Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus -Highly available, secure, and managed monitoring for your containerized systems

Kajanan Suganthan

Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus (AMP) is a fully managed service that enables you to collect, store, and query large volumes of time-series metrics at scale, using the open-source Prometheus monitoring system. AMP is designed to simplify the operational complexity of managing Prometheus at scale while integrating seamlessly with other AWS services. It is ideal for cloud-native environments where monitoring applications, infrastructure, and microservices is critical.

1.Introduction

In modern cloud-native environments, monitoring and observability are critical for ensuring the health and performance of applications. Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus (AMP) is a fully managed, scalable, and secure monitoring service for containerized applications. It uses the open-source Prometheus ecosystem to collect and query metrics, making it a powerful solution for organizations adopting Kubernetes or microservices-based architectures.

AMP eliminates the operational overhead of managing Prometheus servers, allowing developers and operators to focus on gaining insights from their applications rather than maintaining infrastructure. In this article, we will explore the features, benefits, use cases, and latest updates for Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus.

2.Key Features of Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus

2.1 Fully Managed Service

Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus (AMP) eliminates the need for manual infrastructure management, offering users a hands-free experience with Prometheus environments. Key aspects include:

Simplified Deployment: Setting up Prometheus environments is streamlined without needing to provision or manage underlying infrastructure.
Automatic Scaling: AMP dynamically scales resources up or down based on workload demands, ensuring cost-effective operations.
High Availability: The service includes built-in mechanisms for redundancy and fault tolerance, minimizing downtime.
Data Durability: Long-term data retention is ensured with replication across multiple availability zones.

2.2 Seamless Integration with AWS Services

AMP is designed to integrate tightly with the broader AWS ecosystem, offering comprehensive monitoring and operational insights. Highlights include:

EKS and ECS Monitoring: Provides out-of-the-box monitoring for containerized workloads, offering insights into cluster health and application performance.
AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry: Simplifies metrics collection by leveraging OpenTelemetry SDKs and agents, making it easier to instrument applications.
Prometheus Remote Write API: Supports existing Prometheus setups, enabling seamless migration to AMP without significant changes to the existing configuration.
CloudWatch and Lambda: Automates incident management workflows by integrating AMP alerts with AWS CloudWatch Alarms and triggering remedial actions using AWS Lambda.
Centralized IAM Management: Ensures consistent access control policies across your AWS environment using AWS Identity and Access Management.

2.3 Scalability and High Availability

AMP ensures that businesses can handle growing workloads and critical use cases with reliability:

Horizontal Scalability: Automatically adjusts capacity to handle increased ingestion and query loads without compromising performance.
Fault Tolerance: By replicating data across multiple AWS availability zones, AMP provides continuous service even during regional disruptions.
Optimized Query Performance: Uses distributed architectures to provide low-latency queries, even for large-scale metrics datasets.

2.4 Advanced Security

AMP prioritizes the protection of sensitive metrics data with industry-leading security practices:

Fine-Grained IAM Roles: Enables granular control over user and application access, ensuring that only authorized entities can access metrics data.
Data Encryption: All data is encrypted both at rest and in transit, leveraging the AWS Key Management Service (KMS) for managing encryption keys.
Private Connectivity: With Amazon VPC endpoints, users can securely access AMP over private networks, bypassing the public internet.
Compliance: AMP meets stringent compliance requirements, adhering to industry standards such as SOC, ISO, and GDPR.

2.5 Query and Alerting Capabilities

AMP enhances operational visibility with powerful querying and alerting features:

PromQL Support: Offers native compatibility with Prometheus Query Language, allowing users to create sophisticated queries to analyze and visualize data.
Alerting with Prometheus Alertmanager: Automatically triggers alerts for threshold breaches or anomalies, ensuring timely incident response.
Integration with Grafana: Provides seamless visualization by integrating with Grafana dashboards, giving teams an intuitive way to monitor and explore metrics.
Multi-Tenancy Support: Ensures efficient separation and management of metrics data for different applications or teams within a single account.

By leveraging these comprehensive features, Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus becomes a cornerstone of modern observability, enabling organizations to monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize their infrastructure at scale. Let me know if you need further expansions or deeper dives into specific sections!

2024 Updates for Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus

1. Improved Query Performance

Enhanced query optimization for PromQL to deliver faster and more efficient results.
New caching mechanisms reduce latency during high-volume queries.

2. Expanded Regional Availability

AMP is now available in additional AWS regions, including South America (São Paulo) and Middle East (UAE).
Multi-region support for global workloads with improved replication and cross-region failover.

3. Cost Optimization Tools

Introduction of a cost monitoring dashboard to track AMP usage and optimize expenses.
Support for tiered pricing based on data volume to reduce costs for large-scale deployments.

4. Enhanced Integration Capabilities

AWS CloudFormation support for simplified resource management.
Deeper integration with AWS Security Hub for centralized compliance monitoring.
New APIs for programmatic access to AMP configuration and metrics.

5. Automation Enhancements

Added support for Amazon EventBridge to automate workflows based on Prometheus alerts.
Pre-built templates for common monitoring use cases, such as Kubernetes pod health and infrastructure metrics.

3.2025 Updates for Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus

3.1 Improved Query Performance

Optimized PromQL Execution: Enhancements to the Prometheus Query Language (PromQL) engine now deliver significantly faster query execution, reducing response times for complex and high-volume queries.
Advanced Caching Mechanisms: Newly implemented caching layers store frequently accessed query results, minimizing redundant computations and boosting performance during peak usage.
Parallel Query Processing: Introduction of parallelized query execution ensures that large-scale datasets are processed more efficiently, improving performance for enterprise workloads.

3.2 Expanded Regional Availability

New AWS Regions: AMP has expanded to include South America (São Paulo) and Middle East (UAE), bringing the service closer to customers in these regions for reduced latency and better performance.
Multi-Region Workload Support: Enhanced cross-region replication ensures seamless failover and data availability for globally distributed applications, improving resilience in disaster recovery scenarios.
Localized Data Compliance: Regional availability helps organizations meet data sovereignty requirements by keeping data within specified geographical boundaries.

3.3 Cost Optimization Tools

Cost Monitoring Dashboard: A dedicated dashboard within the AMP console now provides detailed insights into usage patterns, enabling users to monitor and control their expenses effectively.
- View metrics such as ingestion rates, query loads, and retention costs in real-time.
Tiered Pricing Model: AMP has introduced volume-based pricing tiers, which offer discounts as data ingestion and retention scale, making it cost-effective for large-scale use cases.
Usage Insights and Recommendations: Built-in analytics provide actionable suggestions to optimize costs, such as reducing retention periods for non-critical metrics.

3.4 Enhanced Integration Capabilities

AWS CloudFormation Support: Users can now deploy and manage AMP resources using CloudFormation templates, simplifying infrastructure as code (IaC) implementations.
Integration with AWS Security Hub: AMP now feeds security and compliance-related metrics directly into AWS Security Hub, enabling centralized monitoring and alerting for compliance violations or potential threats.
New API Enhancements:
- Programmatically access AMP configurations to streamline setup and maintenance.
- Retrieve and analyze metrics data at scale with improved API endpoints designed for automation and integration.

3.5 Automation Enhancements

Amazon EventBridge Integration: Prometheus alerts can now trigger workflows in Amazon EventBridge, enabling automated responses such as scaling infrastructure, notifying teams, or initiating recovery actions.
Pre-Built Monitoring Templates: AMP offers out-of-the-box templates tailored for common use cases:
- Kubernetes Monitoring: Templates for tracking pod health, node utilization, and service latency in Kubernetes environments.
- Infrastructure Metrics: Ready-to-use configurations for monitoring CPU, memory, and disk I/O across EC2 instances and other AWS resources.
Alerting Automation: Predefined alert rules for key infrastructure events, such as resource exhaustion or application downtime, accelerate the setup process and enhance operational efficiency.

Use Cases for Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus

1. Kubernetes Monitoring

Organizations using Kubernetes can leverage AMP to monitor:

Pod and node metrics.
Application performance and latency.
Resource utilization for cost and performance optimization.

2. Microservices Observability

AMP provides end-to-end visibility into microservices by:

Capturing metrics from distributed services.
Enabling correlation with logs and traces via AWS X-Ray and Amazon CloudWatch Logs.
Supporting alerting for anomalies, such as increased error rates.

3. Compliance Monitoring

For organizations in regulated industries, AMP:

Collects and retains monitoring data securely to meet compliance requirements.
Offers centralized visibility into metrics across AWS regions and accounts.
Integrates with compliance frameworks like GDPR and HIPAA through AWS Artifact.

4. DevOps and SRE Workflows

AMP enhances DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices by:

Providing real-time metrics for continuous delivery pipelines.
Enabling rapid troubleshooting with Prometheus Alertmanager and Grafana dashboards.
Automating incident response with EventBridge and AWS Lambda.

4.Use Cases for Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus

4.1 Kubernetes Monitoring

AMP is an excellent choice for monitoring Kubernetes environments, offering:

Pod and Node Metrics Tracking: Keep a close eye on the health and performance of individual pods and nodes to optimize resource allocation and prevent bottlenecks.
Application Performance Monitoring: Gain insights into application latency, request throughput, and error rates, enabling teams to maintain high availability and user satisfaction.
Resource Utilization Analysis: Track CPU, memory, and storage utilization to identify inefficiencies, reduce costs, and ensure optimal scaling of workloads.
Predefined Templates: Use pre-built monitoring templates tailored for Kubernetes to simplify setup and accelerate time-to-value.

4.2 Microservices Observability

Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus enables comprehensive observability for microservices, allowing you to:

Capture Distributed Metrics: Collect granular metrics from individual microservices to identify performance trends and anomalies.
Correlate Metrics, Logs, and Traces: Seamlessly integrate with tools like AWS X-Ray and Amazon CloudWatch Logs to achieve a unified view of system health and interactions across services.
Proactive Alerting: Leverage Prometheus Alertmanager to detect and respond to anomalies such as increased error rates, resource exhaustion, or service downtime.
Monitor Service Dependencies: Understand the relationships and dependencies between microservices to diagnose cascading failures quickly.

4.3 Compliance Monitoring

For organizations operating in regulated industries, AMP provides a robust platform to ensure compliance:

Secure Data Retention: Store metrics data securely with encryption at rest and in transit, fulfilling stringent regulatory requirements like GDPR and HIPAA.
Centralized Visibility: Consolidate monitoring data across multiple AWS regions and accounts to maintain a single source of truth for compliance audits.
Integration with AWS Artifact: Access and share compliance reports seamlessly, streamlining adherence to industry standards.
Long-Term Storage: Configure metric retention policies that align with specific regulatory mandates for audit trails and historical analysis.

4.4 DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Workflows

AMP is a key enabler for modern DevOps and SRE practices, providing:

Real-Time Monitoring for CI/CD Pipelines: Ensure continuous integration and delivery workflows remain performant by monitoring build times, deployment statuses, and infrastructure health.
Advanced Troubleshooting Tools: Use Prometheus Alertmanager for anomaly detection and Grafana Dashboards for detailed visual analysis, enabling rapid incident resolution.
Automated Incident Response: Leverage integrations with Amazon EventBridge and AWS Lambda to create automated workflows for incident management, such as scaling resources or rolling back deployments.
Service-Level Objectives (SLOs) and Service-Level Agreements (SLAs): Define and monitor SLOs and SLAs to ensure your services meet agreed performance thresholds.
Post-Incident Analysis: Capture detailed metrics during outages or performance degradation to perform root cause analysis and improve reliability over time.

4.5 Hybrid Cloud Monitoring

AMP supports organizations operating in hybrid environments by:

Integrating On-Premises Metrics: Use Prometheus Remote Write to collect metrics from on-premises servers and applications alongside AWS-based resources.
Unified Dashboarding: Visualize metrics from both cloud and on-premises environments using integrated Grafana dashboards for a consolidated view.
Interoperability with OpenTelemetry: Seamlessly collect and process metrics from various environments using AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry, maintaining a consistent monitoring strategy across platforms.

5.Getting Started with Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus

Step 1: Enable AMP

Navigate to the Console
Log in to the AWS Management Console and search for Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus in the services menu.
Create a Workspace
- Select Create Workspace to start a new monitoring environment.
- Assign a name and optional tags for better organization.
- Configure IAM permissions to allow AMP to access and store metrics securely.
Set Up Networking
- Choose whether to enable access over public endpoints or restrict connectivity using Amazon VPC endpoints for enhanced security.
Review and Launch
Confirm your settings and click Create Workspace to initialize your AMP environment.

Step 2: Configure Data Collection

Prometheus Remote Write API
- Update your existing Prometheus configuration to include the AMP Remote Write endpoint.
- Provide the required authentication token to ensure secure transmission.
Example Configuration:


remote_write:
  - url: https://aps-workspaces.<region>.amazonaws.com/workspaces/<workspace-id>/ai/v1/remote_write
    authorization:
      credentials: <auth-token>

AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry (ADOT)
- Deploy the ADOT Collector in your Kubernetes cluster or as an agent in your applications.
- Configure the collector to scrape Prometheus metrics and forward them to AMP.
Example Helm Command for Kubernetes:


helm install adot-collector --namespace amazon-distro --create-namespace \\
  --repo <https://aws.github.io/eks-charts> adot-collector \\
  --set prometheus.remoteWrite.endpoint=https://aps-workspaces.<region>.amazonaws.com/workspaces/<workspace-id>/api/v1/remote_write

Data Validation
- Verify metrics ingestion by checking the AMP workspace dashboard for active metrics.

Step 3: Set Up Queries and Dashboards

Write PromQL Queries
- Use Prometheus Query Language (PromQL) to extract insights from your collected metrics.
- Examples:
  - Total HTTP requests:

sum(rate(http_requests_total[5m]))

- - High CPU usage alerts:

node_cpu_seconds_total{mode!="idle"} / sum(node_cpu_seconds_total)

Integrate with Grafana
- Connect AMP to Grafana by selecting Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus as a data source.
- Configure the workspace endpoint and authentication details in Grafana.
- Create interactive dashboards for real-time metrics visualization.
Configure Alerts
- Set up Prometheus Alertmanager to define alert rules for critical thresholds.
- Example Alert Rule (High Memory Usage):

groups:
  - name: memory_alerts
    rules:
      - alert: HighMemoryUsage
        expr: node_memory_Active_bytes / node_memory_MemTotal_bytes > 0.9
        for: 2m
        labels:
          severity: warning
        annotations:
          description: "High memory usage detected on instance {{ $labels.instance }}."
          summary: "Instance {{ $labels.instance }} is above 90% memory usage."

Step 4: Automate and Optimize

Event-Driven Automation with EventBridge
- Create EventBridge rules to trigger AWS Lambda functions or other workflows when metrics meet specific thresholds.
- Example Use Case: Automatically scale resources when CPU utilization exceeds 80%.
Monitor and Optimize Costs
- Access the AMP cost monitoring dashboard to track resource usage.
- Leverage tiered pricing for high-volume workloads by optimizing metric retention and query usage.
Enhance Operational Efficiency
- Use predefined templates to monitor common scenarios, such as Kubernetes health or microservice performance.
- Continuously refine PromQL queries and alert rules based on observed trends.

6.Pricing Details for Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus

Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus (AMP) employs a pay-as-you-go pricing model, ensuring flexibility and cost-effectiveness. The pricing structure is centered around two primary components: metrics ingestion and query execution.

6.1 Metrics Ingestion Costs

Billing Rate: Metrics are billed based on the number of samples ingested. A "sample" represents a single data point for a specific metric at a given timestamp.
Price: Charges are typically calculated per million samples ingested per month, with rates varying by AWS region.
Free Tier: New users can benefit from the free tier, which includes a defined number of ingested samples each month at no cost, providing an opportunity to explore the service.

6.2 Query Execution Costs

Billing Rate: Query costs are determined by the volume of queries executed and the computational resources required.
Price Factors: Complex queries that analyze large datasets or span extended timeframes may incur higher costs due to increased processing time.
Free Tier: Includes a limited number of queries per month, allowing users to experiment without immediate costs.

6.3 Cost Optimization Strategies

To maximize cost efficiency, consider these practices:

Sample Filtering

Purpose: Reduce ingestion costs by minimizing unnecessary metrics.
How-To:
- Adjust Prometheus configurations to scrape only essential metrics
- Use metric relabeling to exclude unwanted data before ingestion.
- Example Config:

metric_relabel_configs:
  - source_labels: [__name__]
    regex: "unnecessary_metric.*"
    action: drop

Retention Policies

Purpose: Balance data retention needs against storage and query costs.
How-To:
- Define a retention period for stored metrics to remove outdated data.
- Use AMP’s built-in options to retain high-priority metrics while archiving or discarding less critical ones.

Query Optimization

Purpose: Reduce query execution time and associated costs.
How-To:
- Write precise PromQL queries to target only the necessary metrics.
- Avoid broad queries that analyze excessive data.
- Example Optimization:Replace:With:

sum(rate(http_requests_total[5m]))

sum by (instance)(rate(http_requests_total{status="200"}[5m]))

Leverage Tiered Pricing

Purpose: Benefit from cost reductions for high-volume workloads.
How-To:
- AMP automatically applies tiered pricing as metric ingestion increases.
- Consider grouping multiple workloads into a single AMP workspace to maximize tiered discounts.

Monitor Costs

Use the AMP cost dashboard in the AWS Management Console to:
- View detailed breakdowns of ingestion and query usage.
- Identify high-cost metrics or queries.
- Implement corrective actions, such as reducing query frequency or adjusting retention policies.

Example Pricing Scenario

Imagine monitoring a Kubernetes cluster with 100 nodes generating 1,000 samples per second:

Monthly ingestion: 1,000 samples/sec × 2,592,000 seconds/month ≈ 2.59 billion samples.
If the ingestion rate is $0.01 per million samples:2.59 billion / 1 million × $0.01 = $25.90/month.
Add query execution costs based on the number and complexity of queries.

7.Best Practices for Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus

7.1 Set Up Monitoring for Performance and Cost

Monitor Prometheus Metrics: Ensure that you monitor your Prometheus metrics using Amazon CloudWatch or custom dashboards to track resource usage, such as CPU and memory utilization of Prometheus instances.
Use the Correct Prometheus Retention Period: Choose an appropriate retention period based on your workload. Longer retention may increase costs, so consider optimizing the retention period for your specific use case.
Labeling and Metric Collection: Use labels effectively to segment your metrics. Collect only the necessary metrics to reduce overhead and costs. Customize Prometheus scraping jobs to limit unnecessary data collection.

7.2 Configure Resource Allocation Properly

Horizontal Scaling: Use AMP's horizontal scaling capabilities by adjusting the number of Prometheus instances based on the volume of incoming data. This ensures that sufficient resources are available to handle high workloads.
Adjust Query Timeouts: Set appropriate query timeouts and limits to avoid performance bottlenecks during high query traffic. AMP automatically scales, but managing query parameters optimizes performance.

7.3 Optimize Data Collection and Retention

Efficient Scraping Configuration: Configure Prometheus scrapers to collect only necessary metrics and set appropriate intervals for scraping. Too frequent scraping increases load and costs.
Downsampling Data: For long-term storage, consider downsampling your metrics to reduce the amount of data stored. AMP provides built-in downsampling for older data to optimize storage costs.

7.4 Secure Access and Data

IAM Policies and Permissions: Control access to AMP using AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies. Ensure that only authorized users or services can access Prometheus data.
Use TLS for Secure Communication: Enable TLS encryption for all data transfers to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of metrics data.

7.5 Set Up Alerts and Anomaly Detection

Define Alerts: Set up meaningful alert rules based on the metrics that are critical to your business. Use Amazon CloudWatch Alarms to notify you of situations such as high latency or resource consumption.
Integrate with AWS Services: Integrate AMP with other AWS services, such as Amazon CloudWatch Logs, for centralized monitoring. Use CloudWatch Events to automatically trigger AWS Lambda functions for remedial actions.

7.6 Leverage AMP’s Integration with Grafana

Dashboard Integration: Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus integrates with Amazon Managed Grafana. Use this integration to create advanced, interactive dashboards to visualize Prometheus metrics.
Shared Dashboards: Utilize shared dashboards to streamline collaboration across teams, ensuring that everyone is viewing the same metrics.

7.7 Data Replication and Availability

Cross-Region Replication: If necessary, set up cross-region replication to increase availability and fault tolerance. This ensures that Prometheus data remains available even during regional AWS service outages.
Backup Strategies: While AMP automatically replicates data, it's still best practice to implement backup strategies to prevent loss in case of an unexpected failure.

7.8 Leverage AWS Security Features

Encryption at Rest: Enable encryption for data at rest using AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to protect sensitive information stored in Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus.
Audit Logs: Enable audit logs for AMP to track all actions performed within the service, ensuring compliance and detecting any potential malicious activity.

8.Conclusion

Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus empowers organizations with a reliable, scalable, and secure solution for monitoring containerized applications. Its seamless integration with AWS services, advanced security features, and open-source compatibility make it an essential tool for cloud-native observability. With the 2024 updates, AMP offers improved performance, expanded availability, and cost-efficiency, ensuring it meets the evolving needs of modern DevOps and SRE teams. By leveraging AMP, businesses can achieve enhanced visibility, faster troubleshooting, and streamlined compliance, driving operational excellence in dynamic environments.