Use AlloyDB Omni monitoring tools

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This page lists the tools you can use to monitor your AlloyDB Omni instance.

Monitoring tools

The following table lists the tools you can choose and install to monitor your AlloyDB Omni instance:

To Use Description
Monitor performance and availability Datadog Monitor the performance, availability, and health of your AlloyDB Omni instance.
Export observability data from your instance Postgres Exporter Export the results of observability queries. To install Postgres Exporter
Retrieve observability data in a readable format Prometheus Monitoring system to return the observability data in a readable format. To install Prometheus
Display data in a dashboard Grafana Create a dashboard to display metrics. To install Grafana
Retrieve performance data for analysis Performance snapshot reports Retrieve performance data to identify the cause of performance issues.

Install Postgres Exporter

Postgres Exporter is a tool that exports observability queries in a format that Prometheus, a monitoring system, can read. The exporter comes with many standard queries built in it and you can add additional queries and rules depending on your needs. Additional security options, such as SSL and user authentication, can be configured as well. For this example, only the basic configuration options are used.

Install

  1. Create a directory for Postgres Exporter.

    sudo mkdir /opt/postgres_exporter
sudo chown USER_ACCOUNT:USER_ACCOUNT /opt/postgres_exporter
cd /opt/postgres_exporter

  2. Download Postgres Exporter.

    wget https://github.com/prometheus-community/postgres_exporter/releases/download/v0.15.0/postgres_exporter-0.15.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz

  3. Extract Postgres Exporter.

    tar -xzvf postgres_exporter-0.15.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz

  4. Copy Postgres Exporter to the directory you created.

    cd postgres_exporter-0.15.0.linux-amd64
sudo cp postgres_exporter /usr/local/bin

  5. Create an appropriate .env file for Postgres Exporter.

    cd /opt/postgres_exporter
sudo vi postgres_exporter.env

  6. Add data sources to /opt/postgres_exporter/postgres_exporter.env to monitor one or more databases.

    To monitor a single database, add the following line:

    DATA_SOURCE_NAME="postgresql://USERNAME:PASSWORD@POSTGRES_IP_ADDRESS:PORT/DATABASE_NAME?sslmode=disable"

    To monitor all databases, add the following line:

    DATA_SOURCE_NAME="postgresql://USERNAME:PASSWORD@POSTGRES_IP_ADDRESS:PORT/?sslmode=disable"

    Replace the following variables:

    • USERNAME: Username to sign in to the database.
    • PASSWORD: Password for the user account.
    • POSTGRES_IP_ADDRESS: IP address of the AlloyDB Omni instance.
    • PORT: Port the database is hosted on.
    • DATABASE_NAME: Name of the database.

  7. Add the following information to /etc/systemd/system/postgres_exporter.service so Postgres Exporter survives reboots.

    [Unit]
Description=Prometheus exporter for Postgresql
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target
[Service]
User=postgres
Group=postgres
WorkingDirectory=/opt/postgres_exporter
EnvironmentFile=/opt/postgres_exporter/postgres_exporter.env
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/postgres_exporter --web.listen-address=:POSTGRES_EXPORTER_PORT --web.telemetry-path=/metrics
Restart=always
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

    Replace the following variable:

    • POSTGRES_EXPORTER_PORT: Port Postgres Exporter is hosted on. We recommend using port 9187.

  8. Reload Postgres Exporter.

    sudo systemctl daemon-reload

  9. Start Postgres Exporter.

    sudo systemctl start postgres_exporter
sudo systemctl enable postgres_exporter
sudo systemctl status postgres_exporter

Postgres Exporter should now be available at the following URL:

http://POSTGRES_EXPORTER_HOST_IP_ADDRESS:POSTGRES_EXPORTER_PORT/metrics

Replace the following variables:

  • POSTGRES_EXPORTER_HOST_IP_ADDRESS: IP address of your machine.
  • POSTGRES_EXPORTER_PORT: Port you used in step 7.

Prometheus

Prometheus is a monitoring system that can be used to query Postgres Exporter and return the observability data in a readable format.

Install

  1. Create a prometheus user.

    sudo groupadd --system prometheus
sudo useradd -s /sbin/nologin --system -g prometheus prometheus

  2. Create directories for Prometheus.

    sudo mkdir /etc/prometheus
sudo mkdir /var/lib/prometheus

  3. Download Prometheus.

    wget https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v2.52.0/prometheus-2.52.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz

  4. Extract Prometheus.

    sudo tar xvf prometheus*.tar.gz
cd prometheus*/
sudo mv prometheus /usr/local/bin
sudo mv promtool /usr/local/bin

  5. Set ownership of Prometheus to the prometheus user.

    sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /usr/local/bin/prometheus
sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /usr/local/bin/promtool

  6. Move the configuration files to the correct location.

    sudo mv consoles /etc/prometheus
sudo mv console_libraries /etc/prometheus
sudo mv prometheus.yml /etc/prometheus

  7. Set ownership of the Prometheus directories to the prometheus user.

    sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus
sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus/*
sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus/consoles
sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus/console_libraries
sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /var/lib/prometheus

  8. Add the following information to /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml so that Prometheus can query Postgres Exporter.

    global:
  scrape_interval: 15s

scrape_configs:
- job_name: postgres
  static_configs:
  - targets: ['POSTGRES_EXPORTER_MACHINE_IP_ADDRESS:9187']

  9. Add the following information to /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service so Prometheus survives reboots.

    [Unit]
Description=Prometheus
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=prometheus
Group=prometheus
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/prometheus \
    --config.file /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml \
    --storage.tsdb.path /var/lib/prometheus/ \
    --web.console.templates=/etc/prometheus/consoles \
    --web.console.libraries=/etc/prometheus/console_libraries

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

  10. Reload Prometheus.

    sudo systemctl daemon-reload

  11. Start Prometheus.

    sudo systemctl start prometheus
sudo systemctl enable prometheus
sudo systemctl status prometheus

Prometheus should now be available at the following URL:

http://PROMETHEUS_HOST_IP_ADDRESS:9090

Replace the following variable:

  • PROMETHEUS_HOST_IP_ADDRESS: IP address of your machine.

Grafana

Grafana is a dashboarding tool that exposes Prometheus metrics to an end user through a dashboard. Multiple standard dashboards are available for Postgres Exporter and this observability example leverages those available dashboards. Grafana is available through normal apt and yum repositories and we use those to install this product.

Install

  1. Install Grafana.

    For Ubuntu and Debian systems, run the following commands:

    sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grafana

    For RHEL, CentOS, or Rocky Linux systems, complete the following tasks:

    1. Import the GPG key.

      wget -q -O gpg.key https://rpm.grafana.com/gpg.key
sudo rpm --import gpg.key

    2. Create the /etc/yum.repos.d/grafana.repo file with the following content:

      [grafana]
name=grafana
baseurl=https://rpm.grafana.com
repo_gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://rpm.grafana.com/gpg.key
sslverify=1
sslcacert=/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt

    3. Install Grafana.

      sudo dnf install grafana

  2. Reload Grafana.

    sudo systemctl daemon-reload

  3. Start Grafana.

    sudo systemctl start grafana-server
sudo systemctl enable grafana-server
sudo systemctl status grafana-server

Grafana should now be available at the following URL:

http://GRAFANA_HOST_IP_ADDRESS:9090

Replace the following variable:

  • GRAFANA_HOST_IP_ADDRESS: IP address of your machine.

Load a dashboard

You can find general instructions on how to configure and operate Grafana on Set up Grafana. There are many public dashboards available, but we recommend the following PostgreSQL statistics dashboard.

To load a dashboard, complete the following tasks:

  1. Set up Grafana.

    1. Open the Grafana console using the URL address from Grafana's Install section. The default username and password is admin.

    2. Change the default password.

    3. If the Prometheus data source is not added, navigate to Home > Data sources.

    4. Click Add new data source.

    5. Select Prometheus.

    6. In the Prometheus server URL field, enter the URL address from Prometheus' Install section.

    7. Change the following configuration settings:

      • Prometheus type: Select Prometheus.
      • Prometheus version: Select > 2.5.x.

    8. Click Save & test.

  2. Create a new dashboard.

    1. Navigate to Home > Dashboards.

    2. Click New.

    3. Select New dashboard.

    4. Click Import dashboard.

    5. Enter the following URL: https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/13494-postgresql-statistics/.

    6. Click Load.

    7. Change the Name of the dashboard to PRODUCT_NAME PostgreSQL statistics.

      Replace PRODUCT_NAME with the name of your product.

    8. Select your data source from the Prometheus field.

    9. Click Import.

Performance snapshot reports

Performance snapshot reports are a built-in AlloyDB Omni tool that captures and analyzes performance data to help you identify the cause of performance issues. This tool complements other AlloyDB Omni observability features like systems insights, query insights, and the Metrics Explorer, which provide real-time metrics about your instance.

For more information, see Optimize database performance by comparing performance snapshots.