database-observability

Grafana Cloud Database Observability

Docs: https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-applications/database-observability/

Provides query-level insights (RED metrics, query samples, explain plans) for MySQL and PostgreSQL without application code changes. Generally Available as of April 2026.

Supported Databases

Database	Variants
MySQL	Self-managed, RDS MySQL, Aurora MySQL, Cloud SQL MySQL, Azure Database for MySQL
PostgreSQL	Self-managed, RDS PostgreSQL, Aurora PostgreSQL, Cloud SQL PostgreSQL, Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Prerequisites

PostgreSQL

-- 1. Enable pg_stat_statements in postgresql.conf
-- shared_preload_libraries = 'pg_stat_statements'
-- Then restart PostgreSQL

-- 2. Create monitoring user
CREATE USER grafana_monitoring WITH PASSWORD 'secret';
GRANT pg_monitor TO grafana_monitoring;
GRANT CONNECT ON DATABASE mydb TO grafana_monitoring;

-- 3. Enable the extension
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS pg_stat_statements;

MySQL

-- Create monitoring user with least-privilege permissions
CREATE USER 'grafana_monitoring'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'secret';
GRANT SELECT, PROCESS, REPLICATION CLIENT ON *.* TO 'grafana_monitoring'@'%';
GRANT SELECT ON performance_schema.* TO 'grafana_monitoring'@'%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Alloy Configuration

PostgreSQL

database_observability.postgres "mydb" {
  data_source_name = "postgresql://grafana_monitoring:secret@localhost:5432/mydb?sslmode=disable"

  enable_collectors = ["pg_stat_statements", "query_samples", "schema_details"]

  forward_metrics_to = [prometheus.remote_write.cloud.receiver]
  forward_logs_to    = [loki.write.cloud.receiver]
}

prometheus.remote_write "cloud" {
  endpoint {
    url = sys.env("PROMETHEUS_URL")
    basic_auth {
      username = sys.env("PROMETHEUS_USER")
      password = sys.env("GRAFANA_CLOUD_API_KEY")
    }
  }
}

loki.write "cloud" {
  endpoint {
    url = sys.env("LOKI_URL")
    basic_auth {
      username = sys.env("LOKI_USER")
      password = sys.env("GRAFANA_CLOUD_API_KEY")
    }
  }
}