Host Data Enrichments

Host metrics

The OpenTelemetry agent includes a built-in hostMetrics preset, which is enabled by default. This gives you:

• CPU, memory, disk, and network metrics from your EC2 instances
• Visibility into system health without any additional setup

Extended metrics with AWS CloudWatch

For deeper metrics coverage, use the AWS CloudWatch Metrics Connector:

• Metrics are pulled every 10 minutes by default (adjustable for cost control)
• Metric definitions and tags are refreshed every 5 minutes
• Ideal for compliance, auditing, or environments with scale constraints

If you need near real-time updates, switch to a Firehose-based integration.

Host process

Want to see which processes are running on your EC2 hosts? You can enable this manually in your OpenTelemetry agent configuration:

hostMetrics:
  enabled: true
  process:
    enabled: true  # Enables collection of host processes