# Setup CPU Usage Alarm using the AWS CLI

aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm --alarm-name cpu-mon --alarm-description "Alarm when CPU exceeds 70 percent" --metric-name CPUUtilization --namespace AWS/EC2 --statistic Average --period 300 --threshold 70 --comparison-operator GreaterThanThreshold --dimensions "Name=InstanceId,Value=i-12345678" --evaluation-periods 2 --alarm-actions arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:111122223333:MyTopic --unit Percent

# Change the alarm-state from INSUFFICIENT_DATA to OK

aws cloudwatch set-alarm-state --alarm-name "cpu-monitoring" --state-reason "initializing" --state-value OK

# Change the alarm-state from OK to ALARM

aws cloudwatch set-alarm-state --alarm-name "cpu-monitoring" --state-reason "initializing" --state-value ALARM