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Use Case for SQS Queue Idle Monitor

  1. Configure SQS Queue Idle Monitor
  2. Use Case for SQS Queue Idle Monitor
  3. Triage Guides by Violation Type
    1. Triage SQS Queue Idle Monitor NO_MESSAGES_SENT

SQS Queue Idle Monitor

This policy helps identify Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) queues that are potentially idle, meaning they are not consistently receiving messages. The policy is useful for optimizing costs and improving the efficiency of your message queueing system.

Why Use This Policy?​

  • Cost Optimization: Each API operation on SQS costs money, so it is cost-effective to identify and address any idle queues.

  • Efficiency: Removing idle queues improves the overall efficiency and manageability of your messaging infrastructure.

  • Proactive Monitoring: This policy helps in proactive monitoring and identifying unused or underutilized resources.

How The Policy Works​

The policy scans for two specific metrics over the last 30 days:

  • NumberOfMessagesSent: Indicates if messages are being added to the queue.
  • NumberOfEmptyReceives: Indicates if messages are being polled without any messages to retrieve.

A queue is likely idle and might be unused if it has a significant number of empty receives and zero messages sent.

Configurable Variables​

  • NumberOfMessagesSentThreshold (default: 0): The threshold for the number of messages being sent.
  • NumberOfEmptyReceivesThreshold (default 100): The average hourly threshold for the number of empty receives. A high value indicates a queue is being checked often but no messages are received.
  • QueueAgeThreshold (default: 30): The age threshold (in days) for newly created queues that should be excluded from alerting to avoid false positives.

Violation Types​

This policy reports one type of violation:

  • NO_MESSAGES_SENT: The queue has no messages sent but has a non-zero number of empty receives.