Verify that your PostgreSQL database, Grafana Cloud account, and Alloy installation meet the requirements for Database Observability.
Estimated time: 2 min
Check requirements
Before starting the setup, verify that your environment meets the requirements for Database Observability. Getting these right upfront prevents troubleshooting later.
Grafana Cloud requirements
Requirement
Details
Account
Grafana Cloud account with Editor or Admin role
Database Observability
Activated in your Grafana Cloud stack. Go to Databases in the navigation menu to activate it.
Stack
Access to Grafana Cloud Mimir (metrics) and Grafana Cloud Loki (logs) data sources
Permissions
Ability to view and create dashboards
PostgreSQL requirements
Requirement
Details
Version
PostgreSQL 14.0 or later
pg_stat_statements
Extension must be enabled (requires adding to shared_preload_libraries)
Connection
Alloy must connect directly to the database host — avoid load balancers or connection poolers like PgBouncer
Monitoring user
User with pg_monitor and pg_read_all_stats roles
Grafana Alloy requirements
Requirement
Details
Version
Grafana Alloy 1.15.0 or later
Network
Outbound access to Grafana Cloud endpoints
Database access
Network connectivity to your PostgreSQL instance
Checklist
Before proceeding, verify:
Grafana Cloud account is active with appropriate permissions
Database Observability is activated in your Grafana Cloud stack
PostgreSQL version is 14.0 or later
Network connectivity exists between the Alloy host and your PostgreSQL database
Network connectivity exists between the Alloy host and Grafana Cloud
You have administrative access to create a PostgreSQL monitoring user
Alloy connects directly to the database, not through a load balancer or PgBouncer
In the next milestone, you’ll prepare your PostgreSQL database for monitoring.
