Add a PostgreSQL database instance

Monitor your PostgreSQL database instance with SolarWinds Observability SaaS on a dedicated host, Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, Google Cloud SQL, Azure DB, Fork or Variant, or Service Fork or Variant. Capture a robust assortment of PostgreSQL query metrics that give you insight into database performance and what consumes your database’s resources.

Get started

To monitor your PostgreSQL database instance with SolarWinds Observability SaaS, complete the following:

1. In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, click Add Data at the top.

2. On the Add Data dialog Intro, click Monitor my database performance.

3. Click PostgreSQL.

4. Choose an existing SolarWinds Observability Agent on a monitored host. Click Next to continue.

   For more information about installing the SolarWinds Observability Agent on your host, see Add a self-managed host or Run the SolarWinds Observability Agent as a Docker image or Kubernetes deployment.

   If the Agent you want to use is not displayed in the wizard, make sure it has host monitoring enabled. See Enable host monitoring on an Agent.

5. Enter your database credentials, enable AWS IAM Authentication (for AWS managed instances only), enable SSL (optional), enable Packet Capture, add any applicable tags (optional) and click Next:

   1. Enter the DBMS instance address, display name, target database on selected DBMS, database username, and database password for your database instance.

   2. Optional: To enable AWS IAM authentication, click the Enable AWS IAM toggle and enter the AWS region where the EC2 instance exists.

      Note: IAM Authentication is only supported for AWS Managed Instances.

   3. Optional: To enable SSL, click the Enable SSL toggle and enter your credentials.

   4. Click Enable Packet Capture to enable Packet Capture.

      Packet Capture is only available for Self-hosted PostgreSQL database instances.
      

   5. Optional: Click Add Tags to add any tags to your database entity. Enter a tag key and value, and then click Add Tag. Repeat this step as necessary for any tags you want to add.

   6. Click Next to continue.

6. Copy and execute the installation scripts on your PostgreSQL instance.

   The monitoring user must have the SUPERUSER, rds_superuser, or pg_monitor role. See PostgreSQL system requirements for more information.

   1. Create a new database user - Copy and execute the CREATE ROLE script to create a new user for the Agent to use. If you already have a user, you can skip this step.

   2. Grant Privileges - Select the Self-Host/Google DB/AzureDB or AWS RDS/ AWS Aurora option. Copy and execute the script to grant database privileges for your user. Note that the Agent requires at least the listed privileges.

   3. Initialize Query Statistics Extension - Copy and execute the CREATE EXTENSION pg_stat_statements script to enable the monitoring and analysis of SQL query performance.

   4. Enable Query Monitoring - Select the Self-Host/AWS RDS/ AWS Aurora/ Azure DB or Google DB option. Copy and set these parameters in your postgresql.conf or your provider's equivalent to make sure that your database changes are saved.

   5. The Advanced Configuration field is optional. The field provides a metric agent configuration path for you to indicate a different config file that can add to or override the dbo-global.conf file.

      This field should be used if you need to monitor multiple database instances from the same host Agent and you want to provide different configuration file paths to each DBO plugin on that same host Agent. Enter any parameters for metric collection in the Metric Agent field.

      See Database configuration files for information about configuration options.

      The /etc/solarwinds/dbo-global.conf configuration file is used for all database hosts. If you don't need to override configuration options in the dbo-global.conf file for this database instance, you do not need to provide a configuration file path for the Metric Agent field.

      The config files are JSON. When editing or creating a new configuration file, be sure to include the opening and closing brackets" { " and " }" . All options must be comma-separated.

      For example, a file might look like the following:

      {

      "disable-sampling":"false",

      "enable-explains":"false"

      }

   6. Click Observe Database to continue.

7. The database plugin status and the other information you entered in the wizard is displayed on the Review tab.

   1. If your plugin deployment was unsuccessful, check the Agent status you entered in the wizard, and verify your database credentials. Click Test Connection to refresh your plugin connection.

   2. If your plugin deployment was successful, your database instance is being monitored with SolarWinds Observability.

   3. Click Close to exit the wizard.

To view data collected for the newly configured entity in the Entity Explorer, click the name of the Database Instance in the confirmation dialog in the lower-left corner. It may take a few seconds for data to appear for the newly created entity. See Entity Explorer for details.

See Entities in SolarWinds Observability SaaS for an overview of Database Instance entities and how they work in SolarWinds Observability SaaS.