CloudWatch queries?
- Requires .NET 4.0 or higher on the probe system.
- Note: Amazon will charge you (a small amount) for each "Amazon CloudWatch API Request" query the sensor sends to the Amazon servers. Depending on the service, each Amazon CloudWatch sensor sends about 10 to 30 requests with each scanning interval. Last time we checked the Amazon price list, they charged max. US$ 0.014 per 1,000 requests (depending on your region).
For details, please see the Knowledge Base: How much does Amazon charge for using the CloudWatch API? - Note: This sensor type can have a high impact on the performance of your monitoring system. Please use it with care! We recommend using not more than 50 sensors, on each probe, of this type of sensor.
Requirement: Access Rights for Amazon CloudWatch Queries
The AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) account that you use with the Amazon CloudWatch sensor needs specific rights to query any metrics. For details, see section More.
This sensor type requires the Microsoft .NET Framework to be installed on the computer running the PRTG probe: Either on the local system (on every node, if on a cluster probe), or on the system running the remote probe. If the framework is missing, you cannot create this sensor. Note: You need to install the exact version required (a higher version will usually not work; an exception applies to .NET 3.5 which comprises .NET 2.0 and .NET 3.0). Generally, it is possible to run several .NET Framework versions on the same machine side-by-side. Please install the latest update available for the required version.
Required .NET version: 4.0 (with latest update). Please see section More below for details.
The Add Sensor dialog appears when adding a new sensor on a device manually. It only shows the setting fields that are imperative for creating the sensor. Therefore, you will not see all setting fields in this dialog. You can change all settings in the sensor's Settings tab later.
PRTG will perform a meta scan before you actually add this sensor type and requires basic information for this scan in advance. Provide the requested information in the appearing window. During the scan, PRTG will recognize all items available for monitoring based on your input. The following settings differ in comparison to the sensor's settings page:
Amazon Credentials |
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Region |
Select the region in which the instance to be monitored is running. The settings you make in this dialog are valid for all of the sensors that are created. Choose between:
Note: The CloudWatch option must be enabled for the instance you want to monitor (you can do this, for example, using Amazon's AWS console). |
Select which service instances you want to monitor. PRTG creates one sensor for each instance you choose in the Add Sensor dialog. The settings you make in this dialog are valid for all of the sensors that are created.
The following settings for this sensor differ in the 'Add Sensor' dialog in comparison to the sensor's settings page:
Amazon CloudWatch Specific |
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Service Instance |
Select the instances you want to add a sensor for. You see a list with the names of all items which are available to monitor. Select the desired items by adding check marks in front of the respective lines. PRTG creates one sensor for each selection. You can also select and deselect all items by using the check box in the table head. |
On the details page of a sensor, click on the Settings tab to change its settings.
Note: Usually, a sensor connects to the IP Address or DNS Name of the parent device on which you created this sensor. See section Device Settings for details. For some sensor types, you can define the monitoring target explicitly in the sensor settings. Please see below for details about available settings.
Basic Sensor Settings |
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Sensor Name |
Enter a meaningful name to identify the sensor. By default, PRTG shows this name in the device tree, and in alarms, logs, notifications, reports, maps, libraries, and tickets. |
Tags |
Enter one or more tags, separated by space or comma. You can use tags to group sensors and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case sensitive. We recommend using the default value. You can add additional tags to it, if you like. Other tags are automatically inherited from objects further up in the device tree. Those are not visible here. |
Priority |
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines where the sensor is placed in sensor lists. Top priority is at the top of a list. You can choose from one star (low priority) to five stars (top priority). |
Amazon Credentials |
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AWS Access Key ID |
Enter your access key ID. You can obtain it from aws.amazon.com. |
AWS Secret Access Key |
Enter your secret access key. You can obtain it from aws.amazon.com. |
Region |
Shows the region your instance is located at. Once a sensor is created, you cannot change this value. It is shown for reference purposes only. If you need to change this, please add the sensor anew. |
Amazon CloudWatch Specific |
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Period (Interval) |
Define in what granularity you want to receive datapoints from CloudWatch. Choose between:
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Service |
Shows the service this sensor is monitoring. Once a sensor is created, you cannot change this value. It is shown for reference purposes only. If you need to change this, please add the sensor anew. |
Instance |
Shows the Instance ID of the Amazon Web Services instance this sensor is monitoring. When using the "Simple Notification Service (SNS)" service, this field is not visible. Once a sensor is created, you cannot change this value. It is shown for reference purposes only. If you need to change this, please add the sensor anew. |
Topic Name |
This field is only visible if you selected a "Simple Notification Service (SNS)" instance before. It shows the topic name that is monitored by this sensor. The sensor will show the number and size of messages published, and the number of notifications delivered and failed. Each sensor can monitor one topic name only. Once a sensor is created, you cannot change this value. It is shown for reference purposes only. If you need to change this, please add the sensor anew. |
Availability Zone |
This field is only visible if you selected a "Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)" instance before. Enter the name of the Availability Zone of your Load Balancer you want to monitor. If you leave this field empty, the average value of all zones will be taken. |
Sensor Display |
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Primary Channel |
Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel will always be displayed underneath the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor. Note: You can set another primary channel later by clicking on the pin symbol of a channel in the sensor's overview tab. |
Chart Type |
Define how different channels will be shown for this sensor.
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Stack Unit |
This setting is only available if stacked graphs are selected above. Choose a unit from the list. All channels with this unit will be stacked on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking, if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so. |
By default, all following settings are inherited from objects higher in the hierarchy and should be changed there, if necessary. Often, best practice is to change them centrally in the Root group's settings. To change a setting for this object, disable inheritance by clicking on the check mark symbol in front of the respective setting name. You will then see the options described below.
Note: For Amazon CloudWatch sensors, the scanning interval cannot be inherited. Please use the individual settings of the sensor to define the interval in which data is received.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window |
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Note: Inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows cannot be interrupted; the according settings from the parent objects will always be active. However, you can define additional settings here. They will be active in parallel to the parent objects' settings. |
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Schedule |
Select a schedule from the list. Schedules can be used to monitor for a certain time span (days, hours) throughout the week. With the period list option it is also possible to pause monitoring for a specific time span. You can create new schedules and edit existing ones in the account settings. Note: Schedules are generally inherited. New schedules will be added to existing ones, so all schedules are active. |
Maintenance Window |
Specify if you want to set-up a one-time maintenance window. During a maintenance window this object and all child objects will not be monitored. They will enter a paused state then. Choose between:
Note: To terminate a current maintenance window before the defined end date, you can change the time in Maintenance End At field to a date in the past. |
Maintenance Begins At |
This field is only visible if maintenance window is enabled above. Use the date time picker to enter the start date and time of the maintenance window. |
Maintenance End At |
This field is only visible if maintenance window is enabled above. Use the date time picker to enter the end date and time of the maintenance window. |
Dependency Type |
Define a dependency type. Dependencies can be used to pause monitoring for an object depending on the status of another. You can choose between:
Note: Testing your dependencies is easy! Simply choose Simulate Error Status from the context menu of an object that other objects depend on. A few seconds later all dependent objects should be paused. You can check all dependencies in your PRTG installation by selecting Devices | Dependencies from the main menu bar. |
Dependency |
This field is only visible if the select object option is enabled above. Click on the reading-glass symbol and use the object selector to choose an object on which the current sensor will be dependent on. |
Delay (Seconds) |
Define a time span. After the master object for this dependency comes back to an Up status, monitoring of the depending objects will be additionally delayed by the defined time span. This can help avoid false alarms, for example, after a server restart, by giving systems more time for all services to start up. Please enter an integer value in seconds. Note: This setting is not available if you choose this sensor to be the Master object for parent. In this case, please define delays in the parent Device Settings or the superior Group Settings. |
Access Rights |
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User Group Access |
Define which user group(s) will have access to the object you're editing. A table with user groups and right is shown; it contains all user groups from your setup. For each user group you can choose from the following access rights:
You can create new user groups in the System Administration—User Groups settings. To automatically set all objects further down in the hierarchy to inherit this object's access rights, set a check mark for the Revert children's access rights to inherited option. For more details about access rights, please see section User Access Rights. |
Channel Unit Configuration |
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Channel Unit Types |
For each type of sensor channel, define the unit in which data is displayed. If defined on probe, group, or device level, these settings can be inherited to all sensors underneath. You can set units for the following channel types (if available):
Note: Custom channel types can be set on sensor level only. |
Knowledge Base: How do I define access rights for Amazon CloudWatch queries?
Knowledge Base: How much does Amazon charge for using the CloudWatch API?
Knowledge Base: Why can't I use EU Frankfurt as region for my Amazon CloudWatch sensor?
Knowledge Base: Which .NET version does PRTG require?
To change display settings, spike filter, and limits, switch to the sensor's Overview tab and click the gear icon of a specific channel. For detailed information, please see Sensor Channels Settings section.
Click the Notifications tab to change notification triggers. For detailed information, please see Sensor Notifications Settings section.
For more general information about settings, please see Object Settings section.
For information about sensor settings, please see the following sections:
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