## 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 hosts, including AWS EC2 instances and Azure Virtual Machines
- 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

For near real-time updates, switch to a Firehose-based integration.

Note

[AWS CloudWatch Metric](https://coralogix.com/docs/integrations/aws/aws-cloudwatch/aws-metrics-via-cloudwatch/index.md) ingestion counts toward your usage quota.

## Host process

To see which processes are running on your hosts, enable this manually in your OpenTelemetry agent configuration:

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

## Next steps

Ensure your instrumented applications forward telemetry to the Coralogix agent by following [Configure applications to send telemetry](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/infrastructure/infrastructure-explorer/configure-application-telemetry/index.md).

## Related resources

- [Getting started with host monitoring](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/infrastructure/infrastructure-explorer/getting-started-host-monitoring/index.md)
- [Kubernetes enrichment options](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/infrastructure/infrastructure-explorer/kubernetes-enrichment-options/index.md)
- [Explore your infrastructure](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/infrastructure/infrastructure-explorer/explore-infra/index.md)