Install PostgreSQL dashboards and alerts

In this milestone, you install the pre-built PostgreSQL dashboards and alert rules that come with the integration. These provide immediate visibility into your PostgreSQL database performance and automated notifications for critical issues.

The PostgreSQL integration includes 2 pre-built dashboards and 15 useful alert rules that cover essential monitoring scenarios such as database connectivity, cache performance, connection handling, and replication status.

To install the PostgreSQL dashboards and alerts, complete the following steps:

1. On the PostgreSQL integration page in Grafana Cloud, scroll to the Install dashboards and alerts section.

2. Click the Install button to add the pre-built dashboards and alerts to your Grafana Cloud instance.

3. Wait for the installation to complete.

   You’ll see a confirmation message when the dashboards and alerts are successfully installed.

4. Navigate to Dashboards in your Grafana Cloud instance to view the installed PostgreSQL dashboards:

   • Postgres Overview: Overview dashboard with key performance metrics
   • PostgreSQL logs: Log analysis dashboard for troubleshooting

5. Navigate to Alerting > Alert rules to view the installed PostgreSQL alert rules.

6. Review the alert rules to understand what conditions trigger notifications:

   • PostgreSQLCacheHitRatio: Warning when PostgreSQL has low cache hit rate
   • PostgreSQLDown: Warning when PostgreSQL is not processing queries
   • PostgreSQLHighConnections: Warning when Postgres connections count is over 80% of maximum amount
   • PostgreSQLMaxConnectionsReached: Warning when Postgres connections count is over the maximum amount
   • PostgreSQLQPS: Warning when PostgreSQL has high number of queries per second
   • PostgreSQLSlowQueries: Warning when PostgreSQL has high number of slow queries
   • PostgresAcquiredTooManyLocks: Warning when PostgreSQL has high number of acquired locks
   • PostgresHasExporterErrors: Critical alert when PostgreSQL exporter errors are detected
   • PostgresHasHighDeadLocks: Warning when PostgreSQL has high number of deadlocks
   • PostgresHasReplicationSlotUsed: Critical alert when PostgreSQL has unused replication slots
   • PostgresHasTooManyRollbacks: Warning when PostgreSQL has too many rollbacks
   • PostgresReplicationLaggingMore1Hour: Warning when PostgreSQL replication is lagging more than 1 hour
   • PostgresReplicationRoleChanged: Warning when PostgreSQL replication role change is detected
   • PostgresTablesNotVaccumed: Critical alert when PostgreSQL tables are not vacuumed
   • PostgresTooManyCheckpointsRequested: Warning when PostgreSQL has too many checkpoints requested

The pre-built dashboards and alerts are configured and ready to monitor your PostgreSQL database. You can customize them to match your specific monitoring requirements.

In the next milestone, you explore the PostgreSQL dashboards to understand the monitoring insights they provide.