Prerequisites How it works Costs Install and configure the CloudWatch agent

Install and configure the CloudWatch agent using the Amazon EC2 console to add additional metrics

Installing and configuring the CloudWatch agent using the Amazon EC2 console is in beta for Amazon EC2 and is subject to change.

By default, Amazon CloudWatch provides basic metrics, such as CPUUtilization and NetworkIn, for monitoring your Amazon EC2 instances. To collect additional metrics, you can install the CloudWatch agent on your EC2 instances, and then configure the agent to emit selected metrics. Instead of manually installing and configuring the CloudWatch agent on every EC2 instance, you can use the Amazon EC2 console to do this for you.

This topic explains how you can use the Amazon EC2 console to install the CloudWatch agent on your instances and configure the agent to emit selected metrics.

For the manual steps for this process, see Installing the CloudWatch agent using Amazon Systems Manager in the Amazon CloudWatch User Guide. For more information about the CloudWatch agent, see Collect metrics, logs, and traces with the CloudWatch agent.

Topics

Prerequisites
How it works
Costs
Install and configure the CloudWatch agent

Prerequisites

To use Amazon EC2 to install and configure the CloudWatch agent, you must meet the user and instance prerequisites described in this section.

User prerequisites

To use this feature, your IAM console user or role must have the permissions required for using Amazon EC2 and the following IAM permissions:


{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "ssm:GetParameter",
                "ssm:PutParameter"
            ],
            "Resource": "arn:aws:ssm:*:*:parameter/EC2-Custom-Metrics-*"
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "ssm:SendCommand",
                "ssm:ListCommandInvocations",
                "ssm:DescribeInstanceInformation"
            ],
            "Resource": [
                "*"
            ]
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "iam:GetInstanceProfile",
                "iam:SimulatePrincipalPolicy"
            ],
            "Resource": "*"
        }
    ]
}

Instance prerequisites

Instance state: running
Supported operating system: Linux
Amazon Systems Manager Agent (SSM Agent): Installed. Two notes about SSM Agent:
- SSM Agent is preinstalled on some Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) provided by Amazon and trusted third-parties. For information about the supported AMIs and the instructions for installing SSM Agent, see Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) with SSM Agent preinstalled in the Amazon Systems Manager User Guide.
- If you experience issues with the SSM Agent, see Troubleshooting SSM Agent in the Amazon Systems Manager User Guide.
IAM permissions for the instance: The following Amazon managed policies must be added to an IAM role that is attached to the instance:
- AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore – Enables an instance to use Systems Manager to install and configure the CloudWatch agent.
- CloudWatchAgentServerPolicy – Enables an instance to use the CloudWatch agent to write data to CloudWatch.
For information about how to add IAM permissions to your instance, see Using instance profiles in the IAM User Guide.

How it works

Before you can use the Amazon EC2 console to install and configure the CloudWatch agent, you must make sure that your IAM user or role, and the instances on which you want to add metrics, meet certain prerequisites. Then, you can use the Amazon EC2 console to install and configure the CloudWatch agent on your selected instances.

First meet the prerequisites

You need the required IAM permissions – Before you get started, make sure that your console user or role has the required IAM permissions to use this feature.
Instances – To use the feature, your EC2 instances must be Linux instances, have the SSM Agent installed, have the required IAM permissions, and be running.

Then you can use the feature

Select your instances – In the Amazon EC2 console, you select the instances on which to install and configure the CloudWatch agent. You then start the process by choosing Configure CloudWatch agent.
Validate SSM Agent – Amazon EC2 checks that the SSM Agent is installed and started on each instance. Any instances that fail this check are excluded from the process. The SSM Agent is used for performing actions on the instance during this process.
Validate IAM permissions – Amazon EC2 checks that each instance has the required IAM permissions for this process. Any instances that fail this check are excluded from the process. The IAM permissions enable the CloudWatch agent to collect metrics from the instance and integrate with Amazon Systems Manager to use the SSM Agent.
Validate CloudWatch agent – Amazon EC2 checks that the CloudWatch agent is installed and running on each instance. If any instances fail this check, Amazon EC2 offers to install and start the CloudWatch agent for you. The CloudWatch agent will collect the selected metrics on each instance once this process is completed.
Select metric configuration – You select the metrics for the CloudWatch agent to emit from your instances. Once selected, Amazon EC2 stores a configuration file in Parameter Store, where it remains until the process is completed. Amazon EC2 will delete the configuration file from Parameter Store unless the process is interrupted. Note that if you don't select a metric, but you previously added it to your instance, it will be removed from your instance when this process is completed.
Update CloudWatch agent configuration – Amazon EC2 sends the metric configuration to the CloudWatch agent. This is the last step in the process. If it succeeds, your instances can emit data for the selected metrics and Amazon EC2 deletes the configuration file from Parameter Store.

Costs

Additional metrics that you add during this process are billed as custom metrics. For more information about CloudWatch metrics pricing, see Amazon CloudWatch Pricing.