Monitoring with Amazon CloudWatch - Amazon FSx for Windows File Server
Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Monitoring with Amazon CloudWatch

Amazon CloudWatchcollects and processes raw data from your FSx for Windows File Server file system into readable, near real-time metrics. These statistics are retained for a period of 15 months, giving you to access historical information to help gain perspectives on how your workflow or file system is performing.

FSx for Windows File Server publishes CloudWatch metrics in the following domains:

  • Network I/O metrics measure activity between clients accessing the file system and the file server.

  • File server metrics measure network throughput utilization, file server CPU and memory, and file server disk throughput and IOPS utilization.

  • Disk I/O metrics measure activity between the file server and the storage volumes.

  • Storage volume metrics measure disk throughput utilization for HDD storage volumes, and IOPS utilization for SSD storage volumes.

  • Storage capacity metrics measure storage usage, including storage savings due to Data Deduplication.

The following diagram illustrates an FSx for Windows File Server file system, its components, and the metric domains.

FSx for Windows File Server reports metrics in CloudWatch that monitor network I/O, file server performance, and storage volume performance.

By default, Amazon FSx for Windows File Server sends metric data to CloudWatch at 1-minute periods, with the following exceptions that are emitted in 5-minute intervals:

  • FileServerDiskThroughputBalance

  • FileServerDiskIopsBalance

For more information about CloudWatch, see What is Amazon CloudWatch? in the Amazon CloudWatch User Guide.

Metrics might not be published for Single-AZ file systems during file system maintenance or infrastructure component replacement, and for Multi-AZ file systems during failover and failback between the primary and secondary file servers.

Some Amazon FSx CloudWatch metrics are reported as raw Bytes. Bytes are not rounded to either a decimal or binary multiple of the unit.

CloudWatch metrics and dimensions

FSx for Windows File Server publishes the following metrics into the AWS/FSx namespace in Amazon CloudWatch for all file systems:

  • DataReadBytes

  • DataWriteBytes

  • DataReadOperations

  • DataWriteOperations

  • MetadataOperations

  • FreeStorageCapacity

FSx for Windows File Server publishes the metrics described in the following sections into the AWS/FSx namespace in Amazon CloudWatch for file systems configured with a throughput capacity of at least 32 MBps.

Network I/O metrics

The AWS/FSx namespace includes the following network I/O metrics.

Metric Description
DataReadBytes

The number of bytes for read operations for clients accessing the file system.

Units: Bytes

Valid statistics: Sum

DataWriteBytes

The number of bytes for write operations for clients accessing the file system.

Units: Bytes

Valid statistics: Sum

DataReadOperations

The number of read operations for clients accessing the file system.

Units: Count

Valid statistics: Sum

DataWriteOperations

The number of write operations for clients accessing the file system.

Units: Count

Valid statistics: Sum

MetadataOperations

The number of metadata operations for clients accessing the file system.

Units: Count

Valid statistics: Sum

ClientConnections

The number of active connections between clients and the file server.

Units: Count

File server metrics

The AWS/FSx namespace includes the following file server metrics.

Metric Description
NetworkThroughputUtilization

The network throughput for clients accessing the file system, as a percentage of the provisioned limit.

Units: Percent

CPUUtilization

The percentage utilization of your file server’s CPU resources.

Units: Percent

MemoryUtilization

The percentage utilization of your file server’s memory resources.

Units: Percent

FileServerDiskThroughputUtilization

The disk throughput between your file server and its storage volumes, as a percentage of the provisioned limit determined by throughput capacity.

Units: Percent

FileServerDiskThroughputBalance

The percentage of available burst credits for disk throughput between your file server and its storage volumes. Valid for file systems provisioned with throughput capacity of 256 MBps or less.

Units: Percent

FileServerDiskIopsUtilization

The disk IOPS between your file server and storage volumes, as a percentage of the provisioned limit determined by throughput capacity.

Units: Percent

FileServerDiskIopsBalance

The percentage of available burst credits for disk IOPS between your file server and its storage volumes. Valid for file systems provisioned with throughput capacity of 256 MBps or less.

Units: Percent

Disk I/O metrics

The AWS/FSx namespace includes the following disk I/O metrics.

Metric Description
DiskReadBytes

The number of bytes for read operations that access storage volumes.

Units: Bytes

Valid statistics: Sum

DiskWriteBytes

The number of bytes for write operations that access storage volumes.

Units: Bytes

Valid statistics: Sum

DiskReadOperations

The number of read operations for the file server accessing storage volumes.

Units: Count

Valid statistics: Sum

DiskWriteOperations

The number of write operations for the file server accessing storage volumes.

Units: Count

Valid statistics: Sum

FSx for Windows storage volume metrics

The AWS/FSx namespace includes the following storage volume metrics.

Metric Description
DiskThroughputUtilization

(HDD only) The disk throughput between your file server and its storage volumes, as a percentage of the provisioned limit determined by the storage volumes.

Units: Percent

DiskThroughputBalance

(HDD only) The percentage of available burst credits for disk throughput for the storage volumes.

Units: Percent

DiskIopsUtilization

(SSD only) The disk IOPS between your file server and storage volumes, as a percentage of the provisioned IOPS limit determined by the storage volumes.

Units: Percent

Storage capacity metrics

The AWS/FSx namespace includes the following storage capacity metrics.

Metric Description
FreeStorageCapacity

The amount of available storage capacity.

Units: Bytes

Valid statistics: Average, Minimum

StorageCapacityUtilization

Used physical storage capacity as a percentage of total storage capacity.

Units: Percent

DeduplicationSavedStorage

The amount of storage space saved by data deduplication, if it is enabled.

Units: Bytes

Namespace and dimensions for FSx for Windows File Server metrics

FSx for Windows File Server metrics use the FSx namespace and provide metrics for a single dimension, FileSystemId. You can find a file system's ID using the describe-file-systems Amazon CLI command or the DescribeFileSystems API command. A file system ID takes the form of fs-0123456789abcdef0.

Using file system metrics

There are two primary architectural components of each Amazon FSx file system:

  • The file server that serves data to clients accessing the file system.

  • The storage volumes that host the data in your file system.

FSx for Windows File Server reports metrics in CloudWatch that track the performance and resource utilization for your file system's file server and storage volumes. The following diagram illustrates an Amazon FSx file system with its architectural components, and the performance and resource CloudWatch metrics available for monitoring. The key property shown for a set of metrics is the file system property that determines the capacity for those metrics. Adjusting that property modifies the file system's performance for that set of metrics.

FSx for Windows File Server reports metrics in CloudWatch that monitor network I/O, file server performance, and storage volume performance.

Use the Monitoring & performance panel in the Amazon FSx console to view the FSx for Windows File Server CloudWatch metrics described in the following table.

Monitoring & performance panel How do I... Chart Relevant metrics
Summary

...determine my file system's total IOPS?

Total IOPS

SUM(DataReadOperations + DataWriteOperations + MetadataOperations)/Period (in seconds)

...determine my file system's total throughput?

Total throughput

SUM(DataReadBytes + DataWriteBytes)/Period (in seconds)

...determine the amount of available storage capacity on my file system? Available storage capacity FreeStorageCapacity
...determine the number of connections established between clients and the file server? Client connections ClientConnections
Storage ...determine the amount of used physical disk space as a percentage of the file system's total storage capacity? Storage capacity utilization StorageCapacityUtilization
...determine the amount of physical disk space saved by data deduplication? Storage saved from Data Deduplication DeduplicationSavedStorage
Performance - File server ...determine the network throughput for clients accessing the file system, as a percentage of the file system's provisioned throughput? Network throughput utilization NetworkThroughputUtilization
...determine the disk throughput between file server and its storage volumes, as a percentage of the provisioned limit determined by Throughput Capacity? Disk throughput utilization FileServerDiskThroughputUtilization
...determine the percentage of available burst credits for disk throughput between the file server and its storage volumes? Disk throughput burst balance FileServerDiskThroughputBalance
...determine the amount of disk IOPS between the file server and storage volumes, as a percentage of the provisioned limit determined by Throughput Capacity? Disk IOPS utilization FileServerDiskIopsUtilization
...determine the percentage of available burst credits for disk IOPS between the file server and storage volumes? Disk IOPS burst balance FileServerDiskIopsBalance
...determine the file server's CPU utilization percentage? CPU utilization CPUUtilization
...determine the file server's memory utilization percentage? Memory utilization MemoryUtilization
Performance – Storage volumes ...determine the throughput for operations that access storage volumes, as a percentage of the provisioned limit determined by HDD Storage Capacity? Disk throughput utilization (HDD) DiskThroughputUtilization
...determine the percentage of available burst credits for throughput for operations that access HDD storage volumes? Disk throughput burst balance (HDD) DiskThroughputBalance
...determine the IOPS for operations that access storage volumes, as a percentage of the provisioned limit determined by SSD Storage Capacity? Disk IOPS utilization (SSD) DiskIopsUtilization
Note

We recommend that you maintain an average throughput capacity utilization under 50% to ensure that you have enough spare throughput capacity for unexpected spikes in your workload, as well as for any background Windows storage operations (such as storage synchronization, deduplication, or shadow copies).

Performance warnings and recommendations

FSx for Windows provides you with performance warnings for file systems configured with a throughput capacity of at least 32 MBps. Amazon FSx displays a warning for a set of the CloudWatch metrics whenever one of these metrics has approached or crossed a predetermined threshold for multiple consecutive data points. These warnings provide you with actionable recommendations that you can use to optimize your file system's performance.

Warnings are accessible in several areas of the Monitoring & performance dashboard. All active or recent Amazon FSx performance warnings and any CloudWatch alarms configured for the file system that are in an ALARM state appear in the Monitoring & performance panel in the Summary section. The warning also appears in the section of the dashboard that the metric graph is displayed.

You can create CloudWatch alarms for any of the Amazon FSx metrics. For more information, see Creating CloudWatch alarms.

Use performance warnings to improve file system performance

Amazon FSx provides actionable recommendations that you can use to optimize your file system's performance. These recommendations describe how you can address a potential performance bottle neck. You can take the recommended action if you expect the activity to continue, or if it's causing an impact to your file system's performance. Depending on which metric has triggered a warning, you can resolve it by increasing either the file system's throughput capacity or storage capacity, as described in the following table.

If there's a warning for this metric Do this
Network throughput – utilization Increase throughput capacity
File server > Disk IOPS – utilization
File server > Disk throughput – utilization
File server > Disk IOPS - burst balance
File server > Disk throughput – burst balance
Storage capacity utilization Increase storage capacity
Storage volume > Disk throughput – utilization (HDD) Increase storage capacity or switch to SDD storage type
Storage volume > Disk throughput – burst balance (HDD)
Storage volume > Disk IOPS – utilization (SSD) Increase SSD IOPS
Note

Certain file system events can consume disk I/O performance resources and potentially trigger performance warnings. For example:

  • The optimization phase of storage capacity scaling can generate increased disk throughput, as described in Storage capacity increases and file system performance

  • For Multi-AZ file systems, events such as throughput capacity scaling, hardware replacement, or Availability Zone disruption result in automatic failover and failback events. Any data changes that occur during this time need to be synchronized between the primary and secondary file servers, and Windows Server runs a data synchronization job that can consume disk I/O resources. For more information, see Managing throughput capacity on FSx for Windows File Server file systems.

For more information file system performance, see FSx for Windows File Server performance.