Install & configure NRDOT for PostgreSQL monitoring with Chef

You can install and configure the NRDOT Collector for PostgreSQL monitoring using the newrelic-install Chef cookbook. The cookbook installs the collector, creates the monitoring role and its grants, and configures the collector when you run the newrelic-install::default recipe.

Prerequisites

A New Relic account with a valid license key.
A New Relic account ID.
PostgreSQL 14 or later.
Chef 15 or later.
A Linux collector host running Debian/Ubuntu or RHEL/CentOS.
pg_stat_statements must be loaded via shared_preload_libraries, which requires a database restart. Put the server-level prerequisites in place before running the recipe.
For self-hosted PostgreSQL: administrative access to your PostgreSQL server (the postgres superuser or equivalent), with a password set and pg_hba.conf permitting password-based host authentication.
For PostgreSQL or Aurora on AWS RDS: network connectivity from the collector host to the RDS endpoint, and the RDS master username and password.
Network connectivity to New Relic OTLP endpoint for your region.

For detailed requirements, refer to Compatibility.

Download the Chef cookbook

Download the newrelic-install Chef cookbook from the Chef Supermarket to your chef-repo directory:

bash

$knife supermarket install newrelic-install

Replace the default attributes

Replace the default attributes in attributes/default.rb with your account details:

This cookbook monitors one or more PostgreSQL instances from a single collector. Instead of a single host/port/credential set, it reads two files that must already exist on the node: an instances file (YAML) listing every instance to monitor and the databases to monitor on each, and a secrets file (KEY=VALUE) with a superuser login and password for each, indexed to match. See the CLI install page for the exact file formats.

default['newrelic_install']['NEW_RELIC_API_KEY']    = <API key>
default['newrelic_install']['NEW_RELIC_ACCOUNT_ID'] = <Account ID>
default['newrelic_install']['NEW_RELIC_REGION']     = <Region>
default['newrelic_install']['targets'] = [
  'nrdot-collector-postgresql'
]
default['newrelic_install']['env']['NR_CLI_POSTGRES_CONFIG_PRESET']         = <1 Basic, 2 Advanced, default 1>
default['newrelic_install']['env']['NR_CLI_POSTGRES_INSTANCES_FILE']        = <path to the instances YAML file on the node>
default['newrelic_install']['env']['NR_CLI_POSTGRES_SECRETS_FILE']          = <path to the secrets file (KEY=VALUE per instance) on the node>
default['newrelic_install']['env']['NR_CLI_POSTGRES_ENABLE_EXPLAIN_HELPER'] = <y or N, default N; PREVIEW feature, see table below>
# See all available targets at: https://github.com/newrelic/chef-install

중요

The cookbook connects to PostgreSQL over TCP using a password, so each instance's superuser must have a password set and pg_hba.conf must permit password-based host authentication (md5 or scram-sha-256) for TCP connections:

bash

$sudo -u postgres psql -c "ALTER USER postgres WITH PASSWORD '<password>';"

Attribute (under `env`)	Description	Default
`NR_CLI_POSTGRES_CONFIG_PRESET`	NRDOT configuration: `1` Basic, `2` Advanced.	`1`
`NR_CLI_POSTGRES_INSTANCES_FILE`	Required. Path to the instances YAML file, already present on the node.	None
`NR_CLI_POSTGRES_SECRETS_FILE`	Required. Path to the secrets file (`KEY=VALUE`, one superuser login/password pair per instance), already present on the node.	None
`NR_CLI_POSTGRES_ENABLE_EXPLAIN_HELPER`	Collect query plans for locking/write statements too. Creates a `SECURITY DEFINER` helper function (`otel.explain_statement`) in each monitored database, granting the monitoring user `EXPLAIN` execution without granting DML access. This is a PREVIEW feature. `y`/`N`.	`n`

팁

No default attribute values are shipped for these variables. Set the ones relevant to your target explicitly via default['newrelic_install']['env'][...].

팁

To monitor more than one PostgreSQL instance from this collector, add more entries to the instances file and matching numbered credentials (_2, _3, ...) to the secrets file. An instance that fails its checks (or has no databases listed) is skipped with a logged reason rather than aborting the whole install.

This cookbook monitors one or more RDS PostgreSQL or Aurora endpoints from a single collector, using the same instances file / secrets file pattern as self-hosted (both files must already exist on the node).

default['newrelic_install']['NEW_RELIC_API_KEY']    = <API key>
default['newrelic_install']['NEW_RELIC_ACCOUNT_ID'] = <Account ID>
default['newrelic_install']['NEW_RELIC_REGION']     = <Region>
default['newrelic_install']['targets'] = [
  'nrdot-collector-postgresql-rds'
]
default['newrelic_install']['env']['NR_CLI_POSTGRES_CONFIG_PRESET']         = <1 Basic, 2 Advanced, default 1>
default['newrelic_install']['env']['NR_CLI_POSTGRES_INSTANCES_FILE']        = <path to the instances YAML file on the node, using RDS or Aurora endpoints as host>
default['newrelic_install']['env']['NR_CLI_POSTGRES_SECRETS_FILE']          = <path to the secrets file (KEY=VALUE per instance) on the node>
default['newrelic_install']['env']['NR_CLI_POSTGRES_ENABLE_EXPLAIN_HELPER'] = <y or N, default N; PREVIEW feature, see table below>
# See all available targets at: https://github.com/newrelic/chef-install

Attribute (under `env`)	Description	Default
`NR_CLI_POSTGRES_CONFIG_PRESET`	NRDOT configuration: `1` Basic, `2` Advanced.	`1`
`NR_CLI_POSTGRES_INSTANCES_FILE`	Required. Path to the instances YAML file, using RDS or Aurora endpoints as `host`, already present on the node.	None
`NR_CLI_POSTGRES_SECRETS_FILE`	Required. Path to the secrets file (`KEY=VALUE`, one RDS master username/password pair per instance), already present on the node.	None
`NR_CLI_POSTGRES_ENABLE_EXPLAIN_HELPER`	Collect query plans for locking/write statements too. Creates a `SECURITY DEFINER` helper function (`otel.explain_statement`) in each monitored database, granting the monitoring user `EXPLAIN` execution without granting DML access. This is a PREVIEW feature. `y`/`N`.	`n`

팁

No default attribute values are shipped for these variables. Set the ones relevant to your target explicitly via default['newrelic_install']['env'][...].

팁

To monitor more than one RDS PostgreSQL or Aurora endpoint from this collector, add more entries to the instances file and matching numbered credentials to the secrets file. An instance that fails its checks (or has no databases listed) is skipped with a logged reason rather than aborting the whole install.

Upload the Chef cookbook

Upload the newrelic-install Chef cookbook to your Chef server:

bash

$knife cookbook upload newrelic-install

Update the run list

Add the newrelic-install recipe to the run list of a node:

"run_list": [
  "recipe[newrelic-install]"
]

Find and use your data

Once your data is being collected, you can access comprehensive PostgreSQL database monitoring through the New Relic UI.

To find your PostgreSQL database entity in New Relic:

Go to one.newrelic.com > All capabilities > Databases.
From the Entity type dropdown, select PostgreSQL instance, then click Apply.
Select your PostgreSQL database from the list of entities.

Introduction to PostgreSQL monitoring with NRDOT

Learn about all the available installation methods for PostgreSQL monitoring with New Relic.

CLI install

Learn how to install and configure PostgreSQL monitoring with a single New Relic CLI command.

Ansible install

Learn how to install and configure PostgreSQL monitoring at scale with the newrelic.newrelic_install Ansible role.

Helm chart install

Learn how to install and configure PostgreSQL monitoring on Kubernetes with the postgresql-otel Helm chart.

Install & configure NRDOT for PostgreSQL monitoring with Chef

Prerequisites .css-21sua1{background:none;border:none;width:0;padding:0;}

Download the Chef cookbook

Replace the default attributes

PostgreSQL or Aurora on AWS RDS

Upload the Chef cookbook

Update the run list

Find and use your data

Related documentation

Introduction to PostgreSQL monitoring with NRDOT

CLI install

Ansible install

Helm chart install

Prerequisites