Monitor Data Lifecycle Manager policies using CloudWatch - Amazon EBS
Supported metricsView CloudWatch metrics for your policiesGraph metricsCreate a CloudWatch alarm for a policyExample use casesManaging policies that report failed actions

Monitor Data Lifecycle Manager policies using CloudWatch

You can monitor your Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager lifecycle policies using CloudWatch, which collects raw data and processes it into readable, near real-time metrics. You can use these metrics to see exactly how many Amazon EBS snapshots and EBS-backed AMIs are created, deleted, and copied by your policies over time. You can also set alarms that watch for certain thresholds, and send notifications or take actions when those thresholds are met.

Metrics are kept for a period of 15 months, so that you can access historical information and gain a better understanding of how your lifecycle policies perform over an extended period.

For more information about Amazon CloudWatch, see the Amazon CloudWatch User Guide.

Supported metrics

The Data Lifecycle Manager namespace includes the following metrics for Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager lifecycle policies. The supported metrics differ by policy type.

All metrics can be measured on the DLMPolicyId dimension. The most useful statistics are sum and average, and the unit of measure is count.

Choose a tab to view the metrics supported by that policy type.

EBS snapshot policies
Metric Description

ResourcesTargeted

The number of resources targeted by the tags specified in a snapshot or EBS-backed AMI policy.

SnapshotsCreateStarted

The number of snapshot create actions initiated by a snapshot policy. Each action is recorded only once, even if there are multiple subsequent retries.

If a snapshot create action fails, Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager sends a SnapshotsCreateFailed metric.

SnapshotsCreateCompleted

The number of snapshots created by a snapshot policy. This includes successful retries within 60 minutes of the scheduled time.

SnapshotsCreateFailed

The number of snapshots that could not be created by a snapshot policy. This includes unsuccessful retries within 60 minutes from the scheduled time.

SnapshotsSharedCompleted

The number of snapshots shared across accounts by a snapshot policy.

SnapshotsDeleteCompleted

The number of snapshots deleted by a snapshot or EBS-backed AMI policy. This metric applies only to snapshots created by the policy. It does not apply to cross-Region snapshot copies created by the policy.

This metric includes snapshots that are deleted when an EBS-backed AMI policy deregisters AMIs.

SnapshotsDeleteFailed

The number of snapshots that could not be deleted by a snapshot or EBS-backed AMI policy. This metric applies only to snapshots created by the policy. It does not apply to cross-Region snapshot copies created by the policy.

This metric includes snapshots that are deleted when an EBS-backed AMI policy deregisters AMIs.

SnapshotsCopiedRegionStarted

The number of cross-Region snapshot copy actions initiated by a snapshot policy.

SnapshotsCopiedRegionCompleted

The number of cross-Region snapshot copies created by a snapshot policy. This includes successful retries within 24 hours of the scheduled time.

SnapshotsCopiedRegionFailed

The number of cross-Region snapshot copies that could not be created by a snapshot policy. This includes unsuccessful retries within 24 hours from the scheduled time.

SnapshotsCopiedRegionDeleteCompleted

The number of cross-Region snapshot copies deleted, as designated by the retention rule, by a snapshot policy.

SnapshotsCopiedRegionDeleteFailed

The number of cross-Region snapshot copies that could not be deleted, as designated by the retention rule, by a snapshot policy.

snapshotsArchiveDeletionFailed

The number of archived snapshots that could not be deleted from the archive tier by a snapshot policy.

snapshotsArchiveScheduled

The number of snapshots that were scheduled to be archived by a snapshot policy.

snapshotsArchiveCompleted

The number of snapshots that were successfully archived by a snapshot policy.

snapshotsArchiveFailed

The number of snapshots that could not be archived by a snapshot policy.

snapshotsArchiveDeletionCompleted

The number of archived snapshots that were successfully deleted from the archive tier by a snapshot policy.

PreScriptStarted

The number of instances for which a pre script was successfully initiated.

If script retries are enabled, this metric can be emitted multiple times per policy run.

PreScriptCompleted

The number of instances for which a pre script was successfully completed. The metric is emitted even if the pre script completes outside of the specified timeout period.

If script retries are enabled, this metric can be emitted multiple times per policy run.

PreScriptFailed

The number of instances for which a pre script failed to complete successfully. The metric is emitted even if the pre script completes outside of the specified timeout period.

If script retries are enabled, this metric can be emitted multiple times per policy run.

PostScriptStarted

The number of instances for which a post script was successfully initiated.

If script retries are enabled, this metric can be emitted multiple times per policy run.

PostScriptCompleted

The number of instances for which a post script was successfully completed. The metric is emitted even if the post script completes outside of the specified timeout period.

If script retries are enabled, this metric can be emitted multiple times per policy run.

PostScriptFailed

The number of instances for which a post script failed to complete successfully. The metric is emitted even if the post script completes outside of the specified timeout period.

If script retries are enabled, this metric can be emitted multiple times per policy run.

VSSBackupStarted

The number of instances for which a VSS backup was successfully initiated.

If script retries are enabled, this metric can be emitted multiple times per policy run.

VSSBackupCompleted

The number of instances for which a VSS backup was successfully completed. The metric is emitted even if the VSS backup completes outside of the timeout period.

If script retries are enabled, this metric can be emitted multiple times per policy run.

VSSBackupFailed

The number of instances for which a VSS backup failed to complete successfully. The metric is emitted even if the VSS backup completes outside of the timeout period.

If script retries are enabled, this metric can be emitted multiple times per policy run.
EBS-backed AMI policies

The following metrics can be used with EBS-backed AMI policies:

Metric Description

ResourcesTargeted

The number of resources targeted by the tags specified in a snapshot or EBS-backed AMI policy.

SnapshotsDeleteCompleted

The number of snapshots deleted by a snapshot or EBS-backed AMI policy. This metric applies only to snapshots created by the policy. It does not apply to cross-Region snapshot copies created by the policy.

This metric includes snapshots that are deleted when an EBS-backed AMI policy deregisters AMIs.

SnapshotsDeleteFailed

The number of snapshots that could not be deleted by a snapshot or EBS-backed AMI policy. This metric applies only to snapshots created by the policy. It does not apply to cross-Region snapshot copies created by the policy.

This metric includes snapshots that are deleted when an EBS-backed AMI policy deregisters AMIs.

SnapshotsCopiedRegionDeleteCompleted

The number of cross-Region snapshot copies deleted, as designated by the retention rule, by a snapshot policy.

SnapshotsCopiedRegionDeleteFailed

The number of cross-Region snapshot copies that could not be deleted, as designated by the retention rule, by a snapshot policy.

ImagesCreateStarted

The number of CreateImage actions initiated by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

ImagesCreateCompleted

The number of AMIs created by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

ImagesCreateFailed

The number of AMIs that could not be created by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

ImagesDeregisterCompleted

The number of AMIs deregistered by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

ImagesDeregisterFailed

The number of AMIs that could not be deregistered by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

ImagesCopiedRegionStarted

The number of cross-Region copy actions initiated by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

ImagesCopiedRegionCompleted

The number of cross-Region AMI copies created by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

ImagesCopiedRegionFailed

The number of cross-Region AMI copies that could not be created by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

ImagesCopiedRegionDeregisterCompleted

The number of cross-Region AMI copies deregistered, as designated by the retention rule, by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

ImagesCopiedRegionDeregisteredFailed

The number of cross-Region AMI copies that could not be deregistered, as designated by the retention rule, by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

EnableImageDeprecationCompleted

The number of AMIs that were marked for deprecation by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

EnableImageDeprecationFailed

The number of AMIs that could not be marked for deprecation by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

EnableCopiedImageDeprecationCompleted

The number of cross-Region AMI copies that were marked for deprecation by an EBS-backed AMI policy.

EnableCopiedImageDeprecationFailed

The number of cross-Region AMI copies that could not be marked for deprecation by an EBS-backed AMI policy.
Cross-account copy event policies

The following metrics can be used with cross-account copy event policies:

Metric Description

SnapshotsCopiedAccountStarted

The number of cross-account snapshot copy actions initiated by a cross-account copy event policy.

SnapshotsCopiedAccountCompleted

The number of snapshots copied from another account by a cross-account copy event policy. This includes successful retries within 24 hours of the scheduled time.

SnapshotsCopiedAccountFailed

The number of snapshots that could not be copied from another account by a cross-account copy event policy. This includes unsuccessful retries within 24 hours of the scheduled time.

SnapshotsCopiedAccountDeleteCompleted

The number of cross-Region snapshot copies deleted, as designated by the retention rule, by a cross-account copy event policy.

SnapshotsCopiedAccountDeleteFailed

The number of cross-Region snapshot copies that could not be deleted, as designated by the retention rule, by a cross-account copy event policy.

View CloudWatch metrics for your policies

You can use the AWS Management Console or the command line tools to list the metrics that Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager sends to Amazon CloudWatch.

Amazon EC2 console
To view metrics using the Amazon EC2 console

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Lifecycle Manager.

  3. Select a policy in the grid and then choose the Monitoring tab.

CloudWatch console
To view metrics using the Amazon CloudWatch console

  1. Open the CloudWatch console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Metrics.

  3. Select the EBS namespace and then select Data Lifecycle Manager metrics.

AWS CLI
To list all the available metrics for Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager

Use the list-metrics command.

$ C:\> aws cloudwatch list-metrics \
    --namespace AWS/EBS
To list all the metrics for a specific policy

Use the list-metrics command and specify the DLMPolicyId dimension.

$ C:\> aws cloudwatch list-metrics \
    --namespace AWS/EBS \
    --dimensions Name=DLMPolicyId,Value=policy-abcdef01234567890
To list a single metric across all policies

Use the list-metrics command and specify the --metric-name option.

$ C:\> aws cloudwatch list-metrics \
    --namespace AWS/EBS \
    --metric-name SnapshotsCreateCompleted

Graph metrics for your policies

After you create a policy, you can open the Amazon EC2 console and view the monitoring graphs for the policy on the Monitoring tab. Each graph is based on one of the available Amazon EC2 metrics.

The following graphs metrics are available:

  • Resources targeted (based on ResourcesTargeted)

  • Snapshot creation started (based on SnapshotsCreateStarted)

  • Snapshot creation completed (based on SnapshotsCreateCompleted)

  • Snapshot creation failed (based on SnapshotsCreateFailed)

  • Snapshot sharing completed (based on SnapshotsSharedCompleted)

  • Snapshot deletion completed (based on SnapshotsDeleteCompleted)

  • Snapshot deletion failed (based on SnapshotsDeleteFailed)

  • Snapshot cross-Region copy started (based on SnapshotsCopiedRegionStarted)

  • Snapshot cross-Region copy completed (based on SnapshotsCopiedRegionCompleted)

  • Snapshot cross-Region copy failed (based on SnapshotsCopiedRegionFailed)

  • Snapshot cross-Region copy deletion completed (based on SnapshotsCopiedRegionDeleteCompleted)

  • Snapshot cross-Region copy deletion failed (based on SnapshotsCopiedRegionDeleteFailed)

  • Snapshot cross-account copy started (based on SnapshotsCopiedAccountStarted)

  • Snapshot cross-account copy completed (based on SnapshotsCopiedAccountCompleted)

  • Snapshot cross-account copy failed (based on SnapshotsCopiedAccountFailed)

  • Snapshot cross-account copy deletion completed (based on SnapshotsCopiedAccountDeleteCompleted)

  • Snapshot cross-account copy deletion failed (based on SnapshotsCopiedAccountDeleteFailed)

  • AMI creation started (based on ImagesCreateStarted)

  • AMI creation completed (based on ImagesCreateCompleted)

  • AMI creation failed (based on ImagesCreateFailed)

  • AMI deregistration completed (based on ImagesDeregisterCompleted)

  • AMI deregistration failed (based on ImagesDeregisterFailed)

  • AMI cross-Region copy started (based on ImagesCopiedRegionStarted)

  • AMI cross-Region copy completed (based on ImagesCopiedRegionCompleted)

  • AMI cross-Region copy failed (based on ImagesCopiedRegionFailed)

  • AMI cross-Region copy deregistration completed (based on ImagesCopiedRegionDeregisterCompleted)

  • AMI cross-Region copy deregister failed (based on ImagesCopiedRegionDeregisteredFailed)

  • AMI enable deprecation completed (based on EnableImageDeprecationCompleted)

  • AMI enable deprecation failed (based on EnableImageDeprecationFailed)

  • AMI cross-Region copy enable deprecation completed (based on EnableCopiedImageDeprecationCompleted)

  • AMI cross-Region copy enable deprecation failed (based on EnableCopiedImageDeprecationFailed)

Create a CloudWatch alarm for a policy

You can create a CloudWatch alarm that monitors CloudWatch metrics for your policies. CloudWatch will automatically send you a notification when the metric reaches a threshold that you specify. You can create a CloudWatch alarm using the CloudWatch console.

For more information about creating alarms using the CloudWatch console, see the following topic in the Amazon CloudWatch User Guide.

Example use cases

The following are example use cases.

Example 1: ResourcesTargeted metric

You can use the ResourcesTargeted metric to monitor the total number of resources that are targeted by a specific policy each time it is run. This enables you to trigger an alarm when the number of targeted resources is below or above an expected threshold.

For example, if you expect your daily policy to create backups of no more than 50 volumes, you can create an alarm that sends an email notification when the sum for ResourcesTargeted is greater than 50 over a 1 hour period. In this way, you can ensure that no snapshots have been unexpectedly created from volumes that have been incorrectly tagged.

You can use the following command to create this alarm:

$ C:\> aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
    --alarm-name resource-targeted-monitor \
    --alarm-description "Alarm when policy targets more than 50 resources" \
    --metric-name ResourcesTargeted \
    --namespace AWS/EBS \
    --statistic Sum \
    --period 3600 \
    --threshold 50 \
    --comparison-operator GreaterThanThreshold \
    --dimensions "Name=DLMPolicyId,Value=policy_id" \
    --evaluation-periods 1 \
    --alarm-actions sns_topic_arn

Example 2: SnapshotDeleteFailed metric

You can use the SnapshotDeleteFailed metric to monitor for failures to delete snapshots as per the policy's snapshot retention rule.

For example, if you've created a policy that should automatically delete snapshots every twelve hours, you can create an alarm that notifies your engineering team when the sum of SnapshotDeletionFailed is greater than 0 over a 1 hour period. This could help to investigate improper snapshot retention and to ensure that your storage costs are not increased by unnecessary snapshots.

You can use the following command to create this alarm:

$ C:\> aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
    --alarm-name snapshot-deletion-failed-monitor \
    --alarm-description "Alarm when snapshot deletions fail" \
    --metric-name SnapshotsDeleteFailed \
    --namespace AWS/EBS \
    --statistic Sum \
    --period 3600 \
    --threshold 0 \
    --comparison-operator GreaterThanThreshold \
    --dimensions "Name=DLMPolicyId,Value=policy_id" \
    --evaluation-periods 1 \
    --alarm-actions sns_topic_arn

Example 3: SnapshotsCopiedRegionFailed metric

Use the SnapshotsCopiedRegionFailed metric to identify when your policies fail to copy snapshots to other Regions.

For example, if your policy copies snapshots across Regions daily, you can create an alarm that sends an SMS to your engineering team when the sum of SnapshotCrossRegionCopyFailed is greater than 0 over a 1 hour period. This can be useful for verifying whether subsequent snapshots in the lineage were successfully copied by the policy.

You can use the following command to create this alarm:

$ C:\> aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
    --alarm-name snapshot-copy-region-failed-monitor \
    --alarm-description "Alarm when snapshot copy fails" \
    --metric-name SnapshotsCopiedRegionFailed \
    --namespace AWS/EBS \
    --statistic Sum \
    --period 3600 \
    --threshold 0 \
    --comparison-operator GreaterThanThreshold \
    --dimensions "Name=DLMPolicyId,Value=policy_id" \
    --evaluation-periods 1 \
    --alarm-actions sns_topic_arn

Managing policies that report failed actions

For more information about what to do when one of your policies reports an unexpected non-zero value for a failed action metric, see the What should I do if Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager reports failed actions in CloudWatch metrics? AWS Knowledge Center article.