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

# PostgreSQL integration for Grafana Cloud

PostgreSQL is a free and open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) emphasizing extensibility and SQL compliance.

This integration provides infrastructure-level observability: connections, replication, cache, locks, and table-level metrics. For query-level insights about slow queries, wait events, and execution plans, see [Database Observability](/a/grafana-dbo11y-app/), Grafana’s dedicated product for database performance analysis.

This integration includes 19 useful alerts and 4 pre-built dashboards to help monitor and visualize PostgreSQL metrics and logs.

## Before you begin

The PostgreSQL user is required to gather metrics. While you can use `root` user for testing, we strongly advise that you configure a separate user for Grafana Alloy, and give it only the strictly mandatory security privileges necessary for monitoring your node, as per the [official documentation](https://github.com/prometheus-community/postgres_exporter#running-as-non-superuser).

The provided Alloy configuration enables the following postgres\_exporter collectors to support all dashboards and alerts:

- `database` — per-database sizes and statistics
- `locks` — lock counts by mode
- `long_running_transactions` — long-running transaction detection
- `postmaster` — server uptime via postmaster start time
- `replication` — replication lag and slot status
- `stat_bgwriter` — background writer and checkpoint activity
- `stat_database` — per-database throughput and cache statistics
- `stat_statements` — query performance analysis (requires `pg_stat_statements` extension)
- `stat_user_tables` — table-level vacuum, analyze, and bloat statistics
- `statio_user_indexes` — index block read/hit statistics

**Query performance dashboard** (`stat_statements` collector) requires the `pg_stat_statements` extension to be enabled in PostgreSQL:

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

```sql
-- In postgresql.conf:
shared_preload_libraries = 'pg_stat_statements'

-- After restarting PostgreSQL, run once per database:
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS pg_stat_statements;
```

The filtered metrics variant omits `stat_statements` to reduce cardinality when query analysis is not needed.

If you want to collect logs from your PostgreSQL nodes, please check the [official documentation](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-logging.html) since it only writes logs to stderr by default.

## Install PostgreSQL integration for Grafana Cloud

1. In your Grafana Cloud stack, click **Connections** in the left-hand menu.
2. Find **PostgreSQL** and click its tile to open the integration.
3. Review the prerequisites in the **Configuration Details** tab and set up Grafana Alloy to send PostgreSQL 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 PostgreSQL setup.

## Configuration snippets for Grafana Alloy

### Simple mode

These snippets are configured to scrape a single PostgreSQL node running locally with default ports.

**Manually** copy and append the following snippets into your Grafana Alloy configuration file.

### Integrations snippets

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

```alloy
prometheus.exporter.postgres "integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    data_source_names    = ["postgresql://localhost:5432/postgres"]
    enabled_collectors   = ["database", "locks", "long_running_transactions", "postmaster", "replication", "stat_bgwriter", "stat_database", "stat_statements", "stat_user_tables", "statio_user_indexes"]
}
discovery.relabel "integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    targets = prometheus.exporter.postgres.integrations_postgres_exporter.targets

    rule {
        target_label = "instance"
        replacement  = constants.hostname
    }
    rule {
        target_label = "job"
        replacement  = "integrations/postgres_exporter"
    }
}
prometheus.scrape "integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    targets    = discovery.relabel.integrations_postgres_exporter.output
    forward_to = [prometheus.remote_write.metrics_service.receiver]
    job_name   = "integrations/postgres_exporter"
}
```

### Logs snippets

#### darwin

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

```alloy
local.file_match "logs_integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    path_targets = [{
        __address__ = "localhost",
        __path__    = "/var/log/postgresql/postgres.log",
        instance    = constants.hostname,
        job         = "integrations/postgres_exporter",
    }]
}
loki.source.file "logs_integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_postgres_exporter.targets
    forward_to = [loki.write.grafana_cloud_loki.receiver]
}
```

#### linux

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

```alloy
local.file_match "logs_integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    path_targets = [{
        __address__ = "localhost",
        __path__    = "/var/log/postgresql/postgres.log",
        instance    = constants.hostname,
        job         = "integrations/postgres_exporter",
    }]
}
loki.source.file "logs_integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_postgres_exporter.targets
    forward_to = [loki.write.grafana_cloud_loki.receiver]
}
```

#### windows

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

```alloy
local.file_match "logs_integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    path_targets = [{
        __address__ = "localhost",
        __path__    = "C:\\Program Files\\PostgreSQL\\*\\data\\pg_log",
        instance    = constants.hostname,
        job         = "integrations/postgres_exporter",
    }]
}
loki.source.file "logs_integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_postgres_exporter.targets
    forward_to = [loki.write.grafana_cloud_loki.receiver]
}
```

### Advanced mode

To instruct Grafana Alloy to scrape your PostgreSQL nodes, go though the subsequent instructions.

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

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

Then follow the instructions below to modify the necessary variables.

### Advanced integrations snippets

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

```alloy
prometheus.exporter.postgres "integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    data_source_names    = ["postgresql://localhost:5432/postgres"]
    enabled_collectors   = ["database", "locks", "long_running_transactions", "postmaster", "replication", "stat_bgwriter", "stat_database", "stat_statements", "stat_user_tables", "statio_user_indexes"]
}
discovery.relabel "integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    targets = prometheus.exporter.postgres.integrations_postgres_exporter.targets

    rule {
        target_label = "instance"
        replacement  = constants.hostname
    }
    rule {
        target_label = "job"
        replacement  = "integrations/postgres_exporter"
    }
}
prometheus.scrape "integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    targets    = discovery.relabel.integrations_postgres_exporter.output
    forward_to = [prometheus.remote_write.metrics_service.receiver]
    job_name   = "integrations/postgres_exporter"
}
```

Add a [prometheus.exporter.postgres](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/prometheus.exporter.postgres/), [discovery.relabel](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/discovery.relabel), and [prometheus.scrape](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/prometheus.scrape) to your Grafana Alloy configuration to monitor a PostgreSQL instance.

Make sure to change the `data_source_names` to the connection string for the PostgreSQL server you want to monitor.

The `enabled_collectors` list activates the specific collectors required to populate all dashboards and alerts. The `stat_statements` collector requires the `pg_stat_statements` extension — see the prerequisites above for setup instructions.

For ease of use, the provided snippet sets the `instance` label to the hostname using the `constants.hostname` Alloy constant. If you are scraping from a remote Alloy instance, change it to a value that identifies the target host.

Refer to the linked documentation for the full array of options.

### Advanced logs snippets

#### darwin

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

```alloy
local.file_match "logs_integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    path_targets = [{
        __address__ = "localhost",
        __path__    = "/var/log/postgresql/postgres.log",
        instance    = constants.hostname,
        job         = "integrations/postgres_exporter",
    }]
}
loki.source.file "logs_integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_postgres_exporter.targets
    forward_to = [loki.write.grafana_cloud_loki.receiver]
}
```

To collect logs from unix-like systems, you need a pair of [`loki.source.file`](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/loki.source.file/), and [`local.file_match`](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/local.file_match/) components.

The provided snippet is pre-configured with the default log write location for unix-like OS environments.

If you wish to capture other log files, you must add new maps to the `path_targets` list parameter of the `local.file_match` component, and include it in the `targets` list of `loki.source.file` component. Make sure that the new entry has the same instance and job labels, so it is matched to the correct instance to be shown in the Logs dashboard.

The log write location depends on your [PostgreSQL configuration](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-logging.html#GUC-LOG-DESTINATION), make sure to configure `__path__` within `local.file_match` accordingly.

#### linux

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

```alloy
local.file_match "logs_integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    path_targets = [{
        __address__ = "localhost",
        __path__    = "/var/log/postgresql/postgres.log",
        instance    = constants.hostname,
        job         = "integrations/postgres_exporter",
    }]
}
loki.source.file "logs_integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_postgres_exporter.targets
    forward_to = [loki.write.grafana_cloud_loki.receiver]
}
```

To collect logs from unix-like systems, you need a pair of [`loki.source.file`](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/loki.source.file/), and [`local.file_match`](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/local.file_match/) components.

The provided snippet is pre-configured with the default log write location for unix-like OS environments.

If you wish to capture other log files, you must add new maps to the `path_targets` list parameter of the `local.file_match` component, and include it in the `targets` list of `loki.source.file` component. Make sure that the new entry has the same instance and job labels, so it is matched to the correct instance to be shown in the Logs dashboard.

The log write location depends on your [PostgreSQL configuration](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-logging.html#GUC-LOG-DESTINATION), make sure to configure `__path__` within `local.file_match` accordingly.

#### windows

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

```alloy
local.file_match "logs_integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    path_targets = [{
        __address__ = "localhost",
        __path__    = "C:\\Program Files\\PostgreSQL\\*\\data\\pg_log",
        instance    = constants.hostname,
        job         = "integrations/postgres_exporter",
    }]
}
loki.source.file "logs_integrations_postgres_exporter" {
    targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_postgres_exporter.targets
    forward_to = [loki.write.grafana_cloud_loki.receiver]
}
```

To collect logs from Windows systems, you need a pair of [`loki.source.file`](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/loki.source.file/), and [`local.file_match`](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/local.file_match/) components.

The provided snippet is pre-configured with the default log write location for Windows OS environments.

If you wish to capture other log files, you must add new maps to the `path_targets` list parameter of the `local.file_match` component, and include it in the `targets` list of `loki.source.file` component. Make sure that the new entry has the same instance and job labels, so it is matched to the correct instance to be shown in the Logs dashboard.

The log write location depends on your [PostgreSQL configuration](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-logging.html#GUC-LOG-DESTINATION), make sure to configure `__path__` within `local.file_match` accordingly.

You can also configure your PostgreSQL nodes to [write logs to eventlog](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-logging.html#GUC-LOG-DESTINATION), in which case you will need to use the [`loki.source.windowsevent`](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/loki.source.windowsevent/) component instead of `local.file_match` and `loki.source.file`.

## 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)

The PostgreSQL user is required to gather metrics. While you can use `root` user for testing, we strongly advise that you configure a separate user for Grafana Alloy, and give it only the strictly mandatory security privileges necessary for monitoring your node, as per the [official documentation](https://github.com/prometheus-community/postgres_exporter#running-as-non-superuser).

If you want to collect logs from your PostgreSQL nodes, please check the [official documentation](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-logging.html) since it only writes logs to stderr by default.

### Configuration snippets for Kubernetes Helm chart

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

To scrape your Postgres 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
# Replace any values between the angle brackets '<>', with your desired configuration
alloy-metrics:
    extraConfig: |-
        prometheus.exporter.postgres "postgres" {
            data_source_names = ["postgresql://<username>:<password>@<your_postgres_instance_name>:5432/postgres"]
        }
        
        prometheus.scrape "postgres" {
        targets      = prometheus.exporter.postgres.postgres.targets
        job_name     = "integrations/postgres_exporter"
        forward_to   = [prometheus.relabel.postgres.receiver]
        }
        
        prometheus.relabel "postgres" {
            rule {
                replacement = "<your_postgres_instance_name>"
                target_label = "instance"
            }
            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
# Replace any values between the angle brackets '<>', with your desired configuration
podLogs:
    extraDiscoveryRules: |-
        rule {
            source_labels = ["__meta_kubernetes_namespace", "__meta_kubernetes_pod_label_<your_postgres_selector_labelname>"]
            separator     = ":"
            regex         = "<your_postgres_namespace>:<your_postgres_selector_labelvalue>"
            replacement   = "postgres"
            target_label  = "integration"
        }

        rule {
            source_labels = ["integration"]
            regex = "postgres"
            replacement = "<your_postgres_instance_name>"
            target_label = "instance"
        }

        rule {
            source_labels = ["integration"]
            regex = "postgres"
            replacement = "integrations/postgres_exporter"
            target_label = "job"
        }   
```

## Dashboards

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

- PostgreSQL cluster overview
- PostgreSQL instance overview
- PostgreSQL logs
- PostgreSQL query performance

**PostgreSQL overview dashboard**

**PostgreSQL logs dashboard**

## Alerts

The PostgreSQL integration includes the following useful alerts:

Expand table

| Alert                               | Description                                                        |
|-------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| PostgreSQLDown                      | Critical: PostgreSQL is down.                                      |
| PostgreSQLHighConnectionUsage       | Warning: PostgreSQL connection usage is high.                      |
| PostgreSQLLowCacheHitRatio          | Warning: PostgreSQL cache hit ratio is low.                        |
| PostgreSQLReplicationLag            | Warning: PostgreSQL replication lag is high.                       |
| PostgreSQLDeadlocks                 | Warning: PostgreSQL deadlocks detected.                            |
| PostgreSQLLongRunningQuery          | Warning: PostgreSQL has long-running query.                        |
| PostgreSQLBlockedQueries            | Warning: PostgreSQL has blocked queries.                           |
| PostgreSQLWALArchiveFailure         | Critical: PostgreSQL WAL archiving is failing.                     |
| PostgreSQLHighDeadTuples            | Warning: PostgreSQL table needs vacuum.                            |
| PostgreSQLVacuumNotRunning          | Warning: PostgreSQL table has not been vacuumed.                   |
| PostgreSQLTooManyRollbacks          | Warning: PostgreSQL has too many rollbacks.                        |
| PostgreSQLTooManyLocksAcquired      | Warning: PostgreSQL has acquired too many locks.                   |
| PostgreSQLInactiveReplicationSlot   | Critical: PostgreSQL has inactive replication slot.                |
| PostgreSQLReplicationRoleChanged    | Warning: PostgreSQL replication role changed.                      |
| PostgreSQLExporterErrors            | Critical: PostgreSQL exporter has errors.                          |
| PostgreSQLHighQps                   | Warning: PostgreSQL has high QPS.                                  |
| PostgreSQLReplicationLagCritical    | Critical: PostgreSQL replication lag exceeds 1 hour.               |
| PostgreSQLHighConnections           | Warning: Postgres connections count is over 80% of maximum amount. |
| PostgresTooManyCheckpointsRequested | Warning: PostgreSQL too many checkpoints requested.                |

## Metrics

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

- pg\_database\_size\_bytes
- pg\_exporter\_last\_scrape\_error
- pg\_locks\_count
- pg\_long\_running\_transactions
- pg\_postmaster\_start\_time\_seconds
- pg\_replication\_is\_replica
- pg\_replication\_lag
- pg\_replication\_lag\_seconds
- pg\_settings\_block\_size
- pg\_settings\_max\_connections
- pg\_settings\_max\_locks\_per\_transaction
- pg\_settings\_superuser\_reserved\_connections
- pg\_stat\_activity\_count
- pg\_stat\_activity\_max\_tx\_duration
- pg\_stat\_archiver\_failed\_count
- pg\_stat\_bgwriter\_buffers\_alloc\_total
- pg\_stat\_bgwriter\_buffers\_clean\_total
- pg\_stat\_bgwriter\_checkpoints\_req\_total
- pg\_stat\_bgwriter\_checkpoints\_timed\_total
- pg\_stat\_bgwriter\_maxwritten\_clean\_total
- pg\_stat\_database\_blks\_hit
- pg\_stat\_database\_blks\_read
- pg\_stat\_database\_conflicts
- pg\_stat\_database\_deadlocks
- pg\_stat\_database\_numbackends
- pg\_stat\_database\_temp\_bytes
- pg\_stat\_database\_tup\_deleted
- pg\_stat\_database\_tup\_fetched
- pg\_stat\_database\_tup\_inserted
- pg\_stat\_database\_tup\_updated
- pg\_stat\_database\_xact\_commit
- pg\_stat\_database\_xact\_rollback
- pg\_stat\_replication\_pg\_current\_wal\_lsn\_bytes
- pg\_stat\_replication\_pg\_wal\_lsn\_diff
- pg\_stat\_statements\_calls\_total
- pg\_stat\_statements\_rows\_total
- pg\_stat\_statements\_seconds\_total
- pg\_stat\_user\_tables\_idx\_scan
- pg\_stat\_user\_tables\_last\_autoanalyze
- pg\_stat\_user\_tables\_last\_autovacuum
- pg\_stat\_user\_tables\_n\_dead\_tup
- pg\_stat\_user\_tables\_n\_live\_tup
- pg\_stat\_user\_tables\_seq\_scan
- pg\_statio\_user\_indexes\_idx\_blks\_hit\_total
- pg\_statio\_user\_indexes\_idx\_blks\_read\_total
- pg\_up
- process\_cpu\_seconds\_total
- process\_resident\_memory\_bytes
- process\_virtual\_memory\_bytes
- up

## Changelog

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

```md
# 1.1.1 - November 2024

- Update status panel check queries

# 1.1.0 - August 2024

* Add asserts support
* Update mixin

# 1.0.4 - May 2024

* Update mixin to accommodate pg_stat_bgwriter counter metrics name changes. Updated in Grafana Alloy and Grafana Agent v0.40.5.

# 1.0.3 - September 2023

* New Filter Metrics option for configuring the Grafana Agent, which saves on metrics cost by dropping any metric not used by this integration. Beware that anything custom built using metrics that are not on the snippet will stop working.
* New hostname relabel option, which applies the instance name you write on the text box to the Grafana Agent configuration snippets, making it easier and less error prone to configure this mandatory label.

# 1.0.2 - August 2023

* Add regex filter for logs datasource

# 1.0.1 - August 2023

* Fix typo in agent instructions

# 1.0.0 - August 2023

* Add K8s support
* Add Logs dashboard
* Support cluster/multicluster visualization
* New Filter Metrics option for configuring the Grafana Agent, which saves on metrics cost by dropping any metric not used by this integration. Beware that anything custom built using metrics that are not on the snippet will stop working.
* New hostname relabel option, which applies the instance name you write on the text box to the Grafana Agent configuration snippets, making it easier and less error prone to configure this mandatory label.

# 0.0.4 - April 2023

* Fix cache hit ratio panel
* Use psql specific metric pg_up to avoid return of postgres unrelated instances
* Change panels to timeseries
* Move QPS to left and remove transparency for common style
* Fix conflict/deadlock metrics

# 0.0.3 - May 2022

* Use `$job` template variable in selectors for all queries
* Reorder template variables in dashboard UI
* Enable multi-select for job and instance template variables
* Filter instance template variable query by selected value(s) for job template variable

# 0.0.2 - October 2021

* Update all rate queries to use `$__rate_interval`

# 0.0.1 - December 2020

* Initial release
```

## Cost

By connecting your PostgreSQL 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/).