title: Invalid json format, please check. Reason: invalid character 'a' looking for beginning of object key string
body: <p>could you please assist me here? I have validated JSON but the issue appears.. also the strange thing is that when I create the JSON file with the wizard the issue does not appear. Thank you in advance.</p>
  
  <p>Validate JSON:</p>
  
  <pre><code>{
      "agent": {
          "metrics_collection_interval": 60,
          "run_as_user": "root"
      },
      "logs": {
          "logs_collected": {
              "files": {
                  "collect_list": [
                      {
                          "file_path": "/var/log/messages",
                          "log_group_name": "messages",
                          "log_stream_name": "{instance_id}"
                      }
                  ]
              }
          }
      },
      "metrics": {
          "append_dimensions": {
              "AutoScalingGroupName": "${aws:AutoScalingGroupName}",
              "ImageId": "${aws:ImageId}",
              "InstanceId": "${aws:InstanceId}",
              "InstanceType": "${aws:InstanceType}"
          },
          "metrics_collected": {
              "collectd": {
                  "metrics_aggregation_interval": 60
              },
              "cpu": {
                  "measurement": [
                      "cpu_usage_idle",
                      "cpu_usage_iowait",
                      "cpu_usage_user",
                      "cpu_usage_system"
                  ],
                  "metrics_collection_interval": 60,
                  "totalcpu": false
              },
              "disk": {
                  "measurement": [
                      "used_percent",
                      "inodes_free"
                  ],
                  "metrics_collection_interval": 60,
                  "resources": [
                      "*"
                  ]
              },
              "diskio": {
                  "measurement": [
                      "io_time",
                      "write_bytes",
                      "read_bytes",
                      "writes",
                      "reads"
                  ],
                  "metrics_collection_interval": 60,
                  "resources": [
                      "*"
                  ]
              },
              "mem": {
                  "measurement": [
                      "mem_used_percent"
                  ],
                  "metrics_collection_interval": 60
              },
              "netstat": {
                  "measurement": [
                      "tcp_established",
                      "tcp_time_wait"
                  ],
                  "metrics_collection_interval": 60
              },
              "statsd": {
                  "metrics_aggregation_interval": 60,
                  "metrics_collection_interval": 10,
                  "service_address": ":8125"
              },
              "swap": {
                  "measurement": [
                      "swap_used_percent"
                  ],
                  "metrics_collection_interval": 60
              }
          }
      }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>sudo /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/amazon-cloudwatch-agent-ctl -a append-config -m ec2 -c file:/opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/config.json -s
  /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/config-downloader --output-dir /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/etc/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.d --download-source file:/opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/config.json --mode ec2 --config /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/etc/common-config.toml --multi-config append
  Successfully fetched the config and saved in /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/etc/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.d/file_config.json.tmp
  Start configuration validation...
  /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/config-translator --input /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/etc/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.json --input-dir /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/etc/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.d --output /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/etc/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.toml --mode ec2 --config /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/etc/common-config.toml --multi-config append</p>
  
  <pre><code>2019/08/26 07:58:17 Reading json config file path: /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/etc/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.json ...
  /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/etc/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.json does not exist or cannot read. Skipping it.
  2019/08/26 07:58:17 Reading json config file path: /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/etc/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.d/default ...
  2019/08/26 07:58:17 Reading json config file path: /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/etc/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.d/file_config.json.tmp ...
  2019/08/26 07:58:17 Invalid json format, please check. Reason: invalid character 'a' looking for beginning of object key string 
  2019/08/26 07:58:17 I! AmazonCloudWatchAgent Version 1.223987.0.
  2019/08/26 07:58:17 Configuration validation first phase failed. Agent version: 1.223987.0. Verify the JSON input is only using features supported by this version.
  </code></pre>