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RDS & Aurora Monitoring

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Overview​

Amazon RDS and Aurora publish instance-level metrics to CloudWatch in the AWS/RDS namespace at 1-minute granularity by default. Combined with Performance Insights, Database Insights, Enhanced Monitoring, and database log export, you get complete visibility into database health without installing any agents.

This entry covers four complementary layers: CloudWatch metrics for high-level KPIs and alarms, Performance Insights for DB load analysis and query-level diagnostics, Database Insights for fleet-wide monitoring with lock and execution plan analysis, and Enhanced Monitoring for OS-level process visibility on the database host.

Start by establishing baseline performance during both peak and off-peak hours. Capture average, maximum, and minimum values across a two-week window — this baseline is what you alert against.

For complete reference material, see Monitoring Amazon RDS and CloudWatch Database Insights.

Prerequisites​

  • Amazon RDS or Aurora DB instance (any supported engine)
  • IAM permissions: rds:Describe*, cloudwatch:GetMetricData, cloudwatch:PutMetricAlarm, pi:GetResourceMetrics, logs:*
  • For Enhanced Monitoring: monitoring-rds-enhanced-role IAM role (or AmazonRDSEnhancedMonitoringRole managed policy)
  • For Database Insights Advanced: Performance Insights enabled with 15-month retention
  • For log analysis: Database log export to CloudWatch Logs enabled

Architecture​

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 Amazon RDS / Aurora                           │
│                                                              │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  │
│  │ DB Engine    │  │ Enhanced Mon.  │  │ Performance     │  │
│  │ Metrics      │  │ Agent (OS)     │  │ Insights Agent  │  │
│  └──────┬───────┘  └───────┬────────┘  └───────┬─────────┘  │
└─────────┼──────────────────┼────────────────────┼────────────┘
          │                  │                    │
          ▼                  ▼                    ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Amazon CloudWatch                          │
│                                                              │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  │
│  │ AWS/RDS      │  │ RDSOSMetrics   │  │ Database        │  │
│  │ Namespace    │  │ Log Group      │  │ Insights        │  │
│  └──────────────┘  └────────────────┘  └─────────────────┘  │
│                                                              │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │
│  │ Alarms → SNS → PagerDuty / Slack / Email            │    │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘    │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Deploy​

Step 1: Enable Enhanced Monitoring​

aws rds modify-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier my-database \
  --monitoring-interval 60 \
  --monitoring-role-arn arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/rds-monitoring-role \
  --apply-immediately

Granularity options: 1, 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 seconds.

Step 2: Enable Performance Insights​

aws rds modify-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier my-database \
  --enable-performance-insights \
  --performance-insights-retention-period 731 \
  --apply-immediately

Step 3: Enable log export to CloudWatch Logs​

aws rds modify-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier my-database \
  --cloudwatch-logs-export-configuration '{
    "EnableLogTypes": ["postgresql", "upgrade"]
  }' \
  --apply-immediately

For MySQL: use ["audit", "error", "general", "slowquery"].

Step 4: Create CloudWatch alarms on key metrics​

aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
  --alarm-name "RDS-HighCPU-my-database" \
  --namespace AWS/RDS \
  --metric-name CPUUtilization \
  --dimensions Name=DBInstanceIdentifier,Value=my-database \
  --statistic Average \
  --period 300 \
  --threshold 80 \
  --comparison-operator GreaterThanThreshold \
  --evaluation-periods 3 \
  --alarm-actions arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:db-alerts

Key metrics to alarm on:

MetricThreshold Guidance
CPUUtilization> 80% sustained
FreeableMemory< 25% of instance memory
FreeStorageSpace< 15% of allocated storage
DatabaseConnections> 80% of max_connections
ReadLatency / WriteLatency> 20ms sustained

Step 5: Enable Database Insights Advanced (optional)​

Navigate to CloudWatch → Database Insights in the console and select your cluster to enable Advanced mode. This activates fleet health views, lock analysis, and 15-month retention.

Validate​

CloudWatch metrics view for RDS database instances

Amazon Managed Grafana dashboard for RDS and Aurora monitoring

Performance Insights showing database load analysis

Enhanced Monitoring showing OS-level metrics for the database host

  1. CloudWatch metrics: Confirm data in the AWS/RDS namespace:

    aws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics \
      --namespace AWS/RDS \
      --metric-name CPUUtilization \
      --dimensions Name=DBInstanceIdentifier,Value=my-database \
      --start-time $(date -u -v-1H +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S) \
      --end-time $(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S) \
      --period 300 --statistics Average

  2. Enhanced Monitoring: Check the RDSOSMetrics log group in CloudWatch Logs.

  3. Performance Insights: Open the RDS console → select your instance → Performance Insights tab → verify the DB Load chart shows data.

  4. Database Insights: Open CloudWatch console → Insights → Database Insights → confirm your instance appears in the fleet view.

Troubleshoot​

SymptomLikely CauseFix
No Enhanced Monitoring dataIAM role not attached or wrong trust policyVerify the monitoring role trusts monitoring.rds.amazonaws.com and has AmazonRDSEnhancedMonitoringRole policy
Performance Insights shows "Not enabled"Feature not activated on instanceRun modify-db-instance with --enable-performance-insights
Logs not appearing in CloudWatchLog export not configured or engine logs disabledEnable log export via --cloudwatch-logs-export-configuration and set engine parameters (e.g., log_min_duration_statement for PostgreSQL)
DB Load metric missingStandard mode only retains 7 daysEnable Advanced mode for 15-month retention; verify instance supports Performance Insights
Alarms stuck in INSUFFICIENT_DATAMetric not yet published or wrong dimensionVerify DBInstanceIdentifier dimension matches exactly; wait 5 minutes after instance creation