AWS CloudWatch Metrics Mastery: The Ultimate Reference List for Every AWS Service

Amazon CloudWatch Metrics are a core component of AWS monitoring, allowing you to track the operational health and performance of your resources. This comprehensive reference guide provides a detailed list of the most important AWS CloudWatch metrics for all major AWS services.

What are AWS CloudWatch Metrics?

AWS CloudWatch Metrics are time-ordered data points published by AWS services. Each metric represents a specific variable that is monitored over time, such as CPU utilization, network traffic, or error counts. These metrics provide visibility into resource utilization, application performance, and operational health. CloudWatch monitoring is the foundation of observability in AWS environments, helping you detect anomalies, visualize performance trends, and trigger automated actions.

How to Retrieve CloudWatch Metrics

There are three primary ways to access CloudWatch metrics:

AWS Console

1. Log into the AWS Management Console
2. Navigate to CloudWatch service
3. Select "Metrics" from the left navigation panel
4. Browse metrics by category or search for specific metrics

AWS CLI

Use the AWS Command Line Interface to retrieve metrics:

# List metrics for a specific namespace
aws cloudwatch list-metrics --namespace AWS/EC2

# Get metric statistics
aws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics \
  --namespace AWS/EC2 \
  --metric-name CPUUtilization \
  --dimensions Name=InstanceId,Value=i-1234567890abcdef0 \
  --start-time 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z \
  --end-time 2023-01-02T00:00:00Z \
  --period 3600 \
  --statistics Average Maximum

CloudWatch API

For programmatic access, use the CloudWatch API endpoints:

• ListMetrics: Retrieve available metrics
• GetMetricData: Retrieve multiple metrics with a single call
• GetMetricStatistics: Get statistics for a specific metric

For detailed examples and code snippets on working with these API endpoints, refer to our article "Unlock the Power of CloudWatch API: A Developer's Toolkit for Custom Metrics".

CloudWatch Metrics by Service

EC2 Metrics (Namespace: AWS/EC2)

RDS Metrics (Namespace: AWS/RDS)

Lambda Metrics (Namespace: AWS/Lambda)

S3 Metrics (Namespace: AWS/S3)

ELB Metrics (Namespace: AWS/ELB for Classic, AWS/ApplicationELB for ALB, AWS/NetworkELB for NLB)

Application Load Balancer Metrics

Network Load Balancer Metrics

ECS/EKS Metrics (Namespace: AWS/ECS)

DynamoDB Metrics (Namespace: AWS/DynamoDB)

API Gateway Metrics (Namespace: AWS/ApiGateway)

SQS Metrics (Namespace: AWS/SQS)

SNS Metrics (Namespace: AWS/SNS)

Kinesis Metrics (Namespace: AWS/Kinesis)

ElastiCache Metrics (Namespace: AWS/ElastiCache)

Redis Metrics

Memcached Metrics

Metric Retention and Storage Costs

CloudWatch retains metrics according to the following schedule:

• Data points with a period less than 60 seconds: Available for 3 hours
• Data points with a period of 60 seconds (1 minute): Available for 15 days
• Data points with a period of 300 seconds (5 minutes): Available for 63 days
• Data points with a period of 3600 seconds (1 hour): Available for 455 days (15 months)

CloudWatch Metrics Pricing

The cost structure for CloudWatch metrics monitoring includes:

• Basic monitoring (default for most services): Free
• Detailed monitoring (higher frequency): Starts at $0.30 per metric per month
• CloudWatch custom metrics: $0.30 per metric per month
• Amazon CloudWatch custom metrics with high resolution: $0.10 per 1,000 metrics
• API requests: First million API requests per month are free, then $0.01 per 1,000 API requests
• CloudWatch metrics pricing for alarms: $0.10 per alarm metric per month (standard resolution)

These prices may vary by region, so consult the AWS pricing page for the most current information.

Exporting CloudWatch Metrics

You can export CloudWatch metrics to third-party monitoring tools for extended analytics, visualization, or longer retention. Popular options include:

• AWS Data Firehose: Forward metrics to destinations like Elasticsearch, Splunk, or custom HTTP endpoints
• AWS Metric Stream: Stream metrics in near real-time to partners and third-party solutions
• OpenTelemetry integration: Use the OpenTelemetry Collector to forward metrics to other systems

For a detailed guide on exporting AWS CloudWatch metrics and logs to external systems, you can refer to Uptrace's guide on CloudWatch metrics and logs, which provides step-by-step instructions for setting up integrations using AWS Data Firehose or Prometheus with yet-another-cloudwatch-exporter.

AWS CloudWatch Alarms

AWS CloudWatch alarms monitor your CloudWatch metrics and trigger actions when metrics breach predefined thresholds. They are essential for proactive monitoring and automated response.

CloudWatch Alarm States

CloudWatch metric alarms have three possible states:

1. OK - The metric is within the defined threshold
2. ALARM - The metric has breached the defined threshold
3. INSUFFICIENT_DATA - The alarm has just started, the metric is not available, or not enough data is available for the metric to determine the alarm state

Creating Basic CloudWatch Alarms

You can create alarms through the AWS Console, AWS CLI, or CloudFormation (AWS::CloudWatch::Alarm resource).

Example using AWS CLI:

aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
  --alarm-name "High-CPU-Alarm" \
  --alarm-description "Alarm when CPU exceeds 70%" \
  --metric-name CPUUtilization \
  --namespace AWS/EC2 \
  --statistic Average \
  --period 300 \
  --threshold 70 \
  --comparison-operator GreaterThanThreshold \
  --dimensions "Name=InstanceId,Value=i-1234567890abcdef0" \
  --evaluation-periods 2 \
  --alarm-actions arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:my-topic

CloudWatch Alarms Pricing

The cost of CloudWatch alarms depends on the type:

• Standard Resolution Alarms: $0.10 per alarm metric per month
• High Resolution Alarms: $0.30 per alarm metric per month
• Composite Alarms: $0.50 per alarm metric per month

CloudWatch Monitoring Best Practices

Effective CloudWatch monitoring requires a strategic approach:

1. Set appropriate thresholds based on application behavior
2. Use composite alarms for complex conditions
3. Implement multi-metric alarms for correlated issues
4. Configure meaningful actions (SNS notifications, Auto Scaling, etc.)
5. Use anomaly detection for dynamic thresholds
6. Monitor custom metrics alongside AWS metrics

FAQ

1. What is CloudWatch metrics? CloudWatch metrics are time-ordered data points published to CloudWatch by AWS services and your applications. Each metric represents a variable that changes over time (such as CPU utilization, network throughput, or error counts). AWS CloudWatch metrics provide visibility into resource performance, operational health, and overall AWS environment status.

2. What are the 3 states of the CloudWatch metric alarm? CloudWatch metric alarms have three possible states:

• OK - The metric is within the defined threshold
• ALARM - The metric has breached the defined threshold
• INSUFFICIENT_DATA - There's not enough data to evaluate the alarm state, or the metric isn't being reported

3. What are CloudWatch custom metrics? CloudWatch custom metrics are metrics that you define and publish to CloudWatch yourself, rather than metrics automatically collected by AWS services. Custom metrics allow you to monitor application-specific data points, business metrics, or any other variable important to your workloads. You can publish custom metrics using the AWS SDK, AWS CLI, or CloudWatch agent.

4. Are CloudWatch metrics free? Basic CloudWatch metrics provided by AWS services with standard resolution (data points at 5-minute intervals) are available at no additional charge. However, there are costs associated with:

• Detailed monitoring (1-minute intervals): Starting at $0.30 per metric per month
• Custom metrics: $0.30 per metric per month
• High-resolution custom metrics (1-second intervals): $0.10 per 1,000 metrics
• API requests: First million API requests per month are free, then $0.01 per 1,000 API requests
• CloudWatch alarms: Starting at $0.10 per alarm metric per month

Conclusion

AWS CloudWatch metrics are essential for monitoring the health and performance of your AWS resources. This reference guide provides a comprehensive list of the most important metrics for major AWS services, along with ways to retrieve them and understand their storage parameters and costs.

For the most up-to-date and complete information, always refer to the official AWS CloudWatch documentation.

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