What is the main purpose of Amazon CloudWatch?

Amazon CloudWatch is designed primarily for monitoring and managing the performance of applications and resources in the cloud. Its primary function is to gather and track metrics, collect log files, and set alarms, which allows users to gain insight into their applications and infrastructure, ensuring they run efficiently. By monitoring various performance indicators, CloudWatch helps identify bottlenecks, optimize resource usage, and maintain system health.

This capability fosters proactive management of applications, enabling users to make data-driven decisions about scaling and resource allocation. As a result, users can enhance performance and responsiveness to dynamic workloads.

The other options, while important in their own right, do not align with the core functionality of Amazon CloudWatch. For instance, budgeting and cost analysis are typically handled by other AWS services, such as AWS Budgets or AWS Cost Explorer. Configuring network settings and creating virtual machines falls under different AWS services, such as AWS VPC and EC2, respectively. Thus, the emphasis on monitoring applications and optimizing resource usage distinctly underscores the primary purpose of Amazon CloudWatch.