Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) Monitoring

Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) - Overview

Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) is a high-performance block storage service designed for use with Amazon EC2 instances. It provides persistent storage volumes that can be attached to EC2 instances for a wide range of workloads, from low-latency transactional databases to large-scale data analytics. EBS volumes are automatically replicated within their Availability Zone to protect against hardware failures, offering high durability and availability.

Monitoring EBS is essential for maintaining the performance, security, and cost efficiency of your storage infrastructure. Applications Manager's Amazon EBS monitoring tool provides comprehensive visibility into volume states, snapshot health, and per-volume CloudWatch metrics such as read/write throughput, IOPS, and queue length. With proactive alerts, historical trend analysis, and cost-driven insights like unencrypted volume detection and unused volume distribution, the tool helps you optimize EBS usage, enforce security compliance, and prevent performance bottlenecks.

Creating a new Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) monitor

To learn how to create a new Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) monitor, refer here.

Monitored Parameters

Go to the Monitors Category View by clicking the Monitors tab. Click on the Elastic Block Store instance available under Amazon in the Cloud Apps section. Displayed below is the Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) bulk configuration view, distributed into three tabs:

Availability tab gives the availability history for the past 24 hours or 30 days.
Performance tab gives the health status and events for the past 24 hours or 30 days.
List view tab enables you to perform bulk admin configurations.

By clicking a monitor from the list, you'll be taken to the Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) dashboard, which includes the following tabs:

Overview

Parameter	Description
VOLUME STATE DISTRIBUTION
In-Use Volumes	The total number of EBS volumes in the in-use state in this region at the time of polling.
Available Volumes	The total number of EBS volumes in the available state in this region at the time of polling.
Error Volumes	The total number of EBS volumes in an error state in this region at the time of polling.
Creating Volumes	The total number of EBS volumes in the creating state in this region at the time of polling.
Deleting Volumes	The total number of EBS volumes in the deleting state in this region at the time of polling.
Deleted Volumes	The total number of EBS volumes in the deleted state in this region at the time of polling.
SNAPSHOT STATE DISTRIBUTION
Error Snapshots	The total number of EBS snapshots in the error state in this region at the time of polling.
Pending Snapshots	The total number of EBS snapshots in the pending state in this region at the time of polling.
Recoverable Snapshots	The number of archived snapshots that can be restored at the time of polling.
Recovering Snapshots	The number of archived snapshots currently being restored at the time of polling.
Completed Snapshots	The total number of EBS snapshots in the completed state in this region at the time of polling.
EBS VOLUME SIZE GROWTH TRENDS
Number of Volumes	The total number of EBS volumes in this region at the time of polling.
Total Volume Size	The total storage size of all EBS volumes in this region at the time of polling (in GiB).
EBS SNAPSHOT SIZE GROWTH TRENDS
Number of Snapshots	The total number of EBS snapshots owned by this account in this region at the time of polling.
Total Snapshot Size	The total storage size of all EBS snapshots in this region at the time of polling (in GiB).
MULTI ATTACHMENT VOLUMES
Multi-Attachment Volumes	The total number of EBS volumes with multi-attach enabled in this region at the time of polling.
FAST SNAPSHOT RESTORED VOLUMES
Fast Snapshot Restored Volumes	The total number of EBS volumes created using fast snapshot restore in this region at the time of polling.

Volumes

Parameter	Description
VOLUME DETAILS
Volume ID	The unique identifier of the EBS Volume.
Volume Name	The Name tag assigned to the EBS volume.
Availability Zone	The availability zone where the EBS Volume resides.
Volume Type	The type of EBS Volume. Possible values: standard, io1, io2, gp2, sc1, st1, gp3.
Volume Size	The size of the EBS Volume (in GiB).
Volume Age	The number of days since the volume was created (in days).
Volume Status	The current state of the EBS Volume. Possible values: creating, available, in-use, deleting, deleted, error.
VOLUME ATTACHMENT DETAILS
Volume ID	The unique identifier of the EBS Volume.
Volume Name	The Name tag assigned to the EBS volume.
Encryption	Indicates whether the volume is encrypted. Possible values: Enabled, Disabled.
Encryption Key	The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the AWS KMS key that was used to protect the volume encryption key for the volume.
Fast Snapshot Restore	Indicates whether the volume was created using fast snapshot restore. Possible values: Yes, No.
Multi-Attach	Indicates whether Amazon EBS Multi-Attach is enabled. Possible values: Enabled, Disabled.
Attachment State	The attachment state of the volume. Possible values: attaching, attached, detaching, detached, busy.
Attached EC2 Instance	The ID of the EC2 instance to which the volume is attached.
Associated Resource	The device name of the volume attachment (e.g., /dev/sda1).
Delete on Termination	Indicates whether the EBS volume is deleted on instance termination. Possible values: Yes, No.

Volume Performance

Note:

The metrics Volume Throughput Percentage and Burst Balance are disabled from data collection by default as per the Optimize Data Collection feature.
To enable data collection, navigate to Settings → Performance Polling.
In the Optimize Data Collection tab, select Amazon Elastic Block Store as the Monitor Type and the respective metric as the Metric Name, then set the preferred time interval.

Parameter	Description
TOP 5 VOLUMES BY DATA READ
A line chart displaying the top 5 EBS volumes by data read throughput (in MB/sec).
TOP 5 VOLUMES BY DATA WRITTEN
A line chart displaying the top 5 EBS volumes by data write throughput (in MB/sec).
TOP 5 VOLUMES BY READ OPERATIONS RATE
A bar chart displaying the top 5 EBS volumes by read operations rate (in ops/sec).
TOP 5 VOLUMES BY WRITE OPERATIONS RATE
A bar chart displaying the top 5 EBS volumes by write operations rate (in ops/sec).
VOLUME TRAFFIC DETAILS
Volume ID	The unique identifier of the EBS Volume.
Volume Name	The Name tag assigned to the EBS volume.
Read Throughput Rate	The total amount of data read from the volume between the poll interval (in MB/sec).
Write Throughput Rate	The total amount of data written to the volume between the poll interval (in MB/sec).
Volume Read Operations Rate	The total number of read operations from the volume between the poll interval (in ops/sec).
Volume Write Operations Rate	The total number of write operations to the volume between the poll interval (in ops/sec).
Volume Consumed Read/Write Ops	The total amount of read and write operations consumed between the poll interval.
TOP 5 VOLUMES BY TOTAL READ TIME
A line chart displaying the top 5 EBS volumes by total time spent on read operations (in seconds).
TOP 5 VOLUMES BY TOTAL WRITE TIME
A line chart displaying the top 5 EBS volumes by total time spent on write operations (in seconds).
TOP 5 VOLUMES BY IDLE TIME
A bar chart displaying the top 5 EBS volumes by idle time, showing periods when no read or write operations were submitted (in seconds).
TOP 5 VOLUMES BY QUEUE LENGTH
A line chart displaying the top 5 EBS volumes by the average number of pending read and write operation requests.
VOLUME PERFORMANCE DETAILS
Volume ID	The unique identifier of the EBS Volume.
Volume Name	The Name tag assigned to the EBS volume.
Volume Total Read Time	The total amount of time spent by all read operations that completed between the poll interval (in seconds).
Volume Total Write Time	The total amount of time spent by all write operations that completed between the poll interval (in seconds).
Volume Idle Time	The total amount of time when no read or write operations were submitted between the poll interval (in seconds).
Volume Queue Length	The average number of read and write operation requests waiting to be completed between the poll interval.
Volume Throughput Percentage	The average percentage of IOPS delivered out of the total IOPS provisioned for an EBS volume at the time of polling (in %).
Burst Balance	The average percentage of I/O credits remaining in the burst bucket at the time of polling (in %).

Snapshots

Note: FSR performance metrics are available only if Fast Snapshot Restore (FSR) is enabled for the EBS snapshot in the selected AWS Region.

Parameter	Description
VOLUME DETAILS
Volume ID	The unique identifier of the EBS Volume.
Volume Name	The Name tag assigned to the EBS volume.
Volume Type	The type of EBS Volume. Possible values: standard, io1, io2, gp2, sc1, st1, gp3.
Volume Size	The size of the EBS Volume (in GiB).
Volume Status	The current state of the EBS Volume. Possible values: creating, available, in-use, deleting, deleted, error.
Volume Age	The number of days since the volume was created (in days).
SNAPSHOT DETAILS
Snapshot ID	The unique identifier of the EBS Snapshot.
Snapshot Name	The Name tag assigned to the EBS snapshot.
Description	The description provided for the snapshot.
Storage Tier	The storage tier of the snapshot. Possible values: Standard, Archive.
Volume Size	The size of the volume (in GiB).
Snapshot Age	The number of days since the snapshot was initiated (in days).
Snapshot Duration	The elapsed time since the snapshot was initiated. For pending snapshots, this indicates how long the snapshot has been in progress (in hrs).
Encryption	Indicates whether the snapshot is encrypted. Possible values: Enabled, Disabled.
Encryption Key	The KMS key ARN used to encrypt the snapshot.
Progress	The progress of the snapshot as a percentage (in %).
Snapshot Status	The current state of the EBS Snapshot. Possible values: pending, completed, error, recoverable, recovering.
FAST SNAPSHOT RESTORE CREDITS
Snapshot ID	The snapshot ID for this Fast Snapshot Restore entry.
Availability Zone	The availability zone where Fast Snapshot Restore is enabled.
Credits Bucket Size	The average number of volume create credits that can be accumulated for the snapshot in this availability zone at the time of polling.
Credits Balance	The average number of volume create credits currently available for the snapshot in this availability zone at the time of polling.
State	The state of Fast Snapshot Restore. Possible values: enabled, enabling, optimizing, disabling, disabled.

Cost & Security

Parameter	Description
COST AND SECURITY SUMMARY
Available Volume Percentage	The percentage of volumes in available (unattached) state. A high percentage may indicate idle or wasted storage (in %).
Unencrypted EBS Volume Percentage	The percentage of EBS volumes that are not encrypted in this region at the time of polling (in %).
TOP 5 VOLUMES BY SIZE
A bar chart displaying the top 5 EBS volumes ranked by storage size (in GiB).
TOP 5 VOLUMES BY AGE
A bar chart displaying the top 5 EBS volumes ranked by the number of days since creation (in days).
VOLUME DETAILS
Volume ID	The unique identifier of the EBS Volume.
Volume Name	The Name tag assigned to the EBS volume.
Volume Size	The size of the EBS Volume (in GiB).
Availability Zone	The availability zone where the EBS Volume resides.
TOP 5 VOLUMES BY IDLE TIME
A bar chart displaying the top 5 EBS volumes ranked by idle time, showing periods when no read or write operations were submitted (in seconds).
SNAPSHOT STORAGE TIER BREAKDOWN
Standard Tier Snapshots	The number of snapshots stored in the standard storage tier.
Archive Tier Snapshots	The number of snapshots stored in the archive storage tier.
UNUSED VOLUMES BY TYPE
Volume Type	The EBS volume type for unused (unattached) volumes.
Number of Volumes	The total number of unused EBS volumes of this type.
UNUSED VOLUMES BY AVAILABILITY ZONE
Availability Zone	The availability zone for unused (unattached) EBS volumes.
Number of Volumes	The total number of unused EBS volumes in this availability zone.
USED VOLUMES BY TYPE
Volume Type	The EBS volume type for in-use (attached) volumes.
Number of Volumes	The total number of in-use EBS volumes of this type.
USED VOLUMES BY AVAILABILITY ZONE
Availability Zone	The availability zone for in-use (attached) EBS volumes.
Number of Volumes	The total number of in-use EBS volumes in this availability zone.
UNENCRYPTED VOLUMES
Unencrypted Volumes	The number of EBS volumes without encryption enabled. Unencrypted volumes pose a compliance risk.

Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) Monitoring

Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) - Overview

Creating a new Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) monitor

Monitored Parameters

Overview

Volumes

Volume Performance

Snapshots

Cost & Security

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