How to setup AWS Monitoring
How to Set Up AWS Monitoring in Cloudmon
Connect your AWS account to Cloudmon using read-only IAM credentials. Once connected, Cloudmon auto-discovers your resources and begins collecting metrics in real time.
Overview
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is Amazon's cloud platform, providing hosted compute, storage, database, and networking services over the internet. Organisations use AWS to run workloads without managing physical hardware, scaling resources as needed and paying only for what they use.
This guide walks you through connecting your AWS account to Cloudmon for the first time. The setup involves creating a read-only IAM user in the AWS console and generating an access key, then entering those credentials into Cloudmon. Once complete, Cloudmon will have read-only access to your AWS environment and will automatically discover your resources.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, ensure the following are in place:
| Title | Description |
| AWS Account access | You must have IAM permissions to create users, roles, and attach policies |
| Cloudmon account | An active Cloudmon account with Cloud Monitoring license |
| Supported regions | All standard AWS regions are supported. |
| Services to monitor | Decide which services you want to monitor (EC2, RDS, S3, Cost Explorer, etc.). You will scope IAM permissions accordingly |
How It Works
Cloudmon connects to your AWS account using a dedicated read-only IAM user. It calls AWS CloudWatch and service-specific APIs at regular intervals to pull metrics, resource lists, and configuration data. Nothing is installed inside your AWS environment, and no Cloudmon probe is required: the connection is made directly from the Cloudmon Controller using the access key you provide.
Configuration Steps
Step 1: Create a Read-Only IAM Policy in AWS
Follow the AWS documentation to create a read-only IAM policy: Creating IAM policies, AWS documentation
Step 2: Create an IAM User for Cloudmon
Follow the AWS documentation to create a programmatic IAM user and attach your policy: Creating an IAM user, AWS documentation
⚠️ Important: The Secret Access Key is shown only once. Store it securely before closing this screen.
Step 3: Add Your AWS Account in Cloudmon
- Log in to your Cloudmon dashboard
- Go to Cloud → AWS → Add AWS Account
- The Add AWS panel opens, organized into four sections: Monitor Details, Discovery Settings, Resource Management, and Configuration Details
Monitor Details: account identity and credentials.
| Field | Value |
| Display Name* | A friendly name for this account, e.g. "Production AWS Account" |
| Access Key ID* | The IAM access key ID created in Step 2 |
| Secret Access Key* | The corresponding secret access key created in Step 2 |
Discovery Settings: services, intervals, and notification.
| Field | Value |
| Services to be Discovered* | Select EC2, RDS, S3, Cost Explorer, or others as needed |
| Rediscovery Interval | How often Cloudmon re-scans the account for new or removed resources |
| Notify on Discovery | Toggle on to send an alert whenever new resources are discovered |
Resource Management: resource lifecycle, alerts, and tag-based filters.
| Field | Value |
| Mute Resource Termination Alerts | Toggle on to stop receiving alerts when a resource is terminated in AWS |
| Skip Monitoring Stopped Resources | Toggle on to stop polling resources that are stopped in AWS |
| Automatically Remove Terminated Resources | Toggle on to delete the monitor automatically when its resource is terminated in AWS |
| Exclude/Include resources using tags | Choose whether AWS tags exclude matching resources from discovery or include only matching resources |
Configuration Details: groups and tags.
| Field | Value |
| Groups | Optional groups to organise this account alongside others |
| Tags | Any tags that could be associated with this AWS account |
- Click Save
- Cloudmon will test the credentials. A green checkmark confirms a successful connection
Step 4: Discover Your Resources
- After saving, Cloudmon runs an initial auto-discovery scan
- Navigate to Cloud → AWS → [Your AWS Account]
- You will see all discovered resources grouped by service, alongside a geographical and regional breakdown
- Click any resource to open its monitoring dashboard
What Gets Collected
- Performance metrics (CPU, memory, disk, network)
- Resource inventory (instance lists, config)
- Availability/status checks
- CloudWatch alarms state
- Cost and usage data, if Cost Explorer is selected as a discovered service
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely Cause | Fix |
| "Invalid credentials" error on validation | Access Key ID or Secret is incorrect | Re-enter credentials from the AWS IAM console |
| "Access Denied" on a specific service | IAM policy is missing a required permission | Add the missing action to CloudmonReadOnlyPolicy |
| Resources not appearing after discovery | The resource's service was not selected under Services to be Discovered, or the resource has no CloudWatch data | Edit the account and confirm the relevant service is selected under Services to be Discovered |
| Metrics showing gaps | CloudWatch detailed monitoring is not enabled on the instance | Enable detailed monitoring in AWS EC2 console (adds cost) |
Related Articles
Actions in AWS Monitoring
Setup Guide Actions in AWS Monitoring Manage your connected AWS accounts: add a new account, edit configuration, re-run discovery, enable or disable monitoring, or remove an account entirely. Overview All account-level actions for AWS monitoring are ...AWS Alarm Rules
Setup Guide Configuring Alarm Rules for AWS Set up alarms to be notified when your AWS resources exceed defined thresholds. Alarm rules are created centrally and can be attached to any individual monitored resource. Overview Cloudmon alarm rules work ...AWS Monitoring
Amazon Web Services AWS Cloud Monitoring with Cloudmon Connect your AWS account once and get full visibility into your AWS services such as EC2 instances, RDS databases, and S3 buckets — with real-time metrics, smart alerts, and historical ...How to Setup GCP Monitoring
Cloud Monitoring How to Setup GCP Monitoring Monitor Google Cloud Platform instances and resources in real time. Track availability, CPU, memory, disk, and network performance across your GCP infrastructure from a single view. Overview Cloudmon ...How to configure a Monitoring Profile for an agent in cloudmon?
By default, the monitoring profile default is configured for every entity. The default profile includes all the metrics for monitoring and can be modified if required. Follow the steps to change the profile from default to the user-defined profile ...