Choose and install 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 use 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.

To install Postgres Exporter, follow these steps:

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.

Install Prometheus

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

To install Prometheus, follow these steps:

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.

Install 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.

To install Grafana, follow these steps:

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, follow these steps:

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.