# Using the CloudWatch agent with related telemetry
<a name="CloudWatch-Agent-RelatedEntities"></a>

Metrics and logs that are sent to CloudWatch can include an optional entity to correlate telemetry. Entities are used in the [Explore related](ExploreRelated.md) pane. The CloudWatch agent sends entities with a service name and environment name included.

The agent chooses the service name and environment name from the following data.

**Service name**

The agent chooses the service name from the following options, in priority order:
+ **Application Signals instrumentation** – The agent sends the service name used by Application Signals. This can be overwritten by changing the `OTEL_SERVICE_NAME` environment variable used by supported OpenTelemetry instrumentation libraries.
+ **CloudWatch agent configuration** – You can [configure the agent](CloudWatch-Agent-configure-related-telemetry.md) to use a specific service name. This can be configured at the agent, plugin, metrics, logs, or log file level.
+ **Kubernetes workload name** – For Kubernetes workloads, the agent sends the name of the workload for the corresponding pod, in the following priority order.
  + Deployment name
  + ReplicaSet name
  + StatefulSet name
  + DaemonSet name
  + CronJob name
  + Job name
  + Pod name
  + Container name
+ **Resource tags from instance metadata** – For Amazon EC2 workloads, the agent sends the a name from tags, in the following order.
  + service
  + application
  + app

  You must [setup instance metadata](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/work-with-tags-in-IMDS.html#allow-access-to-tags-in-IMDS) for the agent to be able to access tags.
+ **Default** – If no other service name is found, the agent will send the name `Unknown`.

**Environment name**

The agent chooses the environment name from the following options, in priority order:
+ **Application Signals instrumentation** – The agent sends the environment name used by Application Signals. This can be overwritten by setting a `deployment.environment` environment variable used by supported OpenTelemetry instrumentation libraries. For example, applications may set the environment variable `OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES=deployment.environment=MyEnvironment`.
+ **CloudWatch agent configuration** – You can [configure the agent](CloudWatch-Agent-configure-related-telemetry.md) to use a specific environment name. This can be configured at the agent, plugin, metrics, logs, or log file level.
+ **Cluster name and workspace** – For Amazon EKS, `eks:cluster-name/Namespace`. For native Kubernetes running on Amazon EC2, `k8s:cluster-name/Namespace`.
+ **Resource tags from instance metadata** – For Amazon EC2 workloads, the agent can will use the `AutoScalingGroup` tag.

  You must [setup instance metadata](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/work-with-tags-in-IMDS.html#allow-access-to-tags-in-IMDS) for the agent to be able to access tags.
+ By default, Amazon EC2 instances that aren't running Kubernetes will get the environment name `ec2:default`.