PostgreSQLPostgreSQL
Monitor your Postgres performance via our new EF2.0 extension framework.
Extension
- Product information
- Release notes
Overview
PostgresSQL monitoring solution is based on a remote monitoring approach implemented as a Dynatrace ActiveGate extension. The extension queries Postgres databases for key performance and health. Dynatrace's DAVIS AI then analyzes these metrics to provide anomaly and problem analysis.
Use cases
- Monitor the health state and performance of their PostgreSQL setup.
- Detect anomalies and alert on them.
- Take pre-emptive measures to avoid service degradations.
Compatibility information
The extension is designed to work with PostgreSQL version 11 and later.
Extension content
Content typeNumber of items included
screen injections
2
screen logs cards
3
alerts
2
list screen layout
3
screen properties
2
screen layout
5
document dashboard
1
metric metadata
59
screen actions
8
screen metric tables
4
screen entities lists
9
screen custom cards
2
dashboards
1
generic type
4
generic relationship
5
screen dql table
5
screen chart groups
26
Feature sets
Below is a complete list of the feature sets provided in this version. To ensure a good fit for your needs, individual feature sets can be activated and deactivated by your administrator during configuration.
Feature setsNumber of metrics included
| Metric name | Metric key | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instance uptime | postgres.uptime | Time since the instance has been started | Second |
| Metric name | Metric key | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tablespace size | postgres.tablespace.size | Tablespace size in bytes | Byte |
| Metric name | Metric key | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instance recovery mode | postgres.recovery.state | Indicate that the instance is in recovery mode. 1 if in recovery, 0 otherwise. | State |
| Metric name | Metric key | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active backend processes | postgres.activity.active | Number of server processes executing a query | Count |
| Idle backend processes | postgres.activity.idle | Number of server processes waiting for a new client command | Count |
| Idle in transaction backends processes | postgres.activity.idle_in_transaction | Number of server processes in transaction not currently executing a query | Count |
| Idle in transaction aborted backends processes | postgres.activity.idle_in_transaction_aborted | Number of server processes in transaction not currently executing a query where one of the statements caused an error | Count |
| Fast-path function backend processes | postgres.activity.fastpath_function_call | Number of server processes executing a fast-path function call | Count |
| Metric name | Metric key | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| WAL diff size | postgres.wal_diff_size | Size of difference between current WAL and last WAL replay | Byte |
| WAL records per minute | postgres.wal_records.count | Number of WAL records generated per minute | Count |
| WAL fpi per minute | postgres.wal_fpi.count | Number of WAL full page images generated per minute | Count |
| WAL bytes | postgres.wal_bytes.count | Total amount of WAL generated in bytes | Count |
| WAL buffers full | postgres.wal_buffers_full.count | Number of times WAL data was written to disk because WAL buffers became full | Count |
| WAL write | postgres.wal_write.count | Number of times WAL buffers were written out to disk via XLogWrite request | Count |
| WAL sync | postgres.wal_sync.count | Number of times WAL files were synced to disk via issue_xlog_fsync request | Count |
| WAL write time | postgres.wal_write_time.count | Total amount of time spent writing WAL buffers to disk via XLogWrite request, in milliseconds | MilliSecond |
| WAL sync time | postgres.wal_sync_time.count | Total amount of time spent syncing WAL files to disk via issue_xlog_fsync request, in milliseconds | MilliSecond |
| Metric name | Metric key | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Replication WAL restart delay | postgres.replication.restart_delay | Difference between current WAL LSN and the restart_lsn as reported by pg_replication_slots | Byte |
| Replication WAL confirmed flush lag | postgres.replication.confirmed_flush_lag | Difference between current WAL LSN and the confirmed_flush_lsn as reported by pg_replication_slots | Byte |
| Replication WAL write lag | postgres.replication.write_lag | Time elapsed between flushing recent WAL locally and receiving notification that this standby server has written it, as reported by pg_stat_replication. | Second |
| Replication WAL flush lag | postgres.replication.flush_lag | Time elapsed between flushing recent WAL locally and receiving notification that this standby server has written and flushed it, as reported by pg_stat_replication. | Second |
| Replication WAL replay lag | postgres.replication.replay_lag | Time elapsed between flushing recent WAL locally and receiving notification that this standby server has written, flushed and applied it, as reported by pg_stat_replication. | Second |
| Metric name | Metric key | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of locks | postgres.locks | Number of locks as reported by pg_locks | Count |
| Metric name | Metric key | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled checkpoints performed | postgres.checkpoints_timed.count | Number of scheduled checkpoints that have been performed | Count |
| Requested checkpoints performed | postgres.checkpoints_req.count | Number of requested checkpoints that have been performed | Count |
| Checkpoints write time | postgres.checkpoint_write_time.count | Total amount of time that has been spent in the portion of checkpoint processing where files are written to disk | MilliSecond |
| Checkpoint sync time | postgres.checkpoint_sync_time.count | Total amount of time that has been spent in the portion of checkpoint processing where files are synchronized to disk | MilliSecond |
| Buffers written during checkpoints | postgres.buffers_checkpoint.count | Number of buffers written during checkpoints | Count |
| Buffers written by background writer | postgres.buffers_clean.count | Number of buffers written by the background writer | Count |
| Cleaning scan stops | postgres.maxwritten_clean.count | Number of times the background writer stopped a cleaning scan because it had written too many buffers | Count |
| Buffers written by backend | postgres.buffers_backend.count | Number of buffers written directly by a backend | Count |
| Backend fsync executions | postgres.buffers_backend_fsync.count | Number of times a backend had to execute its own fsync call | Count |
| Buffers allocated | postgres.buffers_alloc.count | Number of buffers allocated | Count |
| Metric name | Metric key | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latest transaction XID age | postgres.xid_age | Difference between the current transaction's XID and datfrozenxid. If this value exceeds 2^31, this can cause a database crash due to transaction ID wraparound. | Count |
| Number of backends | postgres.numbackends | Number of backends currently connected to this database | Count |
| Committed transactions | postgres.xact_commit.count | Number of transactions in this database that have been committed | Count |
| Rolled back transactions | postgres.xact_rollback.count | Number of transactions in this database that have been rolled back | Count |
| Block read from disk | postgres.blks_read.count | Number of disk blocks read in this database | Count |
| Blocks found in buffer cache | postgres.blks_hit.count | Number of times disk blocks were found already in the buffer cache, so that a read was not necessary | Count |
| Live rows returned | postgres.tup_returned.count | Number of live rows fetched by sequential scans and index entries returned by index scans in this database | Count |
| Live rows fetched by index scans | postgres.tup_fetched.count | Number of live rows fetched by index scans in this database | Count |
| Rows inserted | postgres.tup_inserted.count | Number of rows inserted by queries in this database | Count |
| Rows updated | postgres.tup_updated.count | Number of rows updated by queries in this database | Count |
| Rows deleted | postgres.tup_deleted.count | Number of rows deleted by queries in this database | Count |
| Queries canceled due to conflict | postgres.conflicts.count | Number of queries canceled due to conflicts with recovery in this database | Count |
| Temporary files created | postgres.temp_files.count | Number of temporary files created by queries in this database | Count |
| Data written to temporary files | postgres.temp_bytes.count | Total amount of data written to temporary files by queries in this database | Byte |
| Deadlocks | postgres.deadlocks.count | Number of deadlocks detected in this database | Count |
| Data file blocks reading time | postgres.blk_read_time.count | Time spent reading data file blocks by backends in this database | MilliSecond |
| Data file blocks writing time | postgres.blk_write_time.count | Time spent writing data file blocks by backends in this database | MilliSecond |
| Database Size | postgres.db_size | Size of the database in bytes | Byte |
| Data page checksum failures | postgres.checksum_failures.count | Number of data page checksum failures detected in this database. Only available if data checksums are enabled. | Count |
| Time spent by sessions | postgres.session_time.count | Time spent by database sessions in this database | MilliSecond |
| Time spent executing SQL statements | postgres.active_time.count | Time spent executing SQL statements in this database | MilliSecond |
| Time spent idling | postgres.idle_in_transaction_time.count | Time spent idling while in a transaction in this database | MilliSecond |
| Established sessions | postgres.sessions.count | Total number of sessions established | Count |
| Abandoned sessions | postgres.sessions_abandoned.count | Number of database sessions to this database that were terminated because connection to the client was lost | Count |
| Fatal error terminated sessions | postgres.sessions_fatal.count | Number of database sessions to this database that were terminated by fatal errors | Count |
| Killed sessions | postgres.sessions_killed.count | Number of database sessions to this database that were terminated by operator intervention | Count |
Full version history
To have more information on how to install the downloaded package, please follow the instructions on this page.
ReleaseDate
Full version history
Features
- Postgres Instances can now be viewed from the host page.
Bugfixes
- Fixed DQL for Query Performance and Blocking Activity in Platform dashboard.
Full version history
Bugfixes
- Fixed bug where some background writer metrics would not be collected for Postgres 17.
Full version history
Features
- Added ready-made Platform dashboard.
- Database version is now an attribute of the Postgres instance entities.
Full version history
Bugfixes
- Fixed bug where the Connection Usage % chart would sometimes show no data.
Full version history
Features
- Database configuration parameters are now monitored as part of the default feature set. By default, this data is fetched every 24 hours, but this can be adjusted with the
Configuration query interval (minutes)variable. This data will be available soon in the Databases App. - Added a new feature set
Replicationwhich collects replication lag metrics,postgres.replication.*. - Added a new feature set
Lockswhich collects lock related metrics as well as information about blocking statements in the form of logs. - A new database size metric is now collected,
postgres.db_size. - In order to monitor transaction wraparound issues, transaction ID age is now collected in the metric
postgres.xid_age. - Added a database unreachable alert template. Note that all alert templates now default to disabled. The recommended approach to use these alerts is to clone them before enabling/changing them.
Enhancements
- Top statements are now associated to the database they correspond to. Block hit/read/dirtied/written counts and read/write times are now collected.
- When possible, top statements are correlated with
pg_stat_activitydata to obtain wait event times. - Additional charts added to various sections of the databases app and entity screens.
ℹ️ This version requires ActiveGate version 1.301.0 or higher.
Full version history
Features:
- When OneAgent monitoring is configured in the database server, a
SAME_ASrelationship will be established between thesql:postgres_instanceand the correspondingPROCESS_GROUP_INSTANCE.
ℹ️ This version requires ActiveGate version 1.301.0 or higher.
Full version history
Bug fixes:
- Fixed bug where the WAL diff size metric would not be collected for replication instances. This metric will now have value 0 instead of null when there is no recovery happening.
ℹ️ This version requires ActiveGate version 1.301.0 or higher.
Full version history
Bug fixes:
- Fixed bug where the
heavy-query-intervalvariable's default value would not be set correctly.
Full version history
Bug fixes:
- Fixed bug where top statements would appear duplicated in the Databases app
Features:
- There are now two variables which can be defined at the configuration level,
query-intervalandheavy-query-interval, which control the frequency with which the Dynatrace queries the database/ingests data. Please see the FAQ section for more details.
Full version history
Bugfixes:
- Fixed the top queries not showing for certain non-Grail environment in the Postgres Instance screen.
ℹ️ This version requires ActiveGate version 1.293.0 or higher.
Full version history
Improvements
- Top queries will now no longer collect
ALTERstatements for security reasons.
Bugfixes:
- Fixed the Top queries by execution time section in the Databases app.
- Fixed the displayed columns for top statements in the Databases app.
ℹ️ This version requires ActiveGate version 1.293.0 or higher.
Full version history
WARNING This extension requires minimum ActiveGate version 1.293. Please check your version before upgrading.
Bugfixes:
- Fixed bug where top queries would not be collected from
pg_stat_statementsfor PostgreSQL 13.
Full version history
WARNING This extension requires minimum ActiveGate version 1.293. Please check your version before upgrading.
Features:
- (SaaS only) Added execution plan query support with the database app. For users on SaaS who have access to the Databases app execution plan fetching is now supported. View the
Getting startedsection on the hub tile for more details on how to set it up.
Full version history
Bug fixes:
-
Query duration as collected by
longest_queriesis now calculated asclock_timestamp() - query_start. Previously it was computed asnow() - query_startwhich sometimes caused the query duration to be negative.The reason behind this is that
now()orCURRENT_TIMESTAMPrepresent the start of the transaction and an individual query within the transaction can start later. Theclock_timestamp()however returns an actual system cpu clock and can change over the course of the transaction, producing a correct value to subtractquery_startfrom to compute a valid duration.
Full version history
Bug fixes:
- [BREAKING CHANGE] Renamed
postgres.blk_hit.countmetric key topostgres.blks_hit.countto match official Postgres statistics collector name.
Features:
- Added an optional endpoint metadata configuration parameter to each endpoint in the monitoring configuration. This parameter will populate the
endpoint_metadataattribute ofsql:postgres_instanceentities and can be used in entity selectors (to facilitate tagging, for example). - The
Queriesfeature set will now collect queries (ingested as logs) from thepg_stat_statementstable as well. These new logs can be queried by filtering byevent_group = top_queries. Note that for this to work, thepg_stat_statementstable needs to be enabled at the database level as per the official docs. - Added metric charts to the Postgres instance view in the Databases app.
Improvements:
- Aggregated activities from
pg_stat_activityis now collected for all activities, not just the ones associated with a specificdatid. That adds monitoring for activites such asautovacuum worker.
Full version history
Improvements:
- Monitoring for databases was improved to support all versions of Postgres starting with 11. Previously, it only worked for Postgres 14+.
- All metrics were linked to their corresponding Entity Type to make sure the metrics are displayed correctly when Management Zones are activated and are filtered by entity.
Bug fixes:
client_portdimension was removed from the following metrics, because the field bring no valuable information and is too volatile, causing too many distinct timeseries to be generated.postgres.activity.activepostgres.activity.fastpath_function_callpostgres.activity.idle_in_transaction_abortedpostgres.activity.idle_in_transactionpostgres.activity.idle
Full version history
Breaking changes: Existing monitoring configurations must be recreated through API or manually
New features:
- New feature sets
- New topology type: Tablespace
- WAL diff metric
- Query level visibility for longest running queries
- New metrics and charts on entity screens
Bug fixes:
- Duplicate topology entities
- Incorrect metric types
- Incorrect recovery metric
- Dashboard and entity screen links
Full version history
Fix for schema change
Full version history
- Fix link to configurations in overview dashboard
Full version history
No release notes
