Creating a monitor in Amazon CloudWatch Network Monitor - Amazon CloudWatch
Creating a monitor in the consoleCreating a monitor using the CLI

Creating a monitor in Amazon CloudWatch Network Monitor

The following sections describe how to create a monitor, and then add the required probes. For each probe, you choose a source subnet and up to four destination IP addresses, for a maximum of 24 probes per monitor. You can create a monitor by using either the Amazon CloudWatch console or the AWS Command Line Interface.

Creating a monitor in Amazon CloudWatch Network Monitor using the console

The following steps describe how to create a monitor by using the Amazon CloudWatch console. To create a monitor, you choose the source subnets for the monitor, and then add up to four destinations, to create up to 24 probes per monitor.

Important

These steps are designed to be completed all at once. You won't be able to save any in-process work to continue later.

Define monitor details

The first step to create a monitor is to define the basic details, by giving the monitor a name and defining the aggregation period. Optionally, you can also add tags.

To define monitor details

  1. Open the CloudWatch console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/, and then under Network Monitoring, choose Network Monitor.

  2. Choose Create monitor.

  3. For Monitor name, enter a name for the monitor.

  4. For Aggregation period, choose how often you want to send metrics to CloudWatch 30 seconds or 60 seconds.

    Note

    A shorter aggregation period provides faster detection of network issues; however, the aggregation period you choose can affect your billing structure. For more information about pricing, see the Amazon CloudWatch pricing page.

  5. (Optional) For Tags, add Key and Value pairs to help identify this resource, so that you can search or filter on specific information.

    1. Choose Add new tag.

    2. Enter a Key name and associated Value.

    3. Choose Add new tag to add the new tag.

      You can add multiple tags by choosing Add new tag, or you can remove a tag by choosing Remove.

    4. If you want to associate your tags with the probes for the monitor, keep Add tags to probes created by monitor selected. This adds the tags to the monitor probes, which can be helpful for tag-based authentication or metering.

  6. To Choosing source and destination, choose Next.

Choosing source and destination

A monitor in Network Monitor uses an AWS source for the VPCs and associated subnets in the Regions where your network operates. A monitor destination is the combination of on-premises IP addresses, network protocols, ports, and network packet size.

The combination of a source and destination is a probe. You can have up to four probes per subnet, and up to a total of 24 probes per monitor.

Important

These steps are designed to be completed all at once. You won't be able to save any in-process work to continue later.

To choose a source and destination

  1. Under AWS network source, choose one or more subnets to include in the monitor. To choose all subnets within a VPC, choose the VPC. Or, choose specific subnets within a VPC. The VPCs and subnets that you choose are the monitor source.

  2. For Destination 1, enter the destination IP address of the on-premises network. IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are both supported.

  3. Choose Advanced settings.

  4. Choose the network Protocol for this customer-managed destination. The protocol can be either ICMP or TCP.

  5. If you choose TCP, enter the following information:

    1. Enter the Port that your network uses to connect. The port must be a number from 1 to 65535.

    2. Enter the Packet size. This is the size, in bytes, of each packet that's sent on the probe between the source and destination. Packet size must be a number from 56 to 8500.

  6. Choose Add destination to add another on-premises destination to this monitor. Repeat these steps for each destination that you want to add.

  7. Choose Next when finished to confirm the probes.

Confirming probes

The Confirm probes page shows all the possible combinations of the sources and destinations for the probe specifications that you've provided. For example, if you have six source subnets and four destination IP addresses, there is a total of 24 possible probe combinations.

Important

  • These steps are intended to be completed in one session. You can't save in-process work to continue later.

  • The Confirm probes page does not indicate whether a probe is valid. We recommend that you review this page carefully, and then delete any invalid probes. You might be charged for invalid probes that you don't remove.

To confirm monitor probes

  1. Prerequisite: Choosing source and destination.

  2. On the Confirm probes page, review the list of source and destination probe combinations.

  3. Choose any probes that you want to remove from the monitor, and then choose Remove.

    Note

    You are not prompted to confirm deleting a probe. If you delete a probe and want to restore it, you must set it up again. You can add a probe to an existing monitor by following the steps in Add a probe to a monitor.

  4. Choose Next to review details before you create the monitor.

Reviewing and creating

The final step is to review the details of the monitor and the probes for the monitor. You can change any information about the monitor at this point. When you have finished reviewing, change any information that isn't correct, and then create the monitor.

As soon as you create the monitor, Network Monitor begins tracking metrics and you'll start being charged for probes in the monitor.

Important

  • This step is intended to be completed in one session. You can't save in-process work to continue later.

  • If you choose to edit a section, you must step through the process to create a monitor from the point that you make the edits. Earlier monitor creation pages maintain the information that you already entered.

To review and create a monitor

  1. On the Review and create probes page, choose Edit for any section where you want to make changes.

  2. Make any changes in that section, and then choose Next.

  3. When you're finished making edits, choose Create monitor.

    The Network Monitor page displays the current state of monitor creation in the Network monitors section. While Network Monitor is creating the monitor, the State is Pending. When the State changes to Active, you can access the monitor dashboard to view CloudWatch metrics.

    For information on working with the monitor dashboard, see Network Monitor dashboards.

Note

It can take several minutes for a newly-added monitor to begin collecting network metrics.

Creating a monitor in Amazon CloudWatch Network Monitor using the AWS Command Line Interface

Instead of using the AWS Management Console, you can use the AWS Command Line Interface or another API to create a monitor.

To create a monitor by using the using the command line

  1. Create a monitor by using create-monitor.

  2. Create a monitor probe by using create-probe.