AWS Glossary
Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus (AMP)
AMP is AWS’s managed Prometheus-compatible metrics service — PromQL, remote write, and long retention without operating Prometheus servers.
Definition
Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus (AMP) is a Prometheus-compatible monitoring service. You remote-write metrics (often via ADOT or Prometheus servers), query with PromQL, and retain data without running your own Prometheus HA pair. AMP pairs naturally with Amazon Managed Grafana (AMG) for dashboards.
When to use it
- PromQL-native teams and existing Prometheus exporters
- High-cardinality Kubernetes metrics that are expensive or awkward as CloudWatch custom metrics
- Multi-account metric federation patterns that fit Prometheus better than CloudWatch alone
When not to use it
- Most early CloudWatch + Application Signals estates with no PromQL requirement — AMP is a second billing surface
- Teams that only need AWS service metrics and basic custom metrics
Tips
- Ingestion, not retention, usually dominates AMP cost — drop unused series at the scrape/relabel stage
- Adopt AMP only after Application Signals fails a measured gap (beyond CloudWatch)
Gotchas
Serious
- Cardinality explosions (unbounded label values) can spike ingest cost overnight
- Dual-running CloudWatch custom metrics and AMP without a plan doubles spend
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Observability Beyond CloudWatch (2026): When to Add Application Signals, ADOT, Managed Prometheus, and Grafana — and When Not To
The reflex to bolt Amazon Managed Prometheus + Grafana onto every workload is how observability bills quietly double. CloudWatch Application Signals now gives you an auto-discovered service map, SLOs, and traces with near-zero setup; AMP only earns its keep when you are PromQL-native or drowning in high-cardinality metrics — where ingestion (not retention) is the cost driver. Here is the decision matrix, an ADOT dual-export config, and the three levers that actually cut the AMP bill.
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Amazon Managed Grafana (2026): Workspace Best Practices for Grafana 12.4 — Seats, Auth, Network, and Dashboard Ops
Amazon Managed Grafana waste is rarely the $9 Editor seat itself — it is ten Editors who only view dashboards, orphan service accounts, and workspaces still on Grafana 9 while AWS shipped create + in-place upgrade to 12.4 in April/May 2026. Here is the workspace ops playbook: seats, IAM Identity Center, NAC/VPC, CMK, and a checklist you can run this week.
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