Default Parameters for AWSAmazonEC2Test

This test monitors the powered-on state of each EC2 instance and promptly alerts administrators if any instance has been powered-off inadvertently. Additionally, the test also reveals how each instance uses the CPU, disk, and network resources it is configured with, thus providing early pointers to irregularities in instance sizing, and prompting administrators to make necessary amends. This way, the test makes sure that critical applications are always accessible to end-users and perform at peak capacity.

This page depicts the default parameters that need to be configured for the AWSAmazonEC2Test.

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

• To monitor an AWS EC2, the eG agent has to be configured with the "access key" of a user with a valid AWS account. To obtain the access key, follow the steps given below:

  • Sign up for a new AWS account from the http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/ page.

  • Provide the details of the user for whom you wish to create the AWS account.

  • Based on the AWS EC2 Regions, you will be requested to choose the pricing for an instance to be deployed in the AWS EC2.

  • Once the payment is made, the user will be automatically signed in to the AWS account.

  • From the newly created AWS account, you can request for an "access key". You will be provided with an "access key" and a corresponding “secret key”.

  • Provide the access key in the AWS ACCESS KEY text box; this will enable the eG agent to communicate with the AWS API and collect the required metrics.

• Confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

• Provide the secret key corresponding to the access key that you had obtained through your AWS account in the AWS SECRET KEY text box.

• In the EXCLUDE REGION box, you can provide a comma-separated list of region names or patterns of region names that you do not want to monitor. For instance, to exclude regions with names that contain ‘east’ and ‘west’ from monitoring, your specification should be: *east*,*west*

• In some environments, all communication with the AWS EC2 cloud and its regions could be routed through a proxy server. In such environments, you should make sure that the eG agent connects to the cloud via the proxy server and collects metrics. To enable metrics collection via a proxy, specify the IP address of the proxy server and the port at which the server listens against the PROXY HOST and PROXY PORT parameters. By default, these parameters are set to none, indicating that the eG agent is not configured to communicate via a proxy, by default.

• If the proxy server requires authentication, then, specify a valid proxy user name and password in the PROXY USER NAME and PROXY PASSWORD parameters, respectively. By default, these parameters are set to none, indicating that the proxy sever does not require authentication by default.

• If a Windows NTLM proxy is to be configured for use, then additionally, you will have to configure the Windows domain name and the Windows workstation name required for the same against the PROXY DOMAIN and PROXY WORKSTATION parameters. If the environment does not support a Windows NTLM proxy, set these parameters to none.

• By default, this test reports metrics for each instance in the AWS infrastructure. This is why, the EC2 FILTER NAME flag is set to Instance ID by default. Alternatively, you can configure this test to aggregate metrics across a chosen collection of instances, and report one set of metrics per collection. For this, you just need to pick an instance collection from the EC2 FILTER NAME drop-down. The options available are as follows:
  
  

  • AutoScalingGroupName: Your EC2 instances can be organized into Auto Scaling Groups so that they can be treated as a logical unit for the purposes of scaling and management. When you create a group, you can specify its minimum, maximum, and, desired number of EC2 instances.
    
    If you select the AutoScalingGroupName option from the EC2 FILTER NAME drop-down, then this test will collect metrics for each instance, aggregate the metrics on the basis of the Auto Scaling Groups to which the instances belong, and report metrics for each group.

  • InstanceType: Amazon EC2 provides a wide selection of instance types optimized to fit different use cases. Instance types comprise varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity and give you the flexibility to choose the appropriate mix of resources for your applications.
    
    If the InstanceType option is chosen from the EC2 FILTER NAME drop-down, then this test will collect metrics for each instance, aggregate the metrics on the basis of the instance type, and report metrics for each type.

  • ImageId: Instances are created from Amazon Machine Images (AMI). The machine images are like templates that are configured with an operating system and other software, which determine the user's operating environment.
    
    If the ImageId option is chosen from the EC2 FILTER NAME drop-down, then this test will collect metrics for each instance, aggregate the metrics on the basis of the AMI using which the instances were created, and report metrics for each image ID.

• The EXCLUDE INSTANCE parameter is applicable only if InstanceId is chosen from the EC2 FILTER NAME drop-down.
  
  In this case, against EXCLUDE INSTANCE, you can provide a comma-separated list of instance IDs you do not want the test to monitor.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the UPDATE button will register the changes made.

When changing default configurations of tests, the values with “$” indicate variables that will be replaced by the eG system according to the specific server being managed - for instance, $hostName is the host/nickname of the target host, $port is the port number of the server being monitored. E.g., for a server xyz:80, $hostName will be changed automatically by the eG manager to “xyz” and $port will be changed to “80” when configuring a test.