----
page_title: Cloudwatch
page_description: Cloudwatch grafana datasource documentation
page_keywords: Cloudwatch, grafana, documentation, datasource, docs
---

# CloudWatch

Grafana ships with built in support for CloudWatch. You just have to add it as a data source and you will
be ready to build dashboards for you CloudWatch metrics.

## Adding the data source
![](/img/cloudwatch/cloudwatch_add.png)

1. Open the side menu by clicking the the Grafana icon in the top header.
2. In the side menu under the `Dashboards` link you should find a link named `Data Sources`.

    > NOTE: If this link is missing in the side menu it means that your current user does not have the `Admin` role for the current organization.

3. Click the `Add new` link in the top header.
4. Select `CloudWatch` from the dropdown.

Name | Description
------------ | -------------
Name | The data source name, important that this is the same as in Grafana v1.x if you plan to import old dashboards.
Default | Default data source means that it will be pre-selected for new panels.
Default-Region | Used in query editor to set region (can be changed on per query basis)

## Authentication

### IAM Roles

Currently all access to CloudWatch is done server side by the Grafana backend using the official AWS SDK. If you grafana
server is running on AWS you can use IAM Roles and authentication will be handled automatically.

Checkout AWS docs on [IAM Roles]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/iam-roles-for-amazon-ec2.html)

### AWS credentials file

Create a file at `~/.aws/credentials`. That is the `HOME` path for user running grafana-server.

Example content:

    [default]
    aws_access_key_id = asdsadasdasdasd
    aws_secret_access_key = dasdasdsadasdasdasdsa
    region = us-west-2


## Metric Query Editor

![](/img/cloudwatch/query_editor.png)

You need to specify a namespace, metric, at least one stat, and at least one dimension.


## Cost

It's worth to mention that Amazon will charge you for CloudWatch API usage. CloudWatch costs
$0.01 per 1,000 GetMetricStatistics or ListMetrics requests. For each query Grafana will
issue a GetMetricStatistics request and every time you pick a dimension in the query editor
Grafana will issue a ListMetrics request.