Boundary AWS SQS Plugin
=======================

**Awaiting Certification**

Additional information on using AWS plugins can be found in [this article](http://premium-support.boundary.com/customer/portal/articles/1749355-aws-plugins).

The Boundary AWS SQS plugin collects information on AWS [Simple Queue Service](http://aws.amazon.com/sqs/) queues using the [CloudWatch](http://aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/) API.

The plugin requires Python 2.6 or later, as well as the [Boto Python library](https://github.com/boto/boto).  [Click here](https://github.com/boto/boto#installation) for Boto installation instructions.

## Metrics

The plugin reports all SQS metrics reported by CloudWatch.  For a full list of these metrics and their descriptions, see [this AWS documentation article](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/DeveloperGuide/sqs-metricscollected.html).

**Note:** CloudWatch may not supply values for metrics that do not have any activity.  For example, the ApproximateNumberOfMessagesVisible metric may not be supplied for periods where there were no messages visible in a queue.  In this case, you will see holes in the Boundary graph.  This is normal and a product of how CloudWatch works.

**Note:** CloudWatch reports SQS metrics in 60 second periods.  You will only see data appear in Boundary every 60 seconds for the preceding 60 seconds.  This is normal and a product of how CloudWatch works.

## Adding the SQS Plugin to Premium Boundary

1. Login into Boundary Premium
2. Display the settings dialog by clicking on the _settings icon_: ![](src/main/resources/settings_icon.png)
3. Click on the _Plugins_ in the settings dialog.
4. Locate the _aws_sqs_ plugin item and click on the _Install_ button.
5. A confirmation dialog is displayed indicating the plugin was installed successfully, along with the metrics and the dashboards.
6. Click on the _OK_ button to dismiss the dialog.

## Removing the SQS Plugin from Premium Boundary

1. Login into Boundary Premium
2. Display the settings dialog by clicking on the _settings icon_: ![](src/main/resources/settings_icon.png)
3. Click on the _Plugins_ in the settings dialog which lists the installed plugins.
4. Locate the _aws_sqs_ plugin and click on the item, which then displays the uninstall dialog.
5. Click on the _Uninstall_ button which displays a confirmation dialog along with the details on what metrics and dashboards will be removed.
6. Click on the _Uninstall_ button to perfom the actual uninstall and then click on the _Close_ button to dismiss the dialog.

## Configuration

Once the SQS plugin is installed, metric collection requires that a _relay_ is installed on the target system. Instructions on how to install a relay for Linux/Unix can found [here](http://premium-documentation.boundary.com/relays), and for Windows [here](http://premium-support.boundary.com/customer/portal/articles/1656465-installing-relay-on-windows).

Before the plugin will collect metrics, you must provide it with a valid AWS Access Key ID and Secret Access Key.  [Click here](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSSimpleQueueService/latest/SQSGettingStartedGuide/AWSCredentials.html) for more information on where to find/generate these keys.  The keys you generate should be for a user with access to both CloudWatch and SQS.

General operations for plugins are described in [this article](http://premium-support.boundary.com/customer/portal/articles/1635550-plugins---how-to).

