What is the key purpose of Amazon CloudWatch?

The primary purpose of Amazon CloudWatch is to provide resource monitoring and operational data for your AWS environment. It enables users to collect and track metrics, monitor log files, and set alarms, which allows for real-time insight into resource utilization and application performance. This monitoring capability allows administrators to gain visibility into their AWS resources, aiding in performance optimization, troubleshooting, and ensuring that applications run smoothly.

With CloudWatch, users can set up automated responses to changes in metrics through alarms and actions, such as scaling EC2 instances or notifying operators of potential issues. This functionality plays a crucial role in maintaining the operational health of applications and infrastructure within AWS, making it an essential tool for SysOps Administrators.