Monitoring PostgreSQL

by Community Manager on 07-06-2011 01:54 PM - last edited on 12-14-2011 04:06 PM

Prerequisites

In order to monitor a PostgreSQL server, SOASTA CloudTest must be able to establish a TCP/IP connection to the server. If you are not sure how to enable this, consult the "Client Authentication" section of the PostgreSQL documentation.

If a firewall prevents TCP/IP access, see the topic "Monitoring a Server Behind a Firewall".

In addition, in versions 8.2 and earlier, the PostgreSQL stats_row_level parameter must be set to "true". In versions 8.3 and later, this parameter is called track_counts. If you are not sure how to enable this, consult the "Statistics Collection Configuration" section of the PostgreSQL documentation.

 

 

Supported Versions

 

SOASTA CloudTest can currently monitor PostgreSQL 7.4 and later.

 

Steps

 

  1. In the Central list, select Monitoring Server Groups.

Central list, Monitoring Server Groups

  1. Click the New Monitoring Server Group icon. The Monitoring Server / Monitor wizard appears:

New Monitor Server Group icon

  1. Select Monitor Server and click Next.  The Name and Connection step is shown.
 
  1. Type a name for the Monitoring Server and optionally provide a description.  Finally type the hostname or IP address of the server into the Host field and click Next.

 

  1. The Resources step is shown. Check "Databases" and click Next.

 

  1. Select PostgreSQL, then enter the TCP/IP port number, the user name, and password. The usual port number for PostgreSQL is 5432.

 

  1. Click the Test Connection button to test the connection. If the connection is successful, you will see a pop-up containing some information about the PostgreSQL server. If the connection fails, you will see an error message explaining what went wrong.

  1. Click Next.
 
  1. Review the information to be sure it is correct, then check the "Create a new Monitor for this Monitor Server" box and click Finish.

 

  1. Enter a name for the Monitor and an optional description, then click Next.

 

  1. At this point you can choose which statistics you are interested in. For each statistic, you can choose a "sample rate" which determines how often that statistic will be collected.
  • The "Commits" statistic tracks the number of database commits per second.
  • The "Rollbacks" statistic tracks the number of database rollbacks per second.
  • The "Total Connections" statistic tracks the number of users connected to the PostgreSQL server. This will never be zero, because monitoring itself uses at least one connection.
  • The "Per Catalog Connections" statistic tracks the number of users connected to a specific PostgreSQL database. If you use this statistic, you must enter the name of the database in the "Arguments" column.

 

When you are finished, click Next.

 

Review the information to be sure it is correct, then click Finish.

 

Next steps

You can also combine system, J2EE, and ColdFusion statistics in the same monitor.