---
title: "Tutorial prerequisites"
description: "Set up AWS CLI and Grafana Cloud to monitor your Aerospike Cloud cluster."
---

# Tutorial prerequisites

> For the complete documentation index see: [llms.txt](https://aerospike.com/docs/llms.txt)
> 
> All documentation pages available in markdown.

This tutorial builds on the [Aerospike Cloud quickstart](https://aerospike.com/docs/cloud/quickstart). Complete the quickstart first to set up your cluster and VPC peering.

## Required

AWS CLI

You need the AWS CLI to run commands in this tutorial.

1.  Install the [AWS CLI](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html) if not already installed.
    
2.  Configure your credentials. If you use AWS SSO, log in with your profile:
    
    Terminal window
    
    ```shell
    aws sso login --profile YOUR_PROFILE_NAME
    ```
    
    Then set the profile for your session:
    
    Terminal window
    
    ```shell
    export AWS_PROFILE=YOUR_PROFILE_NAME
    ```
    
    Replace `YOUR_PROFILE_NAME` with your SSO profile name.
    
3.  Verify your credentials are configured:
    
    Terminal window
    
    ```shell
    aws sts get-caller-identity
    ```
    
    You should see your account ID and user ARN.
    

Aerospike Cloud quickstart completed

The quickstart sets up your Aerospike Cloud cluster and VPC peering. You need the following information from your quickstart setup:

1.  Get your database hostname from the [Cloud Console](https://console.aerospike.com/). Navigate to your cluster and copy the hostname (for example, `abc123.aerospike.internal`).
    
2.  Get your subnet ID. This is the subnet in your VPC that has peering to Aerospike Cloud. Run:
    
    Terminal window
    
    ```shell
    aws ec2 describe-subnets --query 'Subnets[*].[SubnetId,VpcId,CidrBlock]' --output table
    ```
    
    Find the subnet in your peered VPC and note the `SubnetId`.
    
3.  Get your security group ID. This security group must allow outbound traffic. Run:
    
    Terminal window
    
    ```shell
    aws ec2 describe-security-groups --query 'SecurityGroups[*].[GroupId,GroupName,VpcId]' --output table
    ```
    
    Find a security group in your peered VPC and note the `GroupId`.
    

Grafana Cloud account

Grafana Cloud provides managed dashboards and alerting. The free tier is sufficient for this tutorial.

1.  Go to [grafana.com](https://grafana.com/) and click **Create free account**.
    
2.  Complete the signup process. Grafana Cloud automatically creates an environment for you that includes a Grafana instance, observability services, and endpoints. This is called a _stack_.
    
3.  In the Grafana Cloud portal, find the **Prometheus** tile and click it.
    
4.  On the **Prometheus onboarding** page:
    
    1.  Select **Collect and send metrics to a fully-managed Prometheus Stack**.
    2.  Select **Custom Setup Options**.
    3.  Select **Alloy**.
5.  On the **Hosted Prometheus metrics** page:
    
    1.  Select **Via Grafana Alloy**.
    2.  Ensure **Standard** is selected (not Kubernetes).
    3.  Click **Run Grafana Alloy**.
6.  In the **Alloy configuration** modal:
    
    1.  Select platform: **Other Distribution** (this tutorial uses ECS).
    2.  Leave architecture as **amd64**.
    3.  Enter a token name (for example, `alloy-aerospike`).
    4.  Leave **No expiry** selected.
    5.  Click **Create token**.
7.  After the token is created, the modal shows install commands. Click **Proceed to install integration** to continue.
    
8.  On the next page, find **Step 3: Set the configuration**. This shows the Alloy configuration block with your credentials. Copy these values from the configuration:
    
    | Field in config | What to save | Example |
    | --- | --- | --- |
    | `url` | Remote Write URL | `https://prometheus-prod-67-prod-us-west-0.grafana.net/api/prom/push` |
    | `username` | Instance ID | `2944621` |
    | `password` | API Token | `glc_eyJvIjoi...` |
    
    Save these values to a text file. You will need them when deploying Alloy.
    
9.  Skip steps 4 and 5 on this page. The CloudFormation template handles the deployment.
    

## Gather your values

Before proceeding, collect these values. You will need them in the next step:

| Value | Description | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Database hostname | From Cloud Console | `abc123.aerospike.internal` |
| Subnet ID | From your peered VPC | `subnet-0abc123def456` |
| Security group ID | From your peered VPC | `sg-0abc123def456` |
| Grafana remote write URL | `url` from Grafana Cloud config | `https://prometheus-prod-67-...grafana.net/api/prom/push` |
| Grafana instance ID | `username` from Grafana Cloud config | `2944621` |
| Grafana API token | `password` from Grafana Cloud config | `glc_eyJvIjoi...` |

::: undefined
-   I have the AWS CLI installed and configured.
-   I’ve completed the Aerospike Cloud quickstart.
-   I have my database hostname, subnet ID, and security group ID.
-   I have a Grafana Cloud account with API credentials.
:::

[Previous  
Tutorial: Monitor Aerospike Cloud with Grafana](https://aerospike.com/docs/cloud/monitor-cloud-with-grafana) [Next  
Deploy Alloy](https://aerospike.com/docs/cloud/monitor-cloud-with-grafana/step/1/part/1/deploy-alloy)