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Cloud Monitor:Monitor a host

Last Updated:Jun 03, 2026

Cloud Monitor monitors both Alibaba Cloud and third-party hosts. Use host monitoring to track ECS instance metrics such as CPU utilization and create alert rules.

Prerequisites

Step 1: Check the Cloud Monitor agent status

When you create an ECS instance, it appears in the Host Monitoring list in the Cloud Monitor console. Install the Cloud Monitor agent on the instance to enable monitoring.

  1. Log on to the Cloud Monitor console.

  2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Cloud Resource Monitoring > Host Monitoring.

  3. Check whether the Cloud Monitor agent is installed on the ECS instance.

Note

Step 2: Create an alert rule for a host

Create an alert rule for an ECS instance to get notified when a metric meets specified conditions.

  1. Log on to the Cloud Monitor console.

  2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Cloud Resource Monitoring > Host Monitoring.

  3. On the Host Monitoring page, click the name of the target host.

  4. On the Host Monitoring Details page of the target host, click the image.png icon in the CPU Utilization (%) section.

  5. In the Configure Rule Description panel, specify a custom Rule Name, select a Metric Type and Metric, configure the Threshold and Alert Level as needed, and then click OK.

    Alert level

    Default notification method

    Critical

    Email + webhook

    Warn

    Email + webhook

    Info

    Email + webhook

  6. In the Create Alert Rule panel, select an alert contact group and keep defaults for other parameters.

    Note

    An alert contact configured with only an email address or webhook receives notifications only through that method.

  7. Click OK.

    To modify, disable, enable, or delete an alert rule, Manage alert rules.

Note

For alert rule parameter details, Create an alert rule.

Step 3: View host alerts

After you create an alert rule, verify it and check its status.

  1. Log on to the Cloud Monitor console.

  2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Alerts > Alert Rules.

  3. On the Alert Rules page, view the target alert rule and its status.

    • A status of Normal means no alert has been triggered.

    • A status of Alert means an alert has been triggered and a notification sent. View historical alerts.