Choosing A CloudWatch Interface

To install the Amazon CloudWatch CLI

1. Download the CLI from Amazon CloudWatch Tools.

2. Save and unpack the Amazon CloudWatch archive to a convenient location on your workstation.

To set the JAVA_HOME Environment Variable

1. At a command prompt, enter the command java -version to determine the version of Java installed on your workstation.

2. If you do not have version 1.5 or newer, download and install a newer version from http://www.java.com.

3. Set JAVA_HOME environment variable to point to your Java installation. For example, if your Java executable is in the /usr/jdk/bin directory, set JAVA_HOME to /usr/jdk. If your Java executable is in C:\jdk\bin, set JAVA_HOME to C:\jdk.

   Note

   If you are using Cygwin, you must use Linux/UNIX paths (e.g., /usr/bin instead of C:\usr\bin) for AWS_CLOUDWATCH_HOME and AWS_CREDENTIAL_FILE. However, JAVA_HOME should have a Windows path. Additionally, the value cannot contain any spaces, even if the value is quoted or the spaces are escaped.

   The following Linux/UNIX example shows how to set the JAVA_HOME for a Java executable in the /usr/local/jre/bin directory.

   $ export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/jre

   The following Windows example shows how to use the set and setx commands to set JAVA_HOME for a Java executable in the C:\java\jdk1.6.0_6\bin directory. The set command defines JAVA_HOME for the current session and setx makes the change permanent.

   C:\> set JAVA_HOME=C:\java\jdk1.6.0_6
   C:\> setx JAVA_HOME C:\java\jdk1.6.0_6

   Note

   Don't include the bin directory in JAVA_HOME; the CLI won't work if you do.

4. Add your Java directory to your path before other versions of Java.

   On Linux and UNIX, you can update your PATH as follows:

   $ export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH 

   Note

   The export command applies only to the current shell session. To permanently create or update an environment variable, include the command in a start-up script. For example, if you use Bash shell, you can include commands in your ~/.bashrc or /etc/profile file.

   On Windows, you can update your PATH as follows. The set command makes the change temporary. To make the change permanent, use the setx command:

   C:\> set PATH=%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%PATH% 
   C:\> setx PATH %JAVA_HOME%\bin;%PATH% 

   Note

   The setx command does not use the "=" sign.

5. Verify your JAVA_HOME setting with the command $JAVA_HOME/bin/java -version.

   $ $JAVA_HOME/bin/java -version
   java version "1.6.0_33"
   Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_33-b03)
   Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 20.8-b03, mixed mode, sharing)

   The syntax is different on Windows, but the output is similar.

   C:\> %JAVA_HOME%\bin\java -version
   java version "1.6.0_33"
   Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_33-b03)
   Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 20.8-b03, mixed mode, sharing)

To set the AWS_CLOUDWATCH_HOME Environment Variable

1. Set AWS_CLOUDWATCH_HOME to the path of the directory into which you unzipped the CLI. This directory is named -w.x.y.z (w, x, y, and z are version/release numbers) and contains sub-directories named bin and lib.

   The following Linux/UNIX example sets AWS_CLOUDWATCH_HOME for a directory named -1.0.12.0 in the /usr/local directory.

   $ export AWS_CLOUDWATCH_HOME=/usr/local/-1.0.12.0  

   The following Windows example sets AWS_CLOUDWATCH_HOME for a directory named -1.0.12.0 in the C:\CLIs directory.

   C:\> set AWS_CLOUDWATCH_HOME=C:\CLIs\-1.0.12.0 
   C:\> setx AWS_CLOUDWATCH_HOME C:\CLIs\-1.0.12.0             

2. Add the tool's bin directory to your system PATH. The rest of this guide assumes that you've done this.

   On Linux and UNIX, you can update your PATH as follows:

   $ export PATH=$PATH:$AWS_CLOUDWATCH_HOME/bin 

   On Windows the syntax is slightly different:

   C:\> set PATH=%PATH%;%AWS_CLOUDWATCH_HOME%\bin 
   C:\> setx PATH %PATH%;%AWS_CLOUDWATCH_HOME%\bin 

To set up security credentials for your CLI

1. Log in to the AWS security credentials web site.

2. Retrieve an access key and its corresponding secret key.

   1. Scroll down to the Access Credentials section and select the Access Keys tab.

   2. Locate an active Access Key in the Your Access Keys list.

   3. To display the Secret Access Key, click Show in the Secret Access Key column.

   4. Write down the keys or save them.

   5. If no Access Keys appear in the list, click Create a New Access Key and follow the on-screen prompts.

3. Add your access key ID and secret access key to the file named credential-file-path.template:

   1. Open the file credential-file-path.template included in your CLI archive.

   2. Copy and paste your access key ID and secret access key into the file.

   3. Rename the file and save it to a convenient location on your computer.

   4. If you are using Linux, set the file permissions as follows:

      $ chmod 600 credential-file-name

      Note

      On Windows you don't need to change the file permissions.

4. Set the AWS_CREDENTIAL_FILE environment variable to the fully qualified path of the file you just created.

   The following Linux/UNIX example sets AWS_CREDENTIAL_FILE for myCredentialFile in the /usr/local directory.

   $ export AWS_CREDENTIAL_FILE=/usr/local/myCredentialFile  

   The following Windows example sets AWS_CREDENTIAL_FILE for myCredentialFile.txt in the C:\aws directory.

   C:\> set AWS_CREDENTIAL_FILE=C:\aws\myCredentialFile.txt 
   C:\> setx AWS_CREDENTIAL_FILE C:\aws\myCredentialFile.txt 

To test your installation and configuration of Amazon CloudWatch

1. On your workstation, open a new command prompt.

2. Type the command mon-cmd.

3. You should see output similar to the following:

   Command Name                       Description                                            
   ------------                       -----------               
   mon-delete-alarms                  Delete alarms.      
   mon-describe-alarm-history         Describe alarm history.  
   mon-describe-alarms                Describe alarms fully. 
   mon-describe-alarms-for-metric     Describe all alarms ... a single metric.
   mon-disable-alarm-actions          Disable all actions for a given alarm.
   mon-enable-alarm-actions           Enable all actions for a given alarm.
   mon-get-stats                      Get metric statistics.        
   mon-list-metrics                   List user's metrics.      
   mon-put-data                       Put metric data. 
   mon-put-metric-alarm               Create new alarm or update existing one.
   mon-set-alarm-state                Manually set the state of an alarm.
   mon-version                        Prints the version ... tool and the API. 
   
   For help on a specific command, type '<commandname> --help'