---
title: "PgBouncer integration | Grafana Cloud documentation"
description: "Learn about PgBouncer Grafana Cloud integration."
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

# PgBouncer integration for Grafana Cloud

PgBouncer is a lightweight connection pooler for PostgreSQL databases. It reduces the processing time and resources required by managing a pool of connections to the database server, allowing applications to share a limited number of connections more efficiently.

This integration includes 4 useful alerts and 3 pre-built dashboards to help monitor and visualize PgBouncer metrics and logs.

## Before you begin

#### PgBouncer

For the exporter to work with PgBouncer, the `pgbouncer.ini` config file needs to have the additional line `ignore_startup_parameters = extra_float_digits` appended to it. Once this additional line is added, the PgBouncer service must be restarted to take effect.

#### PgBouncer Prometheus exporter

This integration supports metrics and logs from a PgBouncer instance. It is configured to work with the [PgBouncer Prometheus Exporter](https://github.com/prometheus-community/pgbouncer_exporter), which must be installed and configured separately from Grafana Alloy.

The exporter must be built before running using `make build`. The exporter itself can then be run using `./pgbouncer_exporter`. The exporter can be tested by checking the default metrics endpoint of `http://localhost:9127/metrics`.

#### PgBouncer logs

PgBouncer does not send logs to a file by default, the user must enable this by adding an additional setting in the `pgbouncer.ini` file. An example configuration may look like this: `logfile = /var/log/postgresql/pgbouncer.log`.

The path to the log file that is customized in `pgbouncer.ini` must be the same as the path to the logs that is set in the Alloy config.

## Install PgBouncer integration for Grafana Cloud

1. In your Grafana Cloud stack, click **Connections** in the left-hand menu.
2. Find **PgBouncer** and click its tile to open the integration.
3. Review the prerequisites in the **Configuration Details** tab and set up Grafana Alloy to send PgBouncer metrics and logs to your Grafana Cloud instance.
4. Click **Install** to add this integration’s pre-built dashboards and alerts to your Grafana Cloud instance, and you can start monitoring your PgBouncer setup.

## Configuration snippets for Grafana Alloy

### Simple mode

These snippets are configured to scrape a single PgBouncer instance running locally with default ports.

First, **manually** copy and append the following snippets into your alloy configuration file.

### Logs snippets

#### darwin

Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```alloy
local.file_match "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	path_targets = [{
		__address__       = "localhost",
		__path__          = "<path-to-user-set-pgbouncer-log>/pgbouncer.log",
		instance          = "<your-instance-name>:9127",
		job               = "integrations/pgbouncer",
		pgbouncer_cluster = "<your-pgbouncer-cluster-name>",
	}]
}

loki.process "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	forward_to = []

	stage.multiline {
		firstline     = "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3}"
		max_lines     = 0
		max_wait_time = "3s"
	}

	stage.regex {
		expression = "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3} \\w+ \\[\\d+\\] (?P<level>LOG|ERROR|WARNING|INFO|DEBUG) .*"
	}

	stage.labels {
		values = {
			level = null,
		}
	}
}

loki.source.file "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer.targets
	forward_to = [loki.process.logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer.receiver]
}
```

#### linux

Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```alloy
local.file_match "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	path_targets = [{
		__address__       = "localhost",
		__path__          = "<path-to-user-set-pgbouncer-log>/pgbouncer.log",
		instance          = "<your-instance-name>:9127",
		job               = "integrations/pgbouncer",
		pgbouncer_cluster = "<your-pgbouncer-cluster-name>",
	}]
}

loki.process "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	forward_to = []

	stage.multiline {
		firstline     = "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3}"
		max_lines     = 0
		max_wait_time = "3s"
	}

	stage.regex {
		expression = "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3} \\w+ \\[\\d+\\] (?P<level>LOG|ERROR|WARNING|INFO|DEBUG) .*"
	}

	stage.labels {
		values = {
			level = null,
		}
	}
}

loki.source.file "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer.targets
	forward_to = [loki.process.logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer.receiver]
}
```

#### windows

Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```alloy
local.file_match "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	path_targets = [{
		__address__       = "localhost",
		__path__          = "<path-to-user-set-pgbouncer-log>/pgbouncer.log",
		instance          = "<your-instance-name>:9127",
		job               = "integrations/pgbouncer",
		pgbouncer_cluster = "<your-pgbouncer-cluster-name>",
	}]
}

loki.process "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	forward_to = []

	stage.multiline {
		firstline     = "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3}"
		max_lines     = 0
		max_wait_time = "3s"
	}

	stage.regex {
		expression = "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3} \\w+ \\[\\d+\\] (?P<level>LOG|ERROR|WARNING|INFO|DEBUG) .*"
	}

	stage.labels {
		values = {
			level = null,
		}
	}
}

loki.source.file "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer.targets
	forward_to = [loki.process.logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer.receiver]
}
```

### Advanced mode

The following snippets provide examples to guide you through the configuration process.

To instruct Grafana Alloy to scrape your PgBouncer instances, **manually** copy and append the snippets to your alloy configuration file, then follow subsequent instructions.

### Advanced metrics snippets

Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```alloy
prometheus.scrape "metrics_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	targets = [{
		__address__       = "constants.hostname:9127",
		pgbouncer_cluster = "<your-pgbouncer-cluster-name>",
	}]
	forward_to = [prometheus.remote_write.metrics_service.receiver]
	job_name   = "integrations/pgbouncer"
}
```

To monitor your PgBouncer instance, you must use a [discovery.relabel](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/discovery.relabel/) component to discover your PgBouncer Prometheus endpoint and apply appropriate labels, followed by a [prometheus.scrape](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/prometheus.scrape) component to scrape it.

Configure the following properties within each `discovery.relabel` component:

- `__address__`: The address to your PgBouncer Prometheus metrics endpoint.
- `instance` label: `constants.hostname` sets the `instance` label to your Grafana Alloy server hostname. If that is not suitable, change it to a value uniquely identifies this PgBouncer instance. Make sure this label value is the same for all telemetry data collected for this instance.

If you have multiple PgBouncer servers to scrape, configure one `discovery.relabel` for each and scrape them by including each under `targets` within the `prometheus.scrape` component.

### Advanced logs snippets

#### darwin

Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```alloy
local.file_match "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	path_targets = [{
		__address__       = "localhost",
		__path__          = "<path-to-user-set-pgbouncer-log>/pgbouncer.log",
		instance          = "<your-instance-name>:9127",
		job               = "integrations/pgbouncer",
		pgbouncer_cluster = "<your-pgbouncer-cluster-name>",
	}]
}

loki.process "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	forward_to = []

	stage.multiline {
		firstline     = "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3}"
		max_lines     = 0
		max_wait_time = "3s"
	}

	stage.regex {
		expression = "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3} \\w+ \\[\\d+\\] (?P<level>LOG|ERROR|WARNING|INFO|DEBUG) .*"
	}

	stage.labels {
		values = {
			level = null,
		}
	}
}

loki.source.file "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer.targets
	forward_to = [loki.process.logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer.receiver]
}
```

To monitor your PgBouncer instance logs, you will use a combination of the following components:

- [local.file\_match](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/local.file_match) defines where to find the log file to be scraped. Change the following properties according to your environment:
  
  - `__address__`: The PgBouncer instance address
  - `__path__`: The path to the log file.
  - `instance` label: `constants.hostname` sets the `instance` label to your Grafana Alloy server hostname. If that is not suitable, change it to a value uniquely identifies this PgBouncer instance. Make sure this label value is the same for all telemetry data collected for this instance.
- [loki.process](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/loki.process) defines how to process logs before sending it to Loki.
- [loki.source.file](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/loki.source.file) sends logs to Loki.

#### linux

Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```alloy
local.file_match "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	path_targets = [{
		__address__       = "localhost",
		__path__          = "<path-to-user-set-pgbouncer-log>/pgbouncer.log",
		instance          = "<your-instance-name>:9127",
		job               = "integrations/pgbouncer",
		pgbouncer_cluster = "<your-pgbouncer-cluster-name>",
	}]
}

loki.process "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	forward_to = []

	stage.multiline {
		firstline     = "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3}"
		max_lines     = 0
		max_wait_time = "3s"
	}

	stage.regex {
		expression = "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3} \\w+ \\[\\d+\\] (?P<level>LOG|ERROR|WARNING|INFO|DEBUG) .*"
	}

	stage.labels {
		values = {
			level = null,
		}
	}
}

loki.source.file "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer.targets
	forward_to = [loki.process.logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer.receiver]
}
```

To monitor your PgBouncer instance logs, you will use a combination of the following components:

- [local.file\_match](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/local.file_match) defines where to find the log file to be scraped. Change the following properties according to your environment:
  
  - `__address__`: The PgBouncer instance address
  - `__path__`: The path to the log file.
  - `instance` label: `constants.hostname` sets the `instance` label to your Grafana Alloy server hostname. If that is not suitable, change it to a value uniquely identifies this PgBouncer instance. Make sure this label value is the same for all telemetry data collected for this instance.
- [loki.process](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/loki.process) defines how to process logs before sending it to Loki.
- [loki.source.file](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/loki.source.file) sends logs to Loki.

#### windows

Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```alloy
local.file_match "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	path_targets = [{
		__address__       = "localhost",
		__path__          = "<path-to-user-set-pgbouncer-log>/pgbouncer.log",
		instance          = "<your-instance-name>:9127",
		job               = "integrations/pgbouncer",
		pgbouncer_cluster = "<your-pgbouncer-cluster-name>",
	}]
}

loki.process "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	forward_to = []

	stage.multiline {
		firstline     = "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3}"
		max_lines     = 0
		max_wait_time = "3s"
	}

	stage.regex {
		expression = "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3} \\w+ \\[\\d+\\] (?P<level>LOG|ERROR|WARNING|INFO|DEBUG) .*"
	}

	stage.labels {
		values = {
			level = null,
		}
	}
}

loki.source.file "logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer" {
	targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer.targets
	forward_to = [loki.process.logs_integrations_integrations_pgbouncer.receiver]
}
```

To monitor your PgBouncer instance logs, you will use a combination of the following components:

- [local.file\_match](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/local.file_match) defines where to find the log file to be scraped. Change the following properties according to your environment:
  
  - `__address__`: The PgBouncer instance address
  - `__path__`: The path to the log file.
  - `instance` label: `constants.hostname` sets the `instance` label to your Grafana Alloy server hostname. If that is not suitable, change it to a value uniquely identifies this PgBouncer instance. Make sure this label value is the same for all telemetry data collected for this instance.
- [loki.process](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/loki.process) defines how to process logs before sending it to Loki.
- [loki.source.file](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/loki.source.file) sends logs to Loki.

## Kubernetes instructions

Instructions for Kubernetes

### Before you begin with Kubernetes

**Please note**: These instructions assume the use of the [Kubernetes Monitoring Helm chart](https://github.com/grafana/k8s-monitoring-helm)

For the exporter to work with PgBouncer, the `pgbouncer.ini` config file needs to have the additional line `ignore_startup_parameters = extra_float_digits` appended to it. Once this additional line is added, the PgBouncer service must be restarted to take effect.

#### PgBouncer Prometheus exporter

This integration supports metrics and logs from a PgBouncer instance. It is configured to work with the [PgBouncer Prometheus Exporter](https://github.com/prometheus-community/pgbouncer_exporter), which must be built and deployed with the PgBouncer pods.

The exporter must be built before running using `make build`. The exporter itself can then be run using `./pgbouncer_exporter`. The exporter can be tested by checking the default metrics endpoint of `http://localhost:9127/metrics`.

#### PgBouncer logs

PgBouncer does not send logs to a file by default, the user must enable this by adding an additional setting in the `pgbouncer.ini` file. An example configuration may look like this: `logfile = /var/log/postgresql/pgbouncer.log`.

The path to the log file that is customized in `pgbouncer.ini` must be the same as the path to the logs that is set in the agent config.

### Configuration snippets for Kubernetes Helm chart

The following snippets provide examples to guide you through the configuration process.

To scrape your PgBouncer instances, **manually** modify your Kubernetes Monitoring Helm chart with these configuration snippets.

Replace any values between the angle brackets `<>` in the provided snippets with your desired configuration values.

#### Metrics snippets

Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```alloy
alloy-metrics:
    extraConfig: |-
        discovery.kubernetes "pgbouncer" {
            role = "pod"
            selectors {
                role = "pod"
                label = "app.kubernetes.io/name=pgbouncer"
            }
        }

        discovery.relabel "pgbouncer" {
        targets = discovery.kubernetes.pgbouncer.targets
            rule {
                source_labels = ["__meta_kubernetes_pod_container_port_number"]
                regex = "<pgbouncer_prometheus_port_number>"
                action = "keep"
            }
            rule {
                target_label = "pgbouncer_cluster"
                replacement = "<pgbouncer_cluster_label>"
            }
            rule {
                source_labels = ["__meta_kubernetes_namespace", "__meta_kubernetes_pod_container_name"]
                separator = "-"
                target_label = "instance"
            }
        }

        prometheus.scrape "pgbouncer" {
            targets      = discovery.relabel.pgbouncer.output
            metrics_path = "/metrics"
            job_name     = "integrations/pgbouncer"
            forward_to   = [prometheus.remote_write.grafana_cloud_metrics.receiver]
        }
```

#### Logs snippets

Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```alloy
podLogs:
    extraDiscoveryRules: |-
        rule {
            source_labels = ["__meta_kubernetes_pod_label_app_kubernetes_io_name"]
            regex         = "pgbouncer"
            replacement   = "pgbouncer"
            target_label  = "integration"
        }

    extraLogProcessingStages: |-
        stage.match {
            selector = "{integration=\\"pgbouncer\\"}"

            stage.drop {
                expression = "^ts"
            }
            stage.multiline {
                firstline = \`\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3}\`
            }
            stage.regex {
                expression = \`\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}\\.\\d{3} \\w+ \\[\\d+\\] (?P<level>LOG|ERROR|WARNING|INFO|DEBUG) .*\`
            }
            stage.template {
                source   = "instance"
                template = "{{ .namespace }}-{{ .container }}"
            }
            stage.labels {
                values = {
                    level  = "",
                }
            }
            stage.static_labels {
                values = {
                    job = "integrations/pgbouncer",
                }
            }
        }
```

## Dashboards

The PgBouncer integration installs the following dashboards in your Grafana Cloud instance to help monitor your system.

- PgBouncer cluster overview
- PgBouncer logs
- PgBouncer overview

**PgBouncer cluster overview**

**PgBouncer overview**

**PgBouncer overview (transaction)**

## Alerts

The PgBouncer integration includes the following useful alerts:

Expand table

| Alert                                           | Description                                                                                                                              |
|-------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| PGBouncerHighNumberClientWaitingConnections     | Warning: May indicate a bottleneck in connection pooling where too many clients are waiting for available server connections.            |
| PGBouncerHighClientWaitTime                     | Warning: Clients are experiencing significant delays, which could indicate issues with connection pool saturation or server performance. |
| PGBouncerHighServerConnectionSaturationWarning  | Warning: PGBouncer is nearing user connection capacity.                                                                                  |
| PGBouncerHighServerConnectionSaturationCritical | Critical: PGBouncer is nearing critical levels of user connection capacity.                                                              |

## Metrics

The most important metrics provided by the PgBouncer integration, which are used on the pre-built dashboards and Prometheus alerts, are as follows:

- pgbouncer\_config\_max\_client\_connections
- pgbouncer\_config\_max\_user\_connections
- pgbouncer\_databases\_current\_connections
- pgbouncer\_databases\_max\_connections
- pgbouncer\_pools\_client\_active\_connections
- pgbouncer\_pools\_client\_maxwait\_seconds
- pgbouncer\_pools\_client\_waiting\_connections
- pgbouncer\_pools\_server\_active\_connections
- pgbouncer\_pools\_server\_idle\_connections
- pgbouncer\_pools\_server\_login\_connections
- pgbouncer\_pools\_server\_testing\_connections
- pgbouncer\_pools\_server\_used\_connections
- pgbouncer\_stats\_queries\_duration\_seconds\_total
- pgbouncer\_stats\_queries\_pooled\_total
- pgbouncer\_stats\_received\_bytes\_total
- pgbouncer\_stats\_sent\_bytes\_total
- pgbouncer\_stats\_server\_in\_transaction\_seconds\_total
- pgbouncer\_stats\_sql\_transactions\_pooled\_total
- up

## Changelog

md ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```md
# 1.0.1 - November 2024

- Update status panel check queries

# 1.0.0 - March 2024

- Initial release
```

## Cost

By connecting your PgBouncer instance to Grafana Cloud, you might incur charges. To view information on the number of active series that your Grafana Cloud account uses for metrics included in each Cloud tier, see [Active series and dpm usage](/docs/grafana-cloud/fundamentals/active-series-and-dpm/) and [Cloud tier pricing](/products/cloud/pricing/).