Cloud Monitoring API Usage

Cloud Monitoring API Usage

How Cloud Monitoring Works?

      Cloud Monitoring involves collecting, analyzing, and visualizing performance metrics and telemetry data from cloud infrastructure and applications via APIs.

Cloud Monitoring data collection flow:

  1. API Authentication: Authenticate with cloud providers using secure credentials such as API keys, IAM roles, service principals, or OAuth tokens.
  2. Data Collection: Make scheduled API calls to retrieve resource states, performance metrics, and configuration information at defined intervals.
  3. Data Processing & Presentation: After data collection, data is normalized, processed, and stored for analysis, then visualized.

Types of APIs

  1. LIST APIs: Used to get the list of resources.
  2. GET / DESCRIBE API: Used to get the metadata or configuration data of the specific resource.
  3. Monitor APIs: Used to get the performance data for the resource. (ex: From AWS CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, etc.).

Cloud Monitoring Comparison

 

Native Monitoring

    (AWS CloudWatch, Azure Monitor)

Applications Manager

Cloud Support

Single Cloud

Multi Cloud

Threshold / Alarm Pricing

Charged per alarm / threshold

NA

API Pricing

NA

Cost incurred only for AWS CloudWatch GetMetricData API

Detailed RCA &

               Customized Dashboard

Basic level

Advanced level

Cloud API Pricing

AWS

For AWS monitoring, please find the API cost below
  1. CloudWatch
    1. GetMetricData: $0.01 per 1,000 metrics requested
  2. GET / DESCRIBE API: Free
InfoNote:
Please find the list of API permissions needed for Amazon monitoring here.
Please find the respective service endpoints used for monitoring in this document.

Microsoft Azure

For Azure monitoring, please find the API cost below
  1. Platform Metrics - First 1M API calls/month free, then $0.01 per 1,000 calls.
    1. In Applications Manager, we use Metrics - List API to fetch Azure monitors metrics.
Note: Please find the list of APIs used for monitoring here.

Cost Calculation

AWS Pricing (Example)

Please find the calculation for the API cost incurred in AWS monitors for the default poll interval - 5 mins.

Monitor Type

Metrics count / poll

Metrics count / hour (12 polls)

Metrics count / month

(12 polls * 24 * 30)

Monthly cost per monitor

Metrics count for 10 monitors

Monthly cost for 10 monitors

SQS

6

72

51,840

$0.51

518,400

$5.18

API Gateway (REST)

7

84

60,480

$0.60

604,800

$6.04

File Transfer Family

11

132

95,040

$0.95

950,400

$9.50

Microsoft Azure (Example)

Please find the calculation for the API cost incurred in Azure monitors for the default poll interval - 5 mins.

Monitor TypeMetrics / PollMetrics / Hour
(12 polls)		Metrics / Month
(12 × 24 × 30)		10 Monitors
Total Metrics		Monthly Cost
per Monitor
(Free Tier)		Monthly Cost
per Monitor
(No Free Tier)		Monthly Cost
for 10 Monitors
(With Free Tier)		Monthly Cost
for 10 Monitors
(No Free Tier)
Express Route15180129,6001,296,000$0$1.296$2.96$12.96
ARM Service Bus17204146,8801,468,800$0$1.4688$4.688$14.688

Cost Optimization Recommendations

  1. Reduce API Call Frequency: 
    1. Increase the poll interval of the non-critical monitors (UAT) to reduce the API call frequency (For ex: increase the poll interval from 5 mins to 15 mins).
  2. Prioritize Critical Resources:
    1. Leverage advanced discovery filters in Applications Manager to target essential resources.
      1. Utilize regex-based filtering, choose required services & regions, etc.
    2. Use stop discovery to halt further discovery once sufficient resource required for monitoring have been discovered.

Cloud Monitoring Architecture