Setup Monitoring For SQS Using Cloudwatch

In the previous articles , I have explained , How you can

Monitor and auto-recover repaired EC2 instances

Monitor AWS resources using Cloudwatch Alarms

In this guide , We will learn How we can monitor the SQS queues using Cloudwatch.

By default , SQS sends metrics to the Cloudwatch Metrics.

Using the cloudwatch metrics , We can monitor the SQS Queues for parameters such as MessagesAvailable , Oldest messages , Not Visible messages , Number of messages sent , Number of Messages received , Number of messages deleted etc.

Monitoring SQS Queues

As said earlier , We are going to setup monitoring for

• Visible Messages
• Oldest Messages
• Number of messages received
• Number of messages sent
• Number of messages deleted

To create cloudwatch alarms , Login to Cloudwatch console.

In the left navigation pane , Choose Metrics

From the lists of available metrics , Choose SQS

And then select Queue Metrics

There we can find the lists of SQS queues and their respective Metric names such as NumberofMessagesSent , NumberofMessagesReceived , ApproximateAgeofOldestMessages etc.

Lets say you want to check the metrics of a Queue for the NumberOfMessagesReceived for a particular time period.

A graph will be plotted for the same.

We can adjust the time duration for the metrics.

Lets use this metrics and setup the monitoring for the SQS Queues.

Services Used For Monitoring And Alerting

• Cloudwatch Alarms
• SNS Topic with Subscriber

Creating Cloudwatch Alarms

Lets go ahead and create a Cloudwatch alarm for

ApproximateNumberOfMessagesVisible

Login to Cloudwatch console , In the left pane , Choose Alarms

Then Click Create alarm

Under Specify metric and conditions , Click Select metric

From the lists of available metrics , Choose SQS and then click Queue Metrics

Select the QueueName and the Metric Name ApproximateNumberOfMessagesVisible

and then click Select metric

Under Statistic Choose Minimum and Under Period Choose 1 minute

and Under Conditions

Threshold type should be static and whenever ApproximateNumberOfMessagesVisible is

Greater/Equal to 100

When the queue is holding more than 100 messages in the period of 1 minute we will be alerted.

Click Next , Here we are going to setup alerting for two cases.

• If the metric value goes above the threshold (In alarm)

• If the metric value goes below the threshold (OK)

Here we have to either use an existing SNS topic or We can create a new topic.

If you want to setup a SNS topic with a subscribers , Refer here

Once the SNS setup is completed , You can resume with the Notifications.

Or if you want to create SNS topic from cloudwatch console , Select Create new topic

Provide a name for the SNS topic and add the email addresses (who should receive the notifications) and then click Create topic

Once it is created , You should see as shown below.

We have now added for In alarm notification.

To get notifications for OK status , Choose Add notification and then select OK and select existing topic and we already have created a topic with a subscriber.

and then click Next

Provide a name for the alarm , For better identification , provide a name as follows,

Environment-SQSname-Metricname

You can also add a short description for each alarm you create.

Click Next and then Choose Create Alarm.

Now we have created an alarm so whenever the queue holds messages more than 100 we will be notified.

The number of messages in the queue that are delayed and not available for reading immediately.

This will happen when the queue is configured as a delay queue or when a message has been sent with a delay parameter.

Lets create a alarm for Delayed messages in the queue.

We are going to following the same procedure , The only place that need modification is Specify metric and conditions

Here we are going to choose ApproximateNumberOfMessagesDelayed

Under Conditions , For static threshold , When the delayed messages in more than 100 in a Queue.

Click Next and Setup notifications for In alarm and OK state as discussed above.

You can use the same SNS topic or you can create a new one.

Provide a name for the alarm and then click Create alarm.

NumberOfMessagesSent

If more then 50 messages are sent to a queue in 15 mins  , Send out a notification.

Lets create a alarm for NumberOfMessagesSent to a queue.

We are going to following the same procedure , The only place that need modification is Specify metric and conditions

Here we are going to choose NumberOfMessagesSent

Under Conditions , For static threshold , When the queue has more than 50 messages for the period of 15 minutes

Click Next and Setup notifications for In alarm and OK state as discussed above.

You can use the same SNS topic.

Provide a name for the alarm and then click Create alarm

You can repeat the same process for all other metrics available in cloudwatch for the SQS.

Conclusion

We have successfully implemented a monitoring and alerting mechanism using Cloudwatch alarm and SNS topic for SQS Queues

Hope you find it helpful. Thanks for reading this article.

Please check my other articles.