CloudWatch Flashcards
This deck aims to help retain concepts related to the CloudWatch service.
What AWS service provides the ability to monitor applications, infrastructure, networks, and services, enabling alarms, log analysis, and automated actions?
AWS CloudWatch
Is AWS CloudWatch a public service?
Yes, it is a public service accessible through AWS public endpoints and can be used from both AWS and on-premises environments
How do public AWS services access AWS CloudWatch?
Through an Internet Gateway
How do private AWS services access AWS CloudWatch?
Through a VPC Interface Endpoint
What type of native integration do AWS services have with AWS CloudWatch?
Managment Plane, that includes general metrics for the service
For EC2 this can be CPUUtilization
, NetworkIn
, NetworkOut
metrics
What software is required to create custom metrics in AWS CloudWatch?
CloudWatch Agent (CWAgent)
What AWS CloudWatch software enables access to internal EC2 instance metrics like memory utilization, running processes, and disk space usage?
CloudWatch Agent (CWAgent)
How can on-premises applications integrate with AWS CloudWatch?
- AWS CloudWatch API
- AWS CloudWatch Agent (CWAgent)
What options are available for viewing data stored in AWS CloudWatch?
- Console UI
- CLI
- API
Which AWS CloudWatch feature monitors metrics and triggers actions when thresholds are exceeded?
CloudWatch Alarms, which track metrics over time and respond based on threshold values
What states can an AWS CloudWatch Alarm transition between?
- OK: Metric remains below the threshold
- ALARM: Metric exceeds the threshold
- INSUFFICIENT_DATA: Not enough data to determine the state
What happens when an AWS CloudWatch Alarm breaches its threshold?
Entering the ALARM state triggers one or more predefined actions:
- Sending notifications via SNS
- Executing remediation tasks
- Modifying Auto Scaling policies
- Initiating EventBridge events
What metric type can a high-resolution AWS CloudWatch Alarm monitor?
High-resolution metrics with a period of 10 or 30 seconds
What is the smallest unit of information in CloudWatch, consisting of a value, timestamp, and optionally a unit of measure?
Datapoint
What CloudWatch component acts as a container for grouping metrics from different services?
Namespace (e.g., AWS/EC2, AWS/Lambda)
What CloudWatch component represents a named, time-ordered series of datapoints?
Metric, identified by a MetricName (e.g., CPUUtilization) and a Namespace (e.g., AWS/EC2)
What CloudWatch component represents a name/value pair attached to datapoints, used to differentiate or aggregate metric data?
Dimension
What information does a datapoint include when sent to AWS CloudWatch?
- Value
- Timestamp
- Unit of measure
- MetricName
- Namespace
- One or more Dimensions
How can metrics for different services and resources be distinguished in AWS CloudWatch?
By combining the following pieces of information:
- Namespace: AWS/EC2
- Metric Name: CPUUtilization
- Dimensions: Name=InstanceId, Value=i-1234567890abcdef0
What are the types of metric resolutions supported in AWS CloudWatch?
- Standard Resolution: 60-second granularity
- High Resolution: 1-second granularity (higher cost)
What AWS CloudWatch metric resolution type is used by AWS services by default?
Standard resolution (60 seconds)