Monitoring with the GCP Console

This page explains how to monitor a Cloud Spanner instance by viewing current and historical data in the Google Cloud Platform Console.

Note: You can also use Stackdriver Monitoring to monitor your instance. Use Stackdriver Monitoring to create customized charts and dashboards, and to set alerts for metrics that exceed your specified thresholds.

Viewing an instance's current status

When you open a Cloud Spanner instance in the GCP Console, you can see the current status of the most essential metrics for your instance, such as CPU utilization. You can also view the current metrics for a single database within the instance.

To view an instance's current status, follow these steps:

1. In the GCP Console, open the list of Cloud Spanner instances.

   Go to the instance list

2. Click the name of the instance you want to learn about.

   The GCP Console displays an overview of the instance, including the current values of several key metrics. Learn what metrics are available.

3. Optional: To view the current metrics for a specific database in the instance, click the name of the database in the left pane.

   The GCP Console displays the current values of several key metrics.

Viewing historical data for an instance

The GCP Console provides charts that show historical data for your instance. You can view charts for several different time periods, ranging from the past 1 hour to the past 30 days. You can also view charts for a single database within the instance.

To view historical data for an instance, follow these steps:

1. In the GCP Console, open the list of Cloud Spanner instances.

   Go to the instance list

2. Click the name of the instance you want to learn about, then click the Monitor tab.

   The GCP Console displays charts of historical data for the instance. Learn what charts are available.

3. Optional: To view historical data for a different time period, find the buttons above the first chart, then click the time period you want to view.

4. Optional: To control what data appears in the chart, click one of the drop-down lists in the chart. For example, if the instance uses a multi-region configuration, some charts provide a drop-down list to view data for a specific region. Not all charts have drop-down lists.

5. Optional: To view historical data for a specific database in the instance, click the name of the database in the left pane.

Cloud Spanner charts and metrics

The GCP Console provides the following charts and metrics to show an instance's current and historical status. All charts and metrics are available at the instance level. You can also view many charts and metrics for a single database within an instance.

Available charts and metrics
Node count	The number of nodes in the instance. Available only for instances. Example
CPU utilization - rolling average 24 hour	A rolling average of total CPU utilization, as a percentage of the instance's CPU resources, for each database. Each data point is an average for the previous 24 hours. Available only for instances. Example
CPU utilization - high priority	The total CPU utilization, as a percentage of the instance's CPU resources, for high-priority tasks. These tasks include most requests that you initiate, as well as maintenance tasks that Cloud Spanner must complete promptly. Learn more about high-priority tasks. Available for instances and databases. Example
CPU utilization - total	The total CPU utilization, as a percentage of the instance's CPU resources. Available for instances and databases: For instances, you can view charts of total CPU utilization by database, or by task priority. For databases, you can view charts of total CPU utilization by task priority. Example
Latency	The amount of time, in seconds, that Cloud Spanner took to handle a request. This measurement begins when the Cloud Spanner service receives a request, and it ends when the Cloud Spanner service starts to send a response. Learn more about latency metrics. You can view latency metrics for 50th and 99th percentile latency: 50th percentile latency: The maximum latency, in seconds, for the fastest 50% of all requests 99th percentile latency: The maximum latency, in seconds, for the fastest 99% of all requests Available for instances and databases. Example
Operations per second	The number of operations that Cloud Spanner performed per second, or the number of errors that occurred on the Cloud Spanner server per second. You can choose which operations to view in this chart: Reads and writes Reads only Writes only Errors on the Cloud Spanner server Available for instances and databases. Example
Throughput (MB/sec)	The amount of data that was read from, or written to, the instance or database each second. This value is measured in binary megabytes (MB), where 1 MB is 2^20 bytes. This unit of measurement is also known as a mebibyte (MiB). Available for instances and databases. Example
Stacked throughput (MB/sec)	The amount of data that was read from, or written to, the instance or database each second across all regions. This value is measured in binary megabytes (MB), where 1 MB is 2^20 bytes. This unit of measurement is also known as a mebibyte (MiB). Available for instances with multi-region configurations and databases in those instances. Example
Total storage	The amount of data that is stored in the instance or database. This value is measured in binary byte units. For example, 1 binary gigabyte (GB) is 2^30 bytes; this unit of measurement is also known as a gibibyte (GiB). Available for instances and databases. Example

What's next

• Understand the CPU utilization and latency metrics for Cloud Spanner.
• Set up customized charts and alerts with Stackdriver Monitoring.
• Get details about types of Cloud Spanner instances.