Monitor Windows and AWS with Datadog

Set up hybrid infrastructure monitoring across your local machine and AWS.

Introduction

30 Second Summary

Think about how you'd know if your computer was running low on disk space or if a cloud server went down. Without monitoring, you'd only find out when something already broke.

In this project, you will set up Datadog to monitor both your local Windows machine and your AWS cloud account from one platform. You'll build a unified dashboard with automated alerts across both environments.

What You'll Build

A hybrid infrastructure monitoring setup that streams live metrics from your local Windows host and your AWS cloud account into a single Datadog dashboard with automated alerting.

By the end of this project, you'll have:

A Datadog Agent running on your Windows machine, collecting live CPU, memory, disk, and network metrics.
An AWS integration streaming cloud metrics from your AWS services into Datadog via CloudWatch.
A custom monitoring dashboard combining local host metrics and cloud metrics in a single view, with monitors alerting on both environments.
Secret Mission: Add a Windows Service monitor that alerts you if a critical service stops running.

Are there any prerequisites?

None. This project walks you through setting up everything from scratch, including your Datadog account, the Agent installation, and the AWS connection. All you need is a Windows machine and a web browser.

Before We Start

Before We Start...

Set Up Your Datadog Account

Before you can monitor anything, you need a central platform to collect and visualize your data. Datadog is a cloud-based monitoring platform used by DevOps teams to observe their entire infrastructure from a single place.

In this step, you'll create your Datadog account, grab your API key, and confirm which Datadog site your data will be sent to. These three pieces set the foundation for everything else in this project.

In this step, get ready to:

Sign up for a Datadog free trial.
Locate your Datadog API key.
Confirm your Datadog site URL.

Sign up for a Datadog free trial

Datadog offers a 14-day free trial with full platform access. You don't need a credit card to sign up.

Open your web browser and navigate to datadoghq.com.
Click Get Started Free in the top right corner.
Fill in the sign-up form with your name, email address, company name, and a password.
For the Stack selection, choose any option that fits your interest (this does not limit your trial features).
Click Sign Up (or Create Your Free Account depending on the page).
Check your email inbox for a verification email from Datadog and click the verification link.

After verifying your email, you'll be redirected to the Datadog console. You should see the Datadog home screen with a guided setup wizard.

What is the free trial?

The Datadog free trial gives you 14 days of full platform access, including metrics, dashboards, alerting, and integrations. After the trial ends, your account automatically drops to the Free tier (up to 5 hosts, 1-day metric retention) at no cost.

Not receiving the verification email?

Check your spam or junk folder. If you still don't see it, try signing up again with a different email address. Help me troubleshoot my Datadog sign-up.

Find your Datadog API key

The Datadog Agent needs an API key to authenticate and send metrics to your account. Your account comes with a default API key already created.

In the Datadog console, look at the bottom of the left-side navigation menu.
Click your account name or avatar to open the account menu.
Select Organization Settings.
Click the API Keys tab.
You'll see a default API key listed. Hover over it and click the Copy icon to copy the key to your clipboard.
Paste the key into a temporary text file or note for safekeeping. You'll need it in the next step when installing the Agent.

What is an API key?

An API key is unique to your organization. It identifies your account when the Datadog Agent submits metrics and events. Think of it as your monitoring ID badge.

Don't see Organization Settings?

Make sure you're looking at the bottom of the left-side navigation, not the top. The account menu sits below all the product navigation links. If you still can't find it, click your avatar icon in the bottom-left corner. Help me find my Datadog API key.

Confirm your Datadog site URL

Datadog runs on multiple regional sites. Your site URL determines where the Agent sends data, so the Agent configuration must match your account's region.

Look at your browser's address bar while you're logged into Datadog.
Note the domain. For most users who signed up from the US, it will be app.datadoghq.com (this is the US1 site).
If your URL shows a different domain (like app.datadoghq.eu or us5.datadoghq.com), make a note of it. You'll need this when configuring the Agent.

Why does the site URL matter?

Datadog has regional data centers (US1, US3, US5, EU1, and others). If the Agent sends data to the wrong region, your metrics won't show up in your dashboard. Most learners who signed up with a US-based email will be on app.datadoghq.com (US1).

Your Datadog account is ready and you have your API key copied. Next up, you'll install the Datadog Agent on your Windows machine to start streaming live metrics into this platform.

Install the Datadog Agent on Windows

Your Datadog account is ready, but right now it has nothing to monitor. To collect data from your machine, you need to install a lightweight service called the Datadog Agent.

The Agent runs quietly in the background on your Windows machine, collecting system metrics like CPU usage, memory, and disk activity. It then sends those metrics to your Datadog account where you can visualize and alert on them.

In this step, get ready to:

Download and install the Datadog Agent on your Windows machine.
Verify the Agent is running and connected to Datadog.
Confirm your host appears in the Datadog Infrastructure List.

Download and run the Agent installer

The Datadog Agent for Windows comes as an MSI installer. You download it from the Datadog docs, run it with Administrator privileges, and provide your API key so the Agent knows where to send data.

In your web browser, navigate to the Datadog Agent installation page at https://docs.datadoghq.com/agent/supported_platforms/windows/.
Click the link to download the latest Datadog Agent installer (the file is named datadog-agent-7-latest.amd64.msi).
Once downloaded, right-click the .msi file and select Run as administrator.
When prompted, enter your Administrator credentials to allow the installation.
Follow the prompts and accept the license agreement.
When the installer asks for your Datadog API key, paste in the API key you copied in the previous step.

What does the installer do?

The installer places the Agent files in C:\Program Files\Datadog\Datadog Agent and creates a local user account called ddagentuser that the Agent runs under. It also registers the Agent as a Windows service so it starts automatically.

The installation can take up to 15 minutes in some cases. Microsoft Defender may slow progress, so be patient if the progress bar pauses.

Installer won't run or asks for permissions?

Make sure you right-clicked the file and chose Run as administrator. Double-clicking the file without Administrator privileges will cause the install to fail.

If Windows SmartScreen blocks the file, click More info and then Run anyway. The installer is an official Datadog release.

Why can't I install the Datadog Agent?

Verify the Agent is running

At the end of the installation, the installer offers to launch the Datadog Agent Manager. This is a GUI tool that shows you the Agent's status and configuration.

When the installer finishes, check the option to launch the Datadog Agent Manager and click Finish.
The Agent Manager window opens in your browser (it runs locally on port 5002).
Check the status section. You should see the Agent status displayed as Running and connected to Datadog.

What is the Datadog Agent Manager?

The Agent Manager is a local web UI enabled by default on Windows. It lets you view the Agent's health, check which integrations are active, and review configuration without touching the command line.

If you accidentally closed the installer without launching it, you can open the Agent Manager later by searching for Datadog Agent Manager in the Windows Start menu.

Agent Manager not opening?

If the Agent Manager doesn't appear, press the Windows key and search for Datadog Agent Manager. Click the result to open it.

If the status shows the Agent is not running, open services.msc from the Start menu, find the Datadog Agent service, right-click it, and select Start.

Help me get the Datadog Agent running on Windows

Confirm your host in the Infrastructure List

Now that the Agent is running locally, it should start reporting your machine's metrics to Datadog. You can verify this by checking the Infrastructure List in your Datadog console.

Switch back to the Datadog web console in your browser.
In the left sidebar, click Infrastructure.
Click Hosts to open the Infrastructure List.
Wait a few minutes for your host to appear. You should see your Windows machine listed with its hostname displayed.

How long until my host shows up?

The Agent sends its first data within a couple of minutes after starting. If you don't see your host immediately, wait 2-3 minutes and refresh the page. The Infrastructure List shows hosts with activity in the last two hours by default.

Host not appearing in the Infrastructure List?

Confirm the Agent is running by checking the Agent Manager status. If it shows as disconnected, verify that your API key was entered correctly during installation.

Check that your firewall isn't blocking outbound HTTPS traffic on port 443. The Agent needs to reach Datadog's servers to send metrics.

Why isn't my Windows host showing up in the Datadog Infrastructure List?

Your Windows machine is now streaming live metrics to Datadog. Next up, you'll explore those metrics and see exactly what data the Agent is collecting about your system.

Explore Your Host Metrics

Your Windows host is now visible in Datadog, which means the Agent is successfully streaming data to the platform.

In this step, you'll dig into the actual metrics being collected and learn how to explore them using Datadog's built-in tools.

In this step, get ready to:

Explore the Host Dashboard to see CPU, memory, disk, and network metrics.
Confirm the Agent is reporting correctly in Metrics Summary.
Graph a live metric and watch it respond to real activity.

Open the Host Dashboard

The Host Dashboard gives you a consolidated view of everything happening on a single machine. It shows CPU, memory, disk, and network data in one place.

In the Datadog web console, navigate to Infrastructure in the left sidebar, then click Hosts.
Find your Windows host in the list and click on its hostname to open the host detail panel.
Look at the metrics graphs displayed. You should see graphs for CPU usage, memory usage, disk I/O, and network traffic.

What metrics are collected by default on Windows?

The Datadog Agent automatically collects CPU (System), Disk, IO, Memory, Network, NTP, Uptime, and Winproc metrics on Windows.

On Windows, the standard system.load.* metrics (common on Linux) are not available. Instead, look for system.proc.queue.length, which measures the number of threads waiting in the processor ready queue. This is the Windows equivalent of system load.

Scroll through the host detail panel and note the system.proc.queue.length metric. This tells you how busy your processor is at any given moment.

Don't see any metrics on your host?

Make sure the Datadog Agent Manager still shows a status of Running. If the Agent stopped, restart it from the Agent Manager.

Metrics can take a couple of minutes to appear after the Agent first starts. Wait 2-3 minutes and refresh the page.

help me troubleshoot why my Datadog host isn't showing metrics

Confirm your Agent is reporting in Metrics Summary

The Metrics Summary page shows every metric actively being reported to your Datadog account. Searching for a known Agent metric confirms the connection is working end to end.

In the left sidebar, navigate to Metrics, then click Summary.
In the search bar at the top, type datadog.agent.running and press Enter.
Confirm the metric appears in the results list. This proves the Agent is actively reporting to Datadog.

What does datadog.agent.running tell you?

This metric is emitted by the Agent itself to confirm it is alive and connected. If you can see it in the Metrics Summary, your Agent is healthy and data is flowing.

Clear your search and try searching for system.cpu.user to see CPU metrics.
Search for system.mem.used to confirm memory metrics are flowing.
Search for system.disk.in_use to confirm disk usage metrics are available. This metric reports as a fraction between 0 and 1 (where 0.7 means 70% full).

Metric search returns no results?

Make sure you are typing the exact metric name including the dots (e.g., system.cpu.user not system cpu user).

If the Agent was just installed, some metrics may take up to 5 minutes to appear in the Summary page. Refresh and try again.

help me find my Agent metrics in Datadog Metrics Summary

Graph CPU usage in the Metrics Explorer

The Metrics Explorer lets you graph any metric over time. You can watch your system respond to activity in near real-time.

In the left sidebar, navigate to Metrics, then click Explorer.
In the metric search field, type system.cpu.user and select it from the dropdown.
A timeseries graph appears showing your CPU usage over the past hour (the default time frame).

What is system.cpu.user?

This metric tracks the percentage of CPU time spent running user-level processes (your applications, browser tabs, file operations). It does not include system-level kernel activity.

Watching this metric in real-time helps you understand how your everyday activity affects your machine's processor.

Generate some CPU load on your machine. Open 10-15 new browser tabs simultaneously, or use the Windows search bar to search for a file.
Switch back to the Metrics Explorer in Datadog and wait about 15-30 seconds.
Watch the graph update. You should see a spike in CPU usage corresponding to the activity you just generated.

Adjust the time frame for a closer look

Click the time selector in the top right corner of the Metrics Explorer page and choose Past 15 Minutes to zoom in on recent activity. This makes spikes easier to spot.

Graph looks flat with no spikes?

Make sure you generated CPU activity after the graph loaded. Try opening many browser tabs at once or running a file search from the Windows search bar.

The Agent collects and sends data at regular intervals. Wait 30-60 seconds after generating load, then check if the graph updated.

help me see real-time CPU changes in Datadog Metrics Explorer

Your metrics are confirmed and flowing. Next up, you'll connect your AWS account to Datadog and bring cloud metrics into the same platform.

Connect Your AWS Account to Datadog

Your local Windows machine is now streaming metrics into Datadog. That gives you visibility into one host, but real infrastructure monitoring spans multiple environments.

In this step, you'll connect your AWS account to Datadog so it can pull CloudWatch metrics from your cloud services. This creates a unified view of both your local machine and your cloud infrastructure in a single platform.

In this step, get ready to:

Connect your AWS account to Datadog using CloudFormation.
Deploy an IAM role that grants Datadog read access to your CloudWatch metrics.
Verify AWS metrics appear in the out-of-the-box AWS overview dashboard.

Start the AWS integration in Datadog

Datadog connects to AWS by polling the CloudWatch API on your behalf. To authorize this, you'll deploy a CloudFormation stack that creates an IAM role in your AWS account.

In the Datadog web console, click Integrations in the left sidebar.
Search for AWS and click the AWS integration tile.
Click Add AWS Account.
Under the Automatically using CloudFormation option, select the AWS region you use (e.g., us-east-1).
Confirm your Datadog API key is filled in. This is the same key you copied in Step 1.
Leave the optional Forwarder Lambda and Cloud Security options unchecked for now.

What does CloudFormation do here?

CloudFormation is AWS's infrastructure-as-code service. Datadog provides a pre-built template that automatically creates an IAM role and policy in your AWS account. This role grants Datadog permission to make read-only API calls to collect your CloudWatch metrics.

The DatadogAppKey parameter is auto-generated and tied to your Datadog account. You do not need to edit it.

Deploy the CloudFormation stack in AWS

Click Launch CloudFormation Template. This opens the AWS Console in a new browser tab with a pre-filled CloudFormation stack.
If prompted, sign in to your AWS account.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page. You'll see a checkbox that says "I acknowledge that AWS CloudFormation might create IAM resources with custom names."
Check the acknowledgment box.
Click Create stack.

The stack creation process takes several minutes. It deploys one main stack and three nested stacks.

Wait on the CloudFormation page until all stacks show CREATE_COMPLETE in the Status column.

What are the nested stacks?

The main stack creates an IAM role granting Datadog read access to your AWS account. The three nested stacks handle additional configuration like the Datadog app key registration and resource tagging. All four stacks must show CREATE_COMPLETE before you proceed.

Stack stuck in CREATE_IN_PROGRESS?

The full deployment can take 3-5 minutes. If it takes longer than 10 minutes, check the Events tab in the CloudFormation console for error details. Common causes include insufficient IAM permissions on your AWS user account.

Help me troubleshoot my CloudFormation stack

Confirm AWS metrics are flowing into Datadog

Switch back to your Datadog browser tab.
Click Ready! to confirm the integration setup is complete.

AWS metrics take up to 10 minutes to start appearing. Datadog polls CloudWatch every 10 minutes by default.

Navigate to Dashboards in the left sidebar, then click Dashboard List.
Search for AWS in the search bar.
Open the AWS Overview dashboard.
Confirm you see AWS metrics appearing from your connected account. If you have active AWS services (EC2 instances, S3 buckets, etc.), their metrics will populate the dashboard widgets.

What if I don't see many AWS metrics?

If your AWS account has few active services, you may see limited data on the dashboard. That is expected. The integration is working as long as the AWS Overview dashboard loads without errors.

Many sub-integrations (EC2, S3, RDS, etc.) are installed automatically when Datadog recognizes incoming data from your account.

No AWS data after 10 minutes?

Return to the AWS CloudFormation console and confirm all four stacks show CREATE_COMPLETE. If any show ROLLBACK_COMPLETE, the stack failed and you need to delete it and retry.

Also check that you selected the correct AWS region during setup. The CloudFormation stack must be in the region you chose on the Datadog integration page.

Help me debug my AWS integration

Your monitoring now spans both your local Windows machine and your AWS cloud account. Next up, you'll build a custom dashboard that combines metrics from both environments into a single view.

Build a Unified Dashboard

Your AWS account is now streaming metrics into Datadog alongside your local Windows host. You have two data sources flowing into one platform.

The real power of Datadog is combining these data sources into a single view. In this step, you'll build a custom dashboard that shows your local machine health and your AWS cloud metrics side by side.

In this step, get ready to:

Create a custom dashboard named "My Hybrid Infrastructure".
Add timeseries widgets for both local CPU and AWS metrics.
Add a disk usage widget and a host map, then arrange everything into a logical layout.

Create a new dashboard and add a CPU widget

A dashboard is a blank canvas where you choose exactly which metrics to display and how to visualize them. You'll start by creating one and adding your first local metric.

In the Datadog sidebar, hover over Dashboards.
Click New Dashboard.
Enter My Hybrid Infrastructure as the dashboard name.
Select the Dashboard layout type (not Screenboard).
Click New Dashboard to create it.

Your new empty dashboard opens. Now you'll add the first widget.

Click Add Widgets or the + icon on the dashboard.
Select the Timeseries widget type.
In the metric field, type and select system.cpu.user.
Set the aggregation to avg by and group by host.
Click Save to add the widget to your dashboard.

You should see a timeseries graph showing your Windows machine's CPU usage over time.

What does avg by host mean?

Averaging by host means the graph plots one line per monitored machine. Right now you only have one host (your Windows PC), so you'll see a single line. If you added more hosts later, each would get its own line on the same graph.

Don't see any data in the widget?

Make sure you selected system.cpu.user (not a similarly named metric). Also confirm the time range in the top-right of the dashboard is set to at least the last 15 minutes.

Help me troubleshoot why my Datadog timeseries widget shows no data for system.cpu.user

Add an AWS cloud metric widget

Your dashboard now shows local metrics. Next, you'll add a widget pulling data from your AWS account to see both environments in one view.

Click Add Widgets or the + icon again.
Select the Timeseries widget type.
In the metric field, search for an AWS metric from your account. Choose one based on what services you use:

If you have EC2 instances: aws.ec2.cpuutilization.
If you use S3 buckets: aws.s3.bucket_size_bytes.
If you enabled billing metrics: aws.billing.estimated_charges.

Click Save to add the widget.

Not sure which AWS metrics are available?

Navigate to Metrics > Summary in a new tab and search for aws. to see which AWS metrics Datadog has collected from your account. Pick any metric that shows data.

If you have no active AWS services generating metrics, use the AWS overview dashboard (Dashboards > Dashboard List, search "AWS") as your reference for what's available.

No AWS metrics showing up?

AWS metrics can take up to 10 minutes to appear after setting up the integration. If you just completed the previous step, wait a few more minutes and refresh the metric search.

Help me figure out why my AWS metrics aren't appearing in Datadog

Add disk usage and host map widgets, then arrange your layout

Two more widgets will complete your dashboard. A Query Value widget gives you a single at-a-glance number for disk usage. A Host Map shows all your monitored hosts visually.

Click Add Widgets and select the Query Value widget type.
In the metric field, select system.disk.in_use.
Click Save to add the widget.

What does system.disk.in_use show?

This metric reports disk space in use as a fraction from 0 to 1. A value of 0.7 means 70% of your disk is used. You'll use this same metric in the next step to create an alert.

Click Add Widgets again and select the Host Map widget type.
Leave the default settings (it will display all your monitored hosts).
Click Save to add the widget.

Now arrange the widgets into a logical layout.

Drag the system.cpu.user timeseries and the system.disk.in_use query value to the left side of the dashboard.
Drag the AWS timeseries widget to the right side.
Place the Host Map widget below the other widgets.
Click Save in the top-right corner to save your dashboard.

Your dashboard now shows local metrics on the left and AWS metrics on the right. This is the "single pane of glass" approach that DevOps teams use to monitor hybrid infrastructure.

Why combine local and cloud metrics?

In production environments, teams run workloads across on-premise servers and cloud services. A unified dashboard lets you spot correlations between local resource exhaustion and cloud service degradation without switching between tools.

Your dashboard is complete. Next up, you'll create monitors that automatically alert you when metrics cross dangerous thresholds on either your local machine or your AWS infrastructure.

Create Monitors for Both Environments

Your unified dashboard gives you visibility into both your local machine and AWS cloud. But staring at graphs all day is not how professionals catch problems.

In this step, you'll create automated monitors that watch your metrics and alert you when something crosses a threshold. You'll set up alerts for both your local disk usage and your AWS infrastructure, managed from a single interface.

In this step, get ready to:

Create a metric monitor for local disk usage with warning and alert thresholds.
Create a metric monitor for an AWS service.
Verify both monitors are active and reporting OK status.

Create a local disk usage monitor

A monitor in Datadog continuously evaluates a metric against thresholds you define. When the metric crosses a threshold, the monitor changes state and can trigger notifications.

In the left sidebar, click Monitors.
Click New Monitor.
Select Metric as the monitor type.

Now you'll configure the monitor to watch your disk space.

In the Define the metric section, choose system.disk.in_use as the metric.
Set the metric to be averaged by host and device.
In the Set alert conditions section, set the evaluation window to the last 5 minutes.
Set the Warning threshold to 0.7 (this means 70% disk usage).
Set the Alert threshold to 0.85 (this means 85% disk usage).

Why 0.7 and 0.85 instead of 70 and 85?

The system.disk.in_use metric reports disk space as a fraction between 0 and 1. A value of 0.7 means 70% of your disk is full. This is a common pattern for ratio-based metrics in monitoring tools.

Scroll down to the Notify your team section.
In the monitor name field, enter High Disk Usage - Local.
Click Create to save the monitor.

Your local disk monitor is now active. Datadog evaluates this metric every few minutes and changes the monitor state if your disk crosses the thresholds you set.

Don't see system.disk.in_use in the metric list?

Make sure your Datadog Agent is still running on your Windows machine. You can check in the Datadog Agent Manager or by looking for your host in the Infrastructure List.

Try typing the full metric name system.disk.in_use into the search field. It may take a moment for the dropdown to populate.

Help me troubleshoot why my disk metric isn't appearing in the monitor creation form.

Create an AWS monitor

Now you'll create a second monitor that watches your AWS infrastructure. The metric you choose depends on which AWS services are active in your account.

Click Monitors in the left sidebar.
Click New Monitor.
Select Metric as the monitor type.

Choose an AWS metric based on what services are active in your account.

✔️ I have EC2 instances running

In the Define the metric section, choose aws.ec2.cpuutilization.
Set the Alert threshold to above 80 (80% CPU utilization).
Name the monitor AWS - High EC2 CPU.

ⓧ I don't have EC2 instances

If you use S3 or other AWS services, you can still create a meaningful monitor.

In the Define the metric section, choose aws.s3.number_of_objects or any other available AWS metric in your account.
Set an Alert threshold that makes sense for the metric you chose (for example, above a high number of objects).
Name the monitor with an AWS - prefix (for example, AWS - S3 Object Count).

Click Create to save the monitor.

Why use an 'AWS -' prefix?

Naming monitors with a consistent prefix helps you quickly identify which environment an alert comes from. In production, teams often use prefixes like AWS -, Local -, or K8s - to organize alerts across dozens of monitors.

Verify both monitors are active

In the left sidebar, click Monitors.
Click Manage Monitors.
Confirm that both High Disk Usage - Local and your AWS - prefixed monitor appear in the list.
Verify both monitors show OK status (green).

Both monitors are now evaluating your metrics continuously. Datadog provides a single interface to manage alerts across your local infrastructure and cloud resources. This is the power of unified observability.

What does OK status mean?

OK means the metric is currently below your warning threshold. Your disk usage is under 70% and your AWS metric is within normal range. If either metric crosses a threshold, the status changes to Warn (yellow) or Alert (red).

Monitor showing No Data instead of OK?

For the local monitor, confirm your Datadog Agent is still running. For the AWS monitor, remember that CloudWatch metrics can take up to 10 minutes to flow into Datadog. Wait a few minutes and refresh the page.

Help me figure out why my Datadog monitor is showing No Data.

Secret mission

Monitor a Windows Service

Your monitoring setup covers system metrics and cloud infrastructure. But what about the critical Windows services running on your machine? In this stretch challenge, you'll configure the Datadog Agent to watch a specific Windows service and alert you if it ever stops running.

Clean Up Your Resources

Decide whether to keep your resources running, pause them to come back later, or delete them entirely. The Datadog free trial lasts 14 days with full platform access. After that, your account downgrades to the Free tier (up to 5 hosts, 1-day metric retention) at no cost.

Cost warning

The AWS integration polls CloudWatch APIs every 10 minutes. This may generate minimal CloudWatch API costs on your AWS bill (typically pennies for a single account with few resources). If you want to avoid any AWS charges, disable the AWS integration in Datadog or delete the CloudFormation stack.

Resources you used:

Datadog account (free trial, 14 days remaining).
Datadog Agent v7 installed on your Windows machine.
AWS CloudFormation stack (DatadogIntegration) creating an IAM role in your AWS account.
Custom dashboard, monitors, and Windows Service integration configured in Datadog.

Keep everything running

No action needed. Choose this if you are still actively building or exploring Datadog features.

The Datadog free trial lasts 14 days. After that, your account moves to the Free tier with up to 5 hosts and 1-day metric retention.
The Datadog Agent continues collecting metrics from your Windows machine in the background.
The AWS integration continues polling CloudWatch metrics every 10 minutes. This may generate minimal CloudWatch API costs on your AWS bill.
Your dashboard, monitors, and Windows Service integration remain active.

Pause - I'll come back to this later

Shut down the Agent to stop metrics collection and free up background resources on your machine. Your Datadog account and AWS integration remain intact for when you return.

Open services.msc on your Windows machine by pressing the Windows key, typing services, and pressing Enter.
Find Datadog Agent in the services list, right-click it, and select Stop.
To stop AWS CloudWatch polling, go to Integrations in Datadog, find the AWS integration, and disable metric collection. Otherwise it continues polling and may generate minimal AWS API costs.
When you return, restart the Datadog Agent service from services.msc and re-enable the AWS integration.

Delete - I don't want to use this again

Remove all project resources and start fresh. Follow each step below to fully clean up.

Uninstall the Datadog Agent: press the Windows key, search for Add or remove programs, search for Datadog Agent, and click Uninstall.
Delete the remaining configuration folder at C:\ProgramData\Datadog (the uninstaller does not remove this automatically).
Delete the CloudFormation stack in the AWS Console. Navigate to CloudFormation in the AWS Console, select the DatadogIntegration stack, and click Delete. This removes the IAM role and associated resources.
To disable your Datadog organization account, contact Datadog support. There is no self-service account deletion in the Datadog web console.

Nice Work!

You just built professional-grade hybrid infrastructure monitoring from scratch. You now have a single Datadog platform watching both your local Windows machine and your AWS cloud account, with automated alerts across both environments.

Here's what you learned:

Installed the Datadog Agent on Windows and connected your AWS account via CloudFormation to stream metrics from both into a unified observability platform.
Built a custom dashboard combining local host metrics (CPU, disk, memory) with AWS cloud metrics in a single view.
Created threshold-based monitors that alert on both local disk usage and AWS infrastructure health from one management interface.
Set up Windows Service monitoring to track critical service availability and alert if a service stops running.

Ready to quiz yourself?