# Using Event Monitoring

You can query system events and custom events reported to Cloud Eye through the API. You can create alarm rules for both system events and custom events. When specific events occur, Cloud Eye generates alarms for you.

Events are key operations on cloud service resources that are stored and monitored by Cloud Eye. You can view events to see operations performed by specific users on specific resources, such as deleting or rebooting an ECS.

Event monitoring is enabled by default. You can view monitoring details about system events and custom events. For details about the supported system events, see Events Supported by Event Monitoring.

Event monitoring provides an API for reporting custom events, which helps you collect and report abnormal events or important change events generated by services to Cloud Eye.

#### Viewing Event Monitoring Graphs

1. Log in to the management console.
2. Click Service List in the upper left corner, and select Cloud Eye.
3. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Event Monitoring.

   On the page displayed, all system events and custom events of the last 24 hours are displayed by default.

4. Select an event and click View Graph in the Operation column.

#### Creating an Alarm Rule

1. Log in to the management console.
2. Click Service List in the upper left corner, and select Cloud Eye.
3. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Event Monitoring.
4. In the event list, locate the event and click Create Alarm Rule in the Operation column.
5. Configure the alarm rule name, alarm policy, and alarm notification as prompted.

   After you create the alarm rule, if the metric data reaches the threshold, Cloud Eye immediately notifies you through SMN that an exception has occurred.

Parent topic: Getting Started