API, CLI, and AWS CloudFormation support for CloudWatch Dashboards is available now.
Dashboard Concepts
Global – Dashboards are part of an AWS account, and are not associated with a specific AWS Region. Each account can have up to 500 dashboards.
Named – Each dashboard has a name that is unique within the AWS account. Names can be up to 255 characters long.
Grid Model – Each dashboard is composed of a grid of cells. The grid is 24 cells across and as tall as necessary. Each widget on the dashboard is positioned at a particular set of grid coordinates, and has a size that spans an integral number of grid cells.
Widgets (Visualizations) – Each widget can display text or a set of CloudWatch metrics. Text is specified using Markdown; metrics can be displayed as single values, line charts, or stacked area charts. Each dashboard can have up to 100 widgets. Widgets that display metrics can also be associated with a CloudWatch Alarm.
