Track performance metrics, audit operations, and analyze network traffic with built-in ECS integrations.
Choose a monitoring or logging service
Match your goal to the right service.
| Goal | Service | Setup required | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track vCPU, disk IOPS, and throughput | ECS console / CloudMonitor | None — available by default | Real-time performance metrics |
| Get alerts when key metrics deviate | CloudMonitor | Enable alerting | Alerts via phone, SMS, email, DingTalk, or app |
| Check service health across regions | Alibaba Cloud status page | None | Health status and RSS feeds |
| Audit configuration changes and enforce compliance | Cloud Config | None — free, records every 10 min | Configuration history, CCSP 2.0 compliance reports |
| Audit all API and console operations | ActionTrail | Optional: create a trail for long-term retention | Operation logs, retained for 90 days by default |
| Collect and analyze operational logs | Simple Log Service (SLS) | See SLS documentation | Real-time log queries and delivery to other services |
| Monitor and analyze network traffic | VPC flow logs / Traffic mirroring | See VPC documentation | Network traffic records, access control verification |
ECS instance and cloud disk monitoring
The ECS console provides built-in monitoring for instances and cloud disks with no setup. Key metrics:
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vCPU utilization — ECS instances
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IOPS and throughput — cloud disks
Detailed steps:
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Instance monitoring: View the monitoring information of an ECS instance
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Cloud disk monitoring: View the monitoring data of a cloud disk. To investigate usage patterns, see Analyze disks.
Service health status
The Alibaba Cloud status page shows the health of all cloud services per region. Subscribe to RSS feeds for real-time service exception notifications.
CloudMonitor
ECS integrates with CloudMonitor for free real-time monitoring of resource usage and business exceptions. View data in the ECS console or the CloudMonitor console.
Enable alerting for key metrics
Enable alerting for multiple ECS metrics in a few clicks without manual rule configuration. See Enable the initiative alert feature.
Configure custom alert rules
Create custom alert rules for any metric. Alerts are delivered via phone, SMS, email, DingTalk chatbots, or the Alibaba Cloud app.
To suppress noise, create an alert blacklist for specific metrics. See Manage alert blacklists.
View monitoring dashboards
CloudMonitor provides a default ECS dashboard that aggregates instance and disk metrics.
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CloudMonitor console: View the monitoring dashboard of a cloud service
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ECS console (instances): View instance monitoring information
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ECS console (disks): View disk monitoring information
Cloud Config
ECS integrates with Cloud Config to track configuration changes and enforce continuous compliance, free of charge.
Audit resource configuration changes
Cloud Config records configuration changes for your Alibaba Cloud account and all its RAM users every 10 minutes by default, providing a complete audit trail without manual setup.
Run CCSP 2.0 compliance checks
Cloud Config includes built-in CCSP 2.0 compliance rules. Enable the compliance pre-check in a few clicks to continuously evaluate resources. Download results to submit to an inspection agency.
Query audit data in SLS
Deliver configuration change history and non-compliant events to an SLS Logstore for centralized analysis. See Deliver resource data to a Logstore of Simple Log Service.
ActionTrail
ECS integrates with ActionTrail to log all operations on your cloud resources, whether performed through the console, API calls, or developer tools. Use ActionTrail for security evaluation, intrusion detection, resource change tracking, and compliance audits.
See Audit events of supported cloud services for the full list of ECS audit events.
ActionTrail retains events for 90 days by default. For longer retention, create a trail to deliver events to an SLS Logstore or OSS bucket. After delivery, query events in the SLS or OSS console.
Simple Log Service
ECS integrates with Simple Log Service (SLS) to collect and process operational logs. SLS supports real-time log analysis and delivery to other services for monitoring and auditing.
Flow logs and traffic mirroring
ECS supports network traffic monitoring through VPC flow logs and traffic mirroring. Use these to verify access control rules, monitor traffic, and troubleshoot network issues.
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Flow logs: see Overview of flow logs
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Traffic mirroring: see Overview of traffic mirroring