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Monitor CockroachDB metrics with Netdata

CockroachDB is an open-source project that brings SQL databases into scalable, disaster-resilient cloud deployments. Thanks to a new CockroachDB collector released in v1.20, you can now monitor any number of CockroachDB databases with maximum granularity using Netdata. Collect more than 50 unique metrics and put them on interactive visualizations designed for better visual anomaly detection.

Netdata itself uses CockroachDB as part of its Netdata Cloud infrastructure, so we're happy to introduce this new collector and help others get started with it straight away.

Let's dive in and walk through the process of monitoring CockroachDB metrics with Netdata.

What's in this guide​

Configure the CockroachDB collector​

Because all of Netdata's collectors can auto-detect the services they monitor, you shouldn't need to worry about configuring CockroachDB. Netdata only needs to regularly query the database's _status/vars page to gather metrics and display them on the dashboard.

If your CockroachDB instance is accessible through http://localhost:8080/ or http://127.0.0.1:8080, your setup is complete. Restart Netdata with sudo systemctl restart netdata, or the appropriate method for your system, and refresh your browser. You should see CockroachDB metrics in your Netdata dashboard!

CPU utilization charts from a CockroachDB database monitored by Netdata
CPU utilization charts from a CockroachDB database monitored by Netdata

Note: Netdata collects metrics from CockroachDB every 10 seconds, instead of our usual 1 second, because CockroachDB only updates _status/vars every 10 seconds. You can't change this setting in CockroachDB.

If you don't see CockroachDB charts, you may need to configure the collector manually.

Manual setup for a local CockroachDB database​

To configure Netdata's CockroachDB collector, navigate to your Netdata configuration directory (typically at /etc/netdata/) and use edit-config to initialize and edit your CockroachDB configuration file.

cd /etc/netdata/ # Replace with your Netdata configuration directory, if not /etc/netdata/
./edit-config go.d/cockroachdb.conf

Scroll down to the [JOBS] section at the bottom of the file. You will see the two default jobs there, which you can edit, or create a new job with any of the parameters listed above in the file. Both the name and url values are required, and everything else is optional.

For a production cluster, you'll use either an IP address or the system's hostname. Be sure that your remote system allows TCP communication on port 8080, or whichever port you have configured CockroachDB's Admin UI to listen on.

# [ JOBS ]
jobs:
  - name: remote
    url: http://203.0.113.0:8080/_status/vars

  - name: remote_hostname
    url: http://cockroachdb.example.com:8080/_status/vars

For a secure cluster, use https in the url field instead.

# [ JOBS ]
jobs:
  - name: remote
    url: https://203.0.113.0:8080/_status/vars
    tls_skip_verify: yes # If your certificate is self-signed
    
  - name: remote_hostname
    url: https://cockroachdb.example.com:8080/_status/vars
    tls_skip_verify: yes # If your certificate is self-signed

You can add as many jobs as you'd like based on how many CockroachDB databases you have—Netdata will create separate charts for each job. Once you've edited cockroachdb.conf according to the needs of your infrastructure, restart Netdata to see your new charts.

Charts showing a node failure during a simulated test
Charts showing a node failure during a simulated test

Tweak CockroachDB alarms​

This release also includes eight pre-configured alarms for live nodes, such as whether the node is live, storage capacity, issues with replication, and the number of SQL connections/statements. See health.d/cockroachdb.conf on GitHub for details.

You can also edit these files directly with edit-config:

cd /etc/netdata/ # Replace with your Netdata configuration directory, if not /etc/netdata/
./edit-config health.d/cockroachdb.conf # You may need to use `sudo` for write privileges

For more information about editing the defaults or writing new alarm entities, see our health monitoring quickstart guide.

What's next?​

Now that you're collecting metrics from your CockroachDB databases, let us know how it's working for you! There's always room for improvement or refinement based on real-world use cases. Feel free to file an issue with your thoughts.

Also, be sure to check out these useful resources:

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