Install, configure, and start the CloudWatch Agent.

  1. Create IAM roles and users. These roles and users permit the CloudWatch agent to send metrics to CloudWatch. For more information, see Create IAM Roles and Users for Use With CloudWatch Agent Open link .
  2. Install the SSM Agent on the EC2 instances. For more information, see Manually Install SSM Agent on Amazon EC2 Linux Instances Open link .
  3. Install the CloudWatch agent on the EC2 instances. For information, see Getting Started: Installing the CloudWatch Agent on Your First Instance Open link .
  4. Verify that the CloudWatch agent service is up and running:
    • (Windows) Open Windows services, and check whether the service is running.
    • (Linux) Run this command: sudo /bin/systemctl status amazon-cloudwatch-agent.service
  5. Verify that the CloudWatch agent is started:
    • (Windows) <agent_installation_directory_path>\amazon-cloudwatch-agent-ctl -m ec2 -a status
      For example, C:\Program Files\Amazon\AmazonCloudWatchAgent\bin\amazon-cloudwatch-agent-ctl -m ec2 -a status
    • (Linux) <agent_installation_directory_path>/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/amazon-cloudwatch-agent-ctl -m ec2 -a status
      For example, sudo /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/amazon-cloudwatch-agent-ctl -m ec2 -a status
  6. Download the attached agent configuration file that contains the metrics to be collected by the agent.
    1. Log in to the EC2 instance.
    2. Download the attached file:
    3. Rename the file as amazon-cloudwatch-agent and save it at the following location:
      • (Windows) C:\Program Files\Amazon\AmazonCloudWatchAgent\bin
      • (Linux) /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin
  7. Run the following command to start data collection:
    • (Windows) <agent_installation_directory_path>\amazon-cloudwatch-agent-ctl -a fetch-config -m ec2 -c file:C:\Program Files\Amazon\AmazonCloudWatchAgent\bin\amazon-cloudwatch-agent.json -s
      For example, C:\Program Files\Amazon\AmazonCloudWatchAgent\bin\amazon-cloudwatch-agent-ctl -a fetch-config -m ec2 -c file:C:\Program Files\Amazon\AmazonCloudWatchAgent\bin\amazon-cloudwatch-agent.json -s
    • (Linux) <agent_installation_directory_path>/amazon-cloudwatch-agent-ctl -a fetch-config -m ec2 -c file:/opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.json -s
      For example, sudo /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/amazon-cloudwatch-agent-ctl -a fetch-config -m ec2 -c file:/opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.json -s
    The agent starts collecting metrics and data from EC2 instances and sends them to CloudWatch.

You can create your own agent configuration file and use it to start the agent on all your EC2 instances. For more information, see Installing CloudWatch Agent on Additional Instances Using Your Agent Configuration Open link .

You can use the command line for installing and starting the agent instead of Systems Manager. For more information, see Getting Started: Installing the CloudWatch Agent on Your First Instance Open link .

To troubleshoot issues with the CloudWatch agent, see Troubleshooting the CloudWatch Agent Open link .