CloudWatch alarm groups and templates for monitoring your AWS media workflow

Workflow monitor alarms allow you to use existing CloudWatch metrics as the foundation of alarms for your signal maps. You can create an alarm template group to sort and classify the types of alarming that is important to your workflow. Within each alarm template group, you create alarm templates with specific CloudWatch metrics and parameters that you want to monitor. You can create your own alarm templates or import recommended alarm templates created by AWS. After creating an alarm template group and alarm templates within that group, you can attach one or more of these alarm template groups to a signal map.

You must create an alarm template group first. After you have created an alarm template group, you can create your own templates or use recommended templates created by AWS. If you want to create your own alarm templates, continue on this page. For more information about importing recommended templates, see: Recommended templates

This section covers the creation of CloudWatch alarms using workflow monitor. For more information about how the CloudWatch service handles alarms and details of the alarm components, see: Using CloudWatch alarms in the Amazon CloudWatch User Guide

Creating alarm template groups

Alarm template groups allow you to sort and classify the types of alarms that are important to your workflow.

To create an alarm template group

1. From the workflow monitor console's navigation pane, select CloudWatch alarm templates.

2. Select Create alarm template group.

3. Give the alarm template group a unique Group name and optional Description.

4. Select Create, You will be taken to the newly created alarm template group's details page.

Creating alarm templates

You can create alarm templates with the CloudWatch metrics and parameters that you want to monitor.

To create an alarm template

1. From the alarm template group's details page, select Create alarm template.

2. Give the alarm template a unique Template name and optional Description.

3. In the Choose metric section:

   1. Select a Target Resource Type. The target resource type is a resource for the respective service, such as a channel for MediaLive and MediaPackage or a flow for MediaConnect.

   2. Select a Metric Name. This is the CloudWatch metric that acts as the foundation for the alarm. The list of metrics will change depending on the selected Target Resource Type.

4. In the Alarm settings section:

   Note

   For more information about how the CloudWatch service handles alarms and details of the alarm components, see: Using CloudWatch alarms in the Amazon CloudWatch User Guide

   1. Select the Statistic. This is a value such as a Sum or an Average that will be used to monitor the metric.

   2. Select the Comparison Operator. This field references the Threshold that you set in the next step.

   3. Set a Threshold. This is a numeric value that the Comparison Operator uses to determine greater than, less than, or equal to status.

   4. Set a Period. This is a time value, in seconds. The Period is the length of time that the Statistic, Comparison Operator, and Threshold interact to determine if the alarm gets triggered.

   5. Set the Datapoints. This value determines how many datapoints are needed to trigger the alarm.

   6. Select how to Treat Missing Data. This selection determines how this alarm reacts to missing data.

5. Select Create to complete the process.

An example of a completed alarm template could have the following parameters: A MediaConnect flow Target Resource Type is monitored for the Disconnections Metric Name. The Statistic value is set to Sum with a Comparison Operator of "greater than or equal to" and a Threshold of 10. The Period is set to 60 seconds, and only requires 1 out of 1 Datapoints. Treat Missing Data is set to "ignore."

The result of these settings is: workflow monitor will monitor for disconnections on the flow. If 10 or more disconnections occur within 60 seconds, the alarm will be triggered. 10 or more disconnections in 60 seconds only needs to happen one time for the alarm to be triggered.