Connecting a cloud account#
Connecting a cloud account gives you metrics, resource inventory, audit events and spend, without installing anything inside the account.
How it works#
ObserveIQ calls the provider's own APIs on a schedule using read-only credentials you supply. There is no agent, no VPC peering, and no inbound access into your account.
| Provider | Access method | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Web Services | IAM role with external ID, or access keys | AWS |
| Microsoft Azure | Service principal with Reader | Azure |
| Google Cloud | Service account key | Google Cloud |
| Linode | API token | Linode |
What you get for every provider#
- Metrics from the provider's monitoring service, on the services you enable.
- Inventory: what exists, where, and how it is configured. See Cloud Explorer.
- Spend, broken down by service, account and tag. See Cost Explorer.
- Dashboards provisioned automatically for the services you enable.
Choosing which services to collect#
During setup you choose which services to collect from. This matters for two reasons: provider monitoring APIs are billed per request, and collecting everything in a large account produces a lot of series you will never look at.
Leaving the service list empty does not mean "collect everything". On some integrations it means "collect nothing", and the integration then shows as connected while producing no data. Always select at least one service explicitly, and confirm data appears before moving on.
Start with the services that carry production traffic, and add more later. Adding a service re-provisions its dashboards automatically.
Verifying a connection#
After saving, the integration shows Connected if the credentials worked. That confirms authentication, not that data is flowing. Give it one collection interval, then:
- Open Cloud → Explorer and confirm resources are listed.
- Open one of the provisioned dashboards and confirm panels have data.
- If dashboards are empty but the integration is connected, the usual cause is that no services were selected, or the credentials lack permission on the monitoring API specifically.
Multiple accounts#
Add each account as a separate integration. They appear side by side and can be filtered on every page. For AWS Organizations, add the management account for consolidated billing and each member account you want metrics from.