AWS CLI Get CPU Utilization

To get CPU utilization using AWS CLI, follow these steps:

1. Ensure AWS CLI is installed and properly configured on your system.
2. Open the command prompt or terminal.
3. Run the command "aws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics --namespace AWS/EC2 --metric-name CPUUtilization --dimensions Name=InstanceId,Value=[INSTANCE_ID] --statistics Average --start-time [START_TIME] --end-time [END_TIME] --period [PERIOD] --profile [AWS_PROFILE] --region [AWS_REGION]".
4. Replace [INSTANCE_ID] with the ID of the EC2 instance you want to monitor.
5. Replace [START_TIME], [END_TIME], and [PERIOD] with the desired time range and interval.
6. Replace [AWS_PROFILE] and [AWS_REGION] with the correct AWS profile and region.



Understanding AWS CLI Get CPU Utilization

AWS CLI (Command Line Interface) provides a powerful way to manage and monitor your AWS resources. One of the key metrics to monitor is the CPU utilization of your instances. Monitoring CPU utilization helps ensure that your resources are efficiently utilized and can help identify potential performance bottlenecks. In this article, we will explore how to use AWS CLI to get CPU utilization. We will cover different aspects such as retrieving CPU utilization for EC2 instances, using CloudWatch metrics, and understanding concepts like utilization percentage and average CPU utilization.

Retrieving CPU Utilization for EC2 Instances

To retrieve CPU utilization for EC2 instances using AWS CLI, you can make use of the `get-metric-statistics` command. This command allows you to retrieve statistics about a specified metric for a particular AWS resource. In the case of CPU utilization, the metric is `CPUUtilization` and the resource is the EC2 instance.

Here is an example command to retrieve CPU utilization for a specific EC2 instance:

aws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics --namespace AWS/EC2 --metric-name CPUUtilization --dimensions Name=InstanceId,Value=i-1234567890abcdef0 --start-time 2021-08-01T00:00:00Z --end-time 2021-08-02T00:00:00Z --period 3600 --statistics Average

In this command, you need to replace `i-1234567890abcdef0` with the ID of your EC2 instance. You can also adjust the `start-time` and `end-time` parameters to specify the time range for which you want to retrieve the CPU utilization data. The `period` parameter determines the granularity of the data, and the `statistics` parameter specifies the type of statistics you want to retrieve (in this case, the average utilization).

Understanding CloudWatch Metrics

When using AWS CLI to retrieve CPU utilization, you are leveraging CloudWatch metrics. CloudWatch is a monitoring service provided by AWS that collects and stores data about your AWS resources, including EC2 instances. CPU utilization is one of the default metrics that CloudWatch collects for EC2 instances.

CloudWatch metrics are organized into namespaces, and the CPU utilization metric for EC2 instances belongs to the `AWS/EC2` namespace. By specifying this namespace in the AWS CLI command, you indicate that you want to retrieve CPU utilization specifically for EC2 instances.

It's worth noting that CloudWatch aggregates the CPU utilization data over a specified period of time, which you can control using the `period` parameter in the AWS CLI command. The default period is 300 seconds (5 minutes), but you can adjust it based on your monitoring requirements.

Understanding Utilization Percentage

The CPU utilization metric is represented as a percentage value. This percentage indicates the proportion of the total CPU capacity that is being utilized at a given time. For example, a CPU utilization of 50% means that half of the CPU capacity is being used.

It's important to note that the utilization percentage can exceed 100% if the instance is using more CPU capacity than its allocated limit due to burstable instances or instance types with vCPUs that have hyper-threading enabled. Burstable instances can accumulate CPU credits that allow them to burst above their baseline CPU utilization for short periods.

Understanding utilization percentage is crucial for capacity planning and resource optimization. By monitoring the CPU utilization of your instances, you can identify instances that are consistently underutilized or reaching their limits, enabling you to optimize your resource allocation accordingly.

Using CloudWatch Metrics

In addition to using AWS CLI to retrieve CPU utilization, you can also leverage CloudWatch metrics to visualize and analyze the data over time. CloudWatch provides a user-friendly interface where you can create custom dashboards, set alarms based on thresholds, and generate insights through metric filters and anomaly detection.

To get started with CloudWatch metrics, navigate to the AWS Management Console, select the CloudWatch service, and choose "Metrics" from the sidebar. From here, you can explore the available metrics and create dashboards to visualize your CPU utilization data.

You can also set up alarms based on CPU utilization thresholds, which can trigger notifications or automated actions when the CPU utilization exceeds or falls below the specified threshold. Alarms help you proactively monitor your instances and take action to ensure optimal performance and availability.

Creating Custom Dashboards

CloudWatch allows you to create custom dashboards to visualize your CPU utilization data alongside other metrics and information. Dashboards provide a consolidated view of your AWS resources and can be customized to display the metrics that matter most to you.

To create a custom dashboard, navigate to the CloudWatch console and select "Dashboards" from the sidebar. Click on "Create dashboard" and follow the prompts to add CPU utilization metrics, as well as any other relevant metrics or information you want to include. Once created, you can share the dashboard with other team members or stakeholders for collaborative monitoring.

Custom dashboards offer a convenient way to monitor your CPU utilization trends, identify patterns, and make data-driven decisions to optimize your resource allocation.

Understanding Average CPU Utilization

When retrieving CPU utilization using AWS CLI and CloudWatch metrics, the `get-metric-statistics` command allows you to specify the type of statistics you want to retrieve. One commonly used statistic is the average CPU utilization.

The average CPU utilization is calculated by CloudWatch over the specified time period and gives you an overall view of the CPU usage during that time. This can be useful for trend analysis and identifying average CPU patterns over days, weeks, or months.

It's important to note that the average CPU utilization is not the same as the current CPU utilization at a specific moment. Instead, it provides an aggregated value over the specified time period. If you need to monitor real-time CPU utilization, you can use CloudWatch metrics with a shorter period or explore other monitoring solutions like Amazon CloudWatch Logs Insights.

Optimizing CPU Utilization with AWS CLI

By using AWS CLI to retrieve CPU utilization, you gain insights into the performance of your EC2 instances and can take steps to optimize their CPU utilization. Here are a few strategies to consider:

• Right-sizing instances: Evaluate whether the allocated CPU capacity of your instances matches their actual usage. Downsizing or upsizing instances based on their workload can help optimize resource allocation.
• Using auto-scaling: Implement auto-scaling groups to automatically adjust the number of instances based on CPU utilization. This ensures that you have the appropriate number of instances to handle your workload efficiently.
• Optimizing application performance: Analyze the CPU utilization patterns and identify potential performance bottlenecks in your application. This may involve optimizing code, leveraging caching mechanisms, or offloading compute-intensive tasks to other AWS services like AWS Lambda.
• Leveraging spot instances: Consider using spot instances, which can provide significant cost savings compared to on-demand instances. Spot instances allow you to bid on spare EC2 capacity and can be a cost-effective option for non-critical workloads.

By following these optimization strategies and monitoring your CPU utilization using AWS CLI, you can ensure that your EC2 instances are efficiently utilizing your resources and maximize the performance and cost-effectiveness of your AWS environment.

Exploring Additional Dimensions of AWS CLI Get CPU Utilization

In addition to retrieving CPU utilization for EC2 instances and leveraging CloudWatch metrics, AWS CLI provides other capabilities for monitoring and managing CPU utilization across different AWS services. Let's explore a few more dimensions:

Monitoring ECS CPU Utilization

AWS CLI can also be used to retrieve CPU utilization for Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) clusters and tasks. ECS is a container orchestration service provided by AWS that allows you to easily run containerized workloads. Monitoring CPU utilization in ECS is crucial to ensure optimal performance and resource allocation.

To retrieve ECS CPU utilization using AWS CLI, you can make use of the `describe-services` and `list-tasks` commands. The `describe-services` command provides information about the services running in an ECS cluster, including the desired count and running count of tasks. The `list-tasks` command lists the tasks running in the cluster along with their container instances.

By combining the outputs of these commands and retrieving the CPU utilization metric for each task using CloudWatch, you can calculate the overall CPU utilization for the ECS cluster. This allows you to monitor the CPU usage of your containerized workloads and ensure they are efficiently utilizing the available resources.

Understanding Desired vs. Running Tasks

In ECS, the desired count represents the number of tasks that you want to run in the cluster, while the running count represents the tasks that are currently running. The desired count can be scaled up or down based on your workload requirements using ECS service scaling features or AWS Auto Scaling.

The desired count and running count are essential metrics for monitoring the health and performance of your ECS cluster. By comparing these counts with the CPU utilization metrics, you can identify instances where the cluster is underutilized or reaching its limits. Adjusting the desired count or scaling the cluster can help optimize resource allocation.

In addition to CPU utilization, you can also monitor other container metrics such as memory usage, network throughput, and disk I/O to gain a comprehensive overview of your ECS workloads.

Monitoring Lambda Function CPU Utilization

AWS CLI can also be used to monitor the CPU utilization of AWS Lambda functions. Lambda is a serverless computing service provided by AWS that allows you to run code without provisioning or managing servers. Monitoring CPU utilization in Lambda functions helps ensure that your functions have sufficient resources and can handle your workload efficiently.

To retrieve Lambda function CPU utilization using AWS CLI, you can make use of the `list-functions` command and the `get-metric-statistics` command similar to retrieving EC2 instance CPU utilization. The `list-functions` command provides information about the Lambda functions in your AWS account, and the `get-metric-statistics` command retrieves the CPU utilization metric for a specific Lambda function using CloudWatch.

By regularly monitoring the CPU utilization of your Lambda functions and analyzing the data, you can identify functions that may require additional resources or optimization. This can help improve the performance and efficiency of your serverless workloads.

Monitoring RDS CPU Utilization

In addition to EC2 instances, ECS, and Lambda functions, AWS CLI can also be used to monitor the CPU utilization of Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) instances. RDS allows you to set up, operate, and scale relational databases in the cloud.

To retrieve RDS CPU utilization using AWS CLI, you can make use of the `describe-db-instances` command. This command provides information about the RDS instances in your AWS account, including the CPU utilization metric. By querying the CPU utilization metric for each RDS instance, you can monitor their CPU usage and identify any instances that may require scaling or optimization.

Monitoring RDS CPU utilization is crucial to ensure that your databases have sufficient resources to handle your workload. By optimizing the CPU utilization of your RDS instances, you can maintain high performance and minimize any potential bottlenecks.

Understanding RDS Instance Classes

When monitoring RDS CPU utilization, it's important to consider the instance class of your RDS instances. Instance classes define the computational and memory capacity of an RDS instance and can vary in terms of CPU power and core count.

By selecting the appropriate instance class based on your workload requirements, you can ensure that your RDS instances have sufficient CPU resources to handle your database operations efficiently. Monitoring CPU utilization helps you assess whether the current instance class is suitable or if an upgrade or downgrade is necessary.

Optimizing Performance Across AWS Services

Efficiently managing CPU utilization is critical for optimizing the performance of your AWS resources. By utilizing AWS CLI and leveraging CloudWatch metrics, you can monitor and analyze CPU utilization across various AWS services to ensure optimal resource allocation and performance.

Whether you are managing EC2 instances, ECS clusters, Lambda functions, or RDS instances, actively monitoring CPU utilization allows you to identify opportunities for optimization, right-size your resources, and ensure efficient use of your computing capacity.

AWS CLI Get CPU Utilization

In order to get CPU utilization data using the AWS CLI, you can use the following command:

aws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics --namespace AWS/EC2 --metric-name CPUUtilization --start-time [start-time] --end-time [end-time] --period [period] --statistics [statistics] --dimensions Name=InstanceId,Value=[instance-id]

Replace the placeholders in the command with the appropriate values. The [start-time] and [end-time] should be in UTC format and the [period] specifies the time period in seconds. The [statistics] parameter determines the specific statistics you want to retrieve, such as Average, Maximum, or Minimum. Finally, replace the [instance-id] with the ID of the EC2 instance you want to retrieve CPU utilization for.

Once you execute the command, you will receive a detailed response containing the CPU utilization data for the specified time period.




Key Takeaways:

• AWS CLI provides a convenient way to retrieve CPU utilization data.
• You can use the AWS CLI command "cloudwatch get-metric-statistics" to get CPU utilization metrics.
• Specify the necessary parameters such as metric name, namespace, start time, and end time.
• Use the "--statistics" parameter to specify the type of statistics to retrieve, such as Average, Maximum, or Minimum.
• By analyzing CPU utilization, you can monitor and optimize your AWS resources for better performance.



Frequently Asked Questions

In this section, you will find the answers to the most commonly asked questions about getting CPU utilization using AWS CLI.

1. How can I retrieve CPU utilization data using AWS CLI?

To retrieve CPU utilization data using AWS CLI, you can use the get-metric-statistics command. This command allows you to retrieve various performance metrics, including CPU utilization, for your EC2 instances. You will need to specify the necessary parameters such as the namespace, metric name, instance ID, and the time range for which you want to retrieve the data. Once executed, AWS CLI will return the CPU utilization values for the specified time period.

2. Can I get CPU utilization data for multiple EC2 instances using AWS CLI?

Yes, you can get CPU utilization data for multiple EC2 instances using AWS CLI. You can either specify the instance IDs individually or use wildcards or regular expressions to select multiple instances. By including multiple instance IDs in the command, AWS CLI will retrieve the CPU utilization data for all the specified instances in a single request. This allows you to easily monitor and analyze the CPU utilization of multiple instances at once.

3. Is it possible to filter the CPU utilization data based on specific criteria?

Yes, AWS CLI provides filtering options to narrow down the CPU utilization data based on specific criteria. You can use the --dimension parameter to filter the data by various dimensions such as instance ID, instance type, availability zone, and more. Additionally, you can also use the --statistics parameter to specify the specific statistics you want to retrieve, such as average, maximum, or minimum CPU utilization. These filtering options allow you to tailor the CPU utilization data based on your specific requirements.

4. Can I automate the retrieval of CPU utilization data using AWS CLI?

Yes, you can automate the retrieval of CPU utilization data using AWS CLI by incorporating it into scripts or scheduling it as a recurring task. You can write scripts using programming languages like Python or Bash to execute the AWS CLI commands and retrieve the CPU utilization data. Alternatively, you can use schedulers like AWS CloudWatch Events or cron jobs to schedule the execution of the AWS CLI commands at specific intervals. This allows you to regularly collect and analyze CPU utilization data without manual intervention.

5. Are there any limits or restrictions when retrieving CPU utilization data using AWS CLI?

When retrieving CPU utilization data using AWS CLI, there are certain limits and restrictions to be aware of. The maximum number of data points that can be returned in a single request is 1,440, and the maximum time span for the data points is two weeks. Additionally, AWS CLI has rate limits on API requests, so you may need to manage the frequency of your requests to stay within the limits. It is also important to ensure that you have the necessary permissions and access to retrieve the CPU utilization data from your AWS resources.






In summary, using the AWS CLI to get CPU utilization allows you to easily monitor and optimize the performance of your AWS resources. By running simple commands, you can retrieve important information about the CPU usage of your EC2 instances or other AWS services. This information is valuable for identifying bottlenecks, diagnosing performance issues, and making informed decisions to improve efficiency.

With the AWS CLI, you have the flexibility to automate these tasks, enabling you to gather CPU utilization data at regular intervals and integrate it into your monitoring and alerting systems. By leveraging this powerful tool, you can ensure that your AWS resources are running optimally and efficiently allocate resources based on actual usage patterns. Ultimately, the AWS CLI provides a convenient and efficient way to retrieve CPU utilization data and drive performance enhancements in your AWS environment.