Cloudwatch alarm for all the databases

Question

Hello,
I have created an alarm for CPU Utilization using Metric RDS > Across All Databases. However when I receive the alarm it does not list the database name. I have a feeling that it's not working as it should be. Below are the details of the alarm.

Details
Name
Critical! CPU Alert above 80%
Type
Metric alarm
Description
CPU utilization is above threshold limit of 80%. Please investigate!

State
OK
Threshold
CPUUtilization >= 80 for 1 datapoints within 1 minute
Last state update
2025-04-10 11:08:47 (Local)
Actions
Actions enabled
Namespace
AWS/RDS
Metric name
CPUUtilization
Statistic
Maximum
Period
1 minute
Datapoints to alarm
1 out of 1
Missing data treatment
Treat missing data as missing
Percentiles with low samples
evaluate

Malini Agrawal · Accepted Answer

my understanding is CloudWatch alarm notification does not tell you which RDS instance it is for?

when you use "Across All Databases", the metric is not associated with any specific DBInstanceIdentifier. ClouldWAtch is monitoring the CPU utilization as a whole. so to see the specific DB create alarm using Per-Database Metrics, and explicitly select the DBInstanceIdentifier as a dimension. also tagging you instances help you manage and identify your alarm.

you can check your current alarm set up using following CLI:-

aws cloudwatch describe-alarms --alarm-names "YourAlarmName" --query 'MetricAlarms[0].Dimensions'

aws Doc : https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/cloudwatch/describe-alarms.html

Hope it will help.

Best

shaank · Answer

Thanks Malini,

Yes, unfortunately Cloudwatch is not smart enough to have multiple instances in one alarm. I'll have to create per DB instance :(

shaank · Answer

Is it an added cost to Onboard DBs in Database Insights?

"CloudWatch Database Insights is now Available
Database Insights combines database metrics and logs into a unified view in CloudWatch to speed up database troubleshooting."

Cloudwatch alarm for all the databases

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