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API Reference

PostgreSQL Metrics with InstrumentalD

The best way to get PostgreSQL metrics into Instrumental is with InstrumentalD, the fast and reliable server agent created by the Instrumental team. By using InstrumentalD to collect PostgreSQL metrics, you'll get premade PostgreSQL graphs and unlock the full power of our Query Language.

Quick Start
Configuring InstrumentalD
PostgreSQL Metrics Collected
How many metrics can I expect from InstrumentalD?
Dashboard

Quick Start

Check out our Installation Instructions for more details. Otherwise, here's the bare minimum to get up and running.

brew install instrumental/instrumentald/instrumentald
echo 'postgresql = ["postgres://postgres@localhost?sslmode=disable"]' >> instrumentald.toml
instrumentald -c instrumentald.toml -k PROJECT_TOKEN

curl https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/expectedbehavior/instrumental/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt-get install instrumentald
sudo echo 'project_token = "PROJECT_TOKEN"' > /etc/instrumentald.toml
sudo echo 'postgresql = ["postgres://postgres@localhost?sslmode=disable"]' >> /opt/instrumentald.toml
sudo systemctl start instrumentald

curl https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/expectedbehavior/instrumental/script.rpm.sh | sudo bash
sudo yum install instrumentald
sudo echo 'project_token = "PROJECT_TOKEN"' > /etc/instrumentald.toml
sudo echo 'postgresql = ["postgres://postgres@localhost?sslmode=disable"]' >> /opt/instrumentald.toml
sudo service instrumentald restart

Configuring InstrumentalD

InstrumentalD will collect the metrics below from as many PostgreSQL servers as configured. Here's a basic example of the PostgreSQL config:

postgresql = ["postgres://postgres@localhost?sslmode=disable"]

Everything you need to know about configuring InstrumentalD, including more information about PostgreSQL config, can be found in the InstrumentalD Configuration docs.

Metrics Collected

All PostgreSQL metrics collected by InstrumentalD follow this pattern:

postgres.<host from connection string>.<database name>.<metric>

The following metrics are collected:
`blk_read_time`	Time spent reading data file blocks by backends in this database, in milliseconds
`blk_write_time`	Time spent writing data file blocks by backends in this database, in milliseconds
`blks_read`	Number of disk blocks read in this database
`deadlocks`	Number of deadlocks detected in this database
`numbackends`	Number of backends currently connected to this database. This is the only column in this view that returns a value reflecting current state; all other columns return the accumulated values since the last reset
`temp_bytes`	Total amount of data written to temporary files by queries in this database. All temporary files are counted, regardless of why the temporary file was created, and regardless of the log_temp_files setting
`tup_deleted`	Number of rows deleted by queries in this database
`tup_fetched`	Number of rows fetched by queries in this database
`tup_inserted`	Number of rows inserted by queries in this database
`tup_returned`	Number of rows returned by queries in this database
`tup_updated`	Number of rows updated by queries in this database
`xact_commit`	Number of transactions in this database that have been committed
`xact_rollback`	Number of transactions in this database that have been rolled back

The following are only reported once per connection, as this is cluster-level information, rather than database.
`checkpoint_sync_time`	Total amount of time that has been spent in the portion of checkpoint processing where files are synchronized to disk, in milliseconds
`checkpoint_write_time`	Total amount of time that has been spent in the portion of checkpoint processing where files are written to disk, in milliseconds

How many metrics can I expect from InstrumentalD?

InstrumentalD will collect 15 metrics per PostgreSQL database configured.

Dashboard

Here are the graphs included in our PostgreSQL Dashboard. It's a great way to get started visualizing these metrics.