PRTG Manual: Amazon CloudWatch EC2 Sensor
The Amazon CloudWatch EC2 sensor monitors the performance of the Amazon Cloud service Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
For a list of metrics that this sensor supports, see section Supported Metrics.
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- This sensor requires access rights for CloudWatch queries. For details, see the Knowledge Base: How do I set permissions for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) API key to use certain sensors in PRTG?
- This sensor requires .NET 4.7.2 or later on the probe system.
- Define credentials for AWS in settings that are higher in the object hierarchy, for example, in the settings of the parent device.
- The minimum scanning interval for this sensor is 15 minutes.
- This sensor supports the IPv6 protocol.
- This sensor has a medium performance impact.
- This sensor only shows the channels for which it receives data from Amazon. You can check the availability of data in your CloudWatch Console on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) website. To know which channels are possible for the various services of this sensor, see section Supported Metrics. If the sensor has not received data from Amazon for more than 6 hours, it shows a Down status.
- Configure notification triggers with a latency of 0 seconds to receive all notifications for this sensor ([...] for at least 0 seconds).
- To know which dimensions you can monitor, see section Supported Dimensions.
- Amazon charges you for each AWS API request that the sensor sends to the Amazon servers. For details, see the Knowledge Base: How much does Amazon charge for using Amazon CloudWatch sensors in PRTG?
Requirement |
Description |
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Permissions for the AWS API key |
This sensor requires sufficient rights to query data from the AWS API.
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.NET Framework |
This sensor requires the Microsoft .NET Framework. .NET 4.7.2 or later must be installed on the probe system (on every cluster node, if on a cluster probe). If the framework is missing, you cannot create this sensor.
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The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the setting fields that are required for creating the sensor. Therefore, you do not see all setting fields in this dialog. You can change (nearly) all settings in the sensor's Settings tab later.
PRTG looks for available instances.
This can take up to several minutes.
Select the services that you want to monitor. PRTG creates one sensor for each service that you select in the Add Sensor dialog. The settings you select are valid for all sensors that you create when you finish this dialog.
The following settings in the Add Sensor dialog differ in comparison to the sensor's Settings tab.
Amazon CloudWatch Specific
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Services |
Select the instances or auto scaling groups that you want to add a sensor for. You see a list with the names of all items that you can monitor. Add check marks in front of the respective lines to select the desired items. You can also use the check box in the table header to select all items or cancel the selection.
To better find what you want to monitor, especially in large tables, use the search function in the upper-right corner. |
Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.
Usually, a sensor connects to the IP Address or DNS Name of the parent device on which you created the sensor. See the device settings for details. For some sensors, you can explicitly define the monitoring target in the sensor settings. See below for details on available settings.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Sensor Name |
Enter a meaningful name to identify the sensor. By default, PRTG shows this name in the device tree, as well as in alarms, logs, notifications, reports, maps, libraries, and tickets.
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Parent Tags |
Shows tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe. This setting is shown for your information only and cannot be changed here. |
Tags |
Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the Enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case-sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.
The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:
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Priority |
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority ( |
Setting |
Description |
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Region |
Shows the region in which the monitored AWS instance runs. It is one of the following regions:
Once you have created the sensor, you cannot change this value. It is shown for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.
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Description |
Shows the description of the AWS service instance that this sensor monitors. Once you have created the sensor, you cannot change this value. It is shown for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew. |
ID |
Shows the ID of the AWS instance that this sensor monitors. Once you have created the sensor, you cannot change this value. It is shown for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew. |
Result Handling |
Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:
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Detailed Monitoring |
Select whether you would like to import more or less detailed monitoring data from the Amazon Web Services (AWS) API:
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Setting |
Description |
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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 is always displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.
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Graph Type |
Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:
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Stack Unit |
This setting is only visible if you enable Stack channels on top of each other as Graph Type. Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are 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 of the following settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. You should change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance. You then see the options described below.
For more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.
Click to interrupt the inheritance.
This sensor has a fixed minimum scanning interval for performance reasons. You cannot run the sensor in shorter intervals than this minimum interval. Consequently, shorter scanning intervals as defined in the Monitoring settings are not available for this sensor.
Setting |
Description |
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Scanning Interval |
Select a scanning interval from the dropdown list. The scanning interval determines the amount of time that the sensor waits between two scans. Choose from:
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If a Sensor Query Fails |
Select the number of scanning intervals that the sensor has time to reach and to check a device again if a sensor query fails. Depending on the option that you select, the sensor can try to reach and to check a device again several times before the sensor shows the Down status. This can avoid false alarms if the monitored device only has temporary issues. For previous scanning intervals with failed requests, the sensor shows the Warning status. Choose from:
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Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Windows
You cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.
Setting |
Description |
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Schedule |
Select a schedule from the list. You can use schedules to monitor during a certain time span (days or hours) every week. Choose from:
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Maintenance Window |
Select if you want to set up a one-time maintenance window. During a maintenance window, monitoring stops for the selected object and all child objects. They show the Paused status instead. Choose between:
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Maintenance Begins |
This setting is only visible if you enable Set up a one-time maintenance window above. Use the date time picker to enter the start date and time of the one-time maintenance window. |
Maintenance Ends |
This setting is only visible if you enable Set up a one-time maintenance window above. Use the date time picker to enter the end date and time of the one-time maintenance window. |
Dependency Type |
Select a dependency type. You can use dependencies to pause monitoring for an object depending on the status of a different object. You can choose from:
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Dependency |
This setting is only visible if you enable Select a sensor above. Click |
Dependency Delay (Sec.) |
This setting is only visible if you enable Select a sensor above. Define a time span in seconds for the dependency delay. After the master sensor for this dependency returns to the Up status, PRTG additionally delays the monitoring of the dependent objects by the time span you define. This can prevent false alarms, for example, after a server restart or to give systems more time for all services to start. Enter an integer value.
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Click to interrupt the inheritance.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
User Group Access |
Define the user groups that have access to the sensor. You see a table with user groups and group access rights. The table contains all user groups in your setup. For each user group, you can choose from the following group access rights:
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Click to interrupt the inheritance.
Setting |
Description |
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Channel Unit Types |
For each type of channel, select the unit in which PRTG displays the data. If you define this setting 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):
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The Amazon CloudWatch EC2 sensor supports the following metrics:
- CPUUtilization (Average)
- NetworkIn (Sum)
- NetworkOut (Sum)
- DiskReadBytes (Sum)
- DiskReadOps (Sum)
- DiskWriteBytes (Sum)
- DiskWriteOps (Sum)
- CPUCreditUsage (Average)
- CPUCreditBalance (Average)
- StatusCheckFailed (Maximum)
- StatusCheckFailed_Instance (Maximum)
- StatusCheckFailed_System (Maximum)
The Amazon CloudWatch EC2 sensor supports the following dimensions:
- Instance
- Auto Scaling Group
Supported Regions and Their Codes
Region |
Code |
---|---|
US East (Northern Virginia) |
us-east-1 |
US East (Ohio) |
us-east-2 |
US West (Northern California) |
us-west-1 |
US West (Oregon) |
us-west-2 |
Europe (Stockholm) |
eu-north-1 |
Europe (Ireland) |
eu-west-1 |
Europe (London) |
eu-west-2 |
Europe (Paris) |
eu-west-3 |
Europe (Frankfurt) |
eu-central-1 |
Asia Pacific (Tokyo) |
ap-northeast-1 |
Asia Pacific (Seoul) |
ap-northeast-2 |
Asia Pacific (Mumbai) |
ap-south-1 |
Asia Pacific (Singapore) |
ap-southeast-1 |
Asia Pacific (Sydney) |
ap-southeast-2 |
South America (São Paulo) |
sa-east-1 |
Canada (Central) |
ca-central-1 |
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the monitored device, the available components, and the sensor setup.
Channel |
Description |
---|---|
CPU Credit Balance |
The CPU credit balance |
CPU Credit Usage |
The CPU credit usage |
CPU Utilization |
The CPU usage in percent
|
Disk Read |
The disk read speed in bytes per second |
Disk Write |
The disk write speed in bytes per second |
Downtime |
In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status in percent. |
Network In |
The incoming network load in bytes per second |
Network Out |
The outgoing network load in bytes per second |
Read Ops |
The number of disk read operations per second |
Status |
The EC2 status
|
Status (Instance) |
The EC2 instance status
|
Status (System) |
The EC2 system status
|
Write Ops |
The number of disk write operations per second |
KNOWLEDGE BASE
How do I set permissions for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) API key to use certain sensors in PRTG?
How much does Amazon charge for using Amazon CloudWatch sensors in PRTG?
Which .NET version does PRTG require?
What security features does PRTG include?
For more information about sensor settings, see the following sections: