# Export Metrics From a CockroachDB Standard Cluster

CockroachDB Standard users can use the Cloud API to configure metrics export to Amazon CloudWatch, Datadog, or Prometheus. Once the export is configured, metrics will flow from all regions of your CockroachDB Standard cluster to your chosen cloud metrics sink.

Tip:

CockroachDB Standard clusters use Cloud Console instead of DB Console, and DB Console is disabled. To export metrics from a CockroachDB self-hosted cluster, refer to Monitoring and Alerting instead of this page.

Exporting metrics to Amazon CloudWatch is available only on CockroachDB Standard clusters that are hosted on AWS. Metrics export to Datadog and Prometheus is supported on all CockroachDB Standard clusters.

## `metricexport` endpoint

To configure and manage metrics export for your CockroachDB Standard cluster, use the `metricexport` endpoint appropriate for your desired cloud metrics sink:

Cloud metrics sink | Metrics export endpoint
--- | ---
Amazon CloudWatch | `https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{your_cluster_id}/metricexport/cloudwatch`
Datadog | `https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{your_cluster_id}/metricexport/datadog`
Prometheus | `https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{your_cluster_id}/metricexport/prometheus`

Access to the `metricexport` endpoints requires a valid CockroachDB Cloud service account assigned one of the following roles:

- Metrics Viewer
- Cluster Operator
- Cluster Admin

The following methods are available for use with the `metricexport` endpoints, and require the listed service account permissions:

Method | Required permissions | Description
--- | --- | ---
`GET` | `ADMIN`, `EDIT`, or `READ` | Returns the current status of the metrics export configuration.
`POST` | `ADMIN` or `EDIT` | Enables metrics export, or updates an existing metrics export configuration.
`DELETE` | `ADMIN` | Disables metrics export, halting all metrics export to Amazon CloudWatch, Datadog, or Prometheus.

See Service accounts for instructions on configuring a service account with these required permissions.

## Enable metrics export

Note:

This feature is in preview and subject to change. To share feedback and/or issues, contact Support.

Exporting metrics to Amazon CloudWatch is only available on CockroachDB Standard clusters which are hosted on AWS. If your CockroachDB Standard cluster is hosted on GCP, you can export metrics to Datadog or Prometheus instead.

Note:

Enabling metrics export will send around 90 metrics per region to Amazon CloudWatch. Review the Amazon CloudWatch documentation to gauge how this adds to your Amazon CloudWatch spend.

Perform the following steps to enable metrics export from your CockroachDB Standard cluster to Amazon CloudWatch.

1. Create the desired target Amazon CloudWatch log group by following the Create a log group in CloudWatch instructions. If you already have a log group created, you may skip this step. When your CockroachDB Standard cluster emits metrics to Amazon CloudWatch, they are written to this log group.

2. Find your CockroachDB Standard cluster ID:

   1. Visit the CockroachDB Cloud console cluster page.
   2. Click on the name of your cluster.
   3. Find your cluster ID in the URL of the single cluster overview page: `https://cockroachlabs.cloud/cluster/{your_cluster_id}/overview`. It should resemble `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.

3. Determine your cluster's cloud provider account ID. This command uses the third-party JSON parsing tool `jq` to isolate just the needed `aws_account_id` field:

       curl --request GET \
         --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{your_cluster_id} \
         --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}" | jq .keychain_config.aws_account_id

   Where:

   - `{your_cluster_id}` is the cluster ID of your CockroachDB Standard cluster as determined in step 2.
   - `{secret_key}` is your CockroachDB Standard API key. See API Access for more details.

4. Create a cross-account IAM role in your AWS account:

   1. In the AWS console, visit the IAM page.
   2. Select Roles and click Create role.
   3. For Trusted entity type, select AWS account.
   4. Choose Another AWS account.
      1. For Account ID, provide the CockroachDB Standard cloud provider account ID from step 3.
      2. Select the option to Require external ID, and for the value of External ID, provide the cluster ID of your CockroachDB Standard cluster as determined in step 2.
   5. Finish creating the IAM role with a suitable name. These instructions will use the role name `CockroachCloudMetricsExportRole`. You do not need to add any permissions.
   Note:

   You will need the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) for your cross-account IAM role later in this procedure.

5. Select the new role, and create a new policy for this role. These instructions will use the policy name `CockroachCloudMetricsExportPolicy`.

6. Select the new policy, and paste the following into the Permissions tab, with the {} JSON option selected:

       {
           "Version": "2012-10-17",
           "Statement": [
               {
                   "Action": [
                       "logs:CreateLogGroup",
                       "logs:CreateLogStream",
                       "logs:DescribeLogGroups",
                       "logs:DescribeLogStreams",
                       "logs:PutRetentionPolicy",
                       "logs:PutLogEvents"
                   ],
                   "Effect": "Allow",
                   "Resource": [
                       "arn:aws:logs:*:{your_aws_acct_id}:log-group:{log_group_name}",
                       "arn:aws:logs:*:{your_aws_acct_id}:log-group:{log_group_name}:log-stream:*"
                   ]
               }
           ]
       }

   Where:

   - `{your_aws_acct_id}` is the AWS Account ID of the AWS account where you created the `CockroachCloudMetricsExportRole` role, not the cloud provider account ID of your CockroachDB Standard cluster from step 3. You can find your AWS Account ID on the AWS IAM page.
   - `{log_group_name}` is the target Amazon CloudWatch log group you created in step 1.

   This defines the set of permissions that the CockroachDB Standard metrics export feature requires to be able to write metrics to CloudWatch.

7. Copy the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the `CockroachCloudMetricsExportRole` role found under Summary, which is needed for the next step.

8. Issue the following Cloud API command to enable metrics export for your CockroachDB Standard cluster:

       curl --request POST \
         --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/cloudwatch \
         --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}" \
         --data '{"target_region": "{aws_region}", "role_arn": "arn:aws:iam::{role_arn}:role/CockroachCloudMetricsExportRole", "log_group_name": "{log_group_name}"}'

   Where:

   - `{cluster_id}` is your CockroachDB Standard cluster ID as determined in step 2.
   - `{secret_key}` is your CockroachDB Standard API key. See API Access for instructions on generating this key.
   - `{aws_region}` is your AWS region, like `us-east-1`.
   - `{role_arn}` is the ARN for the `CockroachCloudMetricsExportRole` role you copied in step 7. If you used a different role name there, be sure to use your role name in place of `CockroachCloudMetricsExportRole` in the above command.
   - `{log_group_name}` is the target Amazon CloudWatch log group you created in step 1. This must be the same group name you provided in step 6.

   Specifying an AWS region (to `{aws_region}`) that you do not have a cluster in, or a region that only partially covers your cluster will result in missing metrics.

9. Depending on the size of your cluster and how many regions it spans, the configuration may take a moment. You can monitor the ongoing status of the configuration using the following Cloud API command:

       curl --request GET \
         --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/cloudwatch \
         --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}"

   Run the command periodically until the command returns a status of `ENABLED`, at which point the configuration is complete, and metrics will begin appearing in CloudWatch under the log group you created in step 1. Since the configuration is applied to the cluster regions in a rolling fashion, you may see some metrics appear even before the `GET` command returns an `ENABLED` status.

10. Once metrics export has been enabled, you can access metrics from your CockroachDB Standard cluster directly in Amazon CloudWatch.

Note:

This feature is in preview and subject to change. To share feedback and/or issues, contact Support.

To enable metrics export for your CockroachDB Standard cluster to Datadog, you can either:

- Use the Cloud Console, following the Monitor CockroachDB Cloud with Datadog instructions.

OR

- Use the Cloud API, following the steps below.

1. Find your CockroachDB Standard cluster ID:

   1. Visit the CockroachDB Cloud console cluster page.
   2. Click on the name of your cluster.
   3. Find your cluster ID in the URL of the single cluster overview page: `https://cockroachlabs.cloud/cluster/{your_cluster_id}/overview`. It should resemble `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.

2. Determine the Datadog API key you'd like to use. If you don't already have one, follow the steps to add a new Datadog API key.

3. Issue the following Cloud API command to enable metrics export for your CockroachDB Standard cluster:

       curl --request POST \
         --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/datadog \
         --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}" \
         --data '{"site": "{datadog_site}", "api_key": "{datadog_api_key}"}'

   Where:

   - `{cluster_id}` is your CockroachDB Standard cluster ID as determined in step 1, resembling `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.
   - `{secret_key}` is your CockroachDB Standard API key. See API Access for instructions on generating this key.
   - `{datadog_site}` is your Datadog site. Valid sites are: `US1`, `US3`, `US5`, `US1_GOV`, and `EU1`.
   - `{datadog_api_key}` is the Datadog API key determined in step 2.

4. Depending on the size of your cluster and how many regions it spans, the configuration may take a moment. You can monitor the ongoing status of the configuration using the following Cloud API command:

       curl --request GET \
         --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/datadog \
         --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}"

   Run the command periodically until the command returns a status of `ENABLED`, at which point the configuration is complete, and metrics will begin appearing in the Datadog interface. Since the configuration is applied to cluster regions in a rolling fashion, you may see some metrics appear even before the `GET` command returns an `ENABLED` status.

5. Once metrics export has been enabled, you can access metrics from your CockroachDB Standard cluster directly in Datadog's Metrics Explorer, or via Datadog's notebook or dashboard features.

6. Review enable percentiles for selected metrics. Configure metrics as necessary.

Note:

A subset of CockroachDB metrics require that you explicitly enable percentiles for them in the Datadog interface. Graphs that display data for these metrics will fail to render properly otherwise.

1. Find your CockroachDB Standard cluster ID:

   1. Visit the CockroachDB Cloud console cluster page.
   2. Click on the name of your cluster.
   3. Find your cluster ID in the URL of the single cluster overview page: `https://cockroachlabs.cloud/cluster/{your_cluster_id}/overview`. The ID should resemble `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.

2. Issue the following Cloud API command to enable metrics export for your CockroachDB Standard cluster:

       curl --request POST \
         --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/prometheus \
         --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}"

   Where:

   - `{cluster_id}` is your CockroachDB Standard cluster ID as determined in step 1, resembling `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.
   - `{secret_key}` is your CockroachDB Standard API key. See API Access for instructions on generating this key.

3. Depending on the size of your cluster and how many regions it spans, the configuration may take a moment. You can monitor the ongoing status of the configuration using the following Cloud API command:

       curl --request GET \
         --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/prometheus \
         --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}"

   Run the command periodically until the command returns a `status` of `ENABLED`, at which point the configuration across all regions is complete. The response also includes `targets`, a map of scrape endpoints exposing metrics to regions. For example:

       {
         "cluster_id": "f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e",
         "user_message": "This integration is active.",
         "status": "ENABLED",
         "targets": {
           "us-east4": "https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e/metricexport/prometheus/us-east4/scrape"
         }
       }

   There is a separate scrape endpoint per region if you have a multi-region cluster.

4. You can test a scrape endpoint by using the following Cloud API command:

       curl --request GET \
         --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/prometheus/{cluster_region}/scrape \
         --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}"

   Where:

   - `{cluster_id}` is your CockroachDB Standard cluster ID as determined in step 1, resembling `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.
   - `{cluster_region}` is a region of your CockroachDB Standard cluster as shown in the `targets` of step 3, such as `us-east4`. You can also find your cluster’s region(s) on the Cluster Overview page.
   - `{secret_key}` is your CockroachDB Standard API key. See API Access for instructions on generating this key.

   Metrics are labeled with the cluster name, organization name, and region. The beginning lines of a metrics scrape response follows:

       # HELP crdb_cloud_changefeed_backfill_count Number of changefeeds currently executing backfill
       # TYPE crdb_cloud_changefeed_backfill_count gauge
       crdb_cloud_changefeed_backfill_count{cluster="test-gcp",instance="10.0.3.238:8080",organization="CRL - Test",region="us-east4"} 0
       # HELP crdb_cloud_changefeed_backfill_pending_ranges Number of ranges in an ongoing backfill that are yet to be fully emitted
       # TYPE crdb_cloud_changefeed_backfill_pending_ranges gauge
       crdb_cloud_changefeed_backfill_pending_ranges{cluster="test-gcp",instance="10.0.3.238:8080",organization="CRL - Test",region="us-east4"} 0
       # HELP crdb_cloud_changefeed_commit_latency Event commit latency: a difference between event MVCC timestamp and the time it was acknowledged by the downstream sink.  If the sink batches events,  then the difference between the oldest event in the batch and acknowledgement is recorded; Excludes latency during backfill
       # TYPE crdb_cloud_changefeed_commit_latency histogram
       crdb_cloud_changefeed_commit_latency_bucket{cluster="test-gcp",instance="10.0.3.238:8080",organization="CRL - Test",region="us-east4",le="5e+08"} 0
       crdb_cloud_changefeed_commit_latency_bucket{cluster="test-gcp",instance="10.0.3.238:8080",organization="CRL - Test",region="us-east4",le="5.57259285358743e+08"} 0

   Note:

   Metrics are only returned when an active workload is running on the cluster.

5. Once metrics export has been enabled and the scrape endpoint(s) tested, you need to configure your metrics collector to periodically poll the scrape endpoint(s). Configure your Prometheus configuration file's `scrape_configs` section as in the following example:

       global:
         scrape_interval: 10s
         evaluation_interval: 10s

       # Prometheus configuration for CockroachDB Standard for a single region
       scrape_configs:
         - job_name: '{job_name}'
           metrics_path: '/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/prometheus/{cluster_region}/scrape'
           static_configs:
             - targets: ['cockroachlabs.cloud']
           scheme: 'https'
           authorization:
             credentials: '{secret_key}'

   Where:

   - `{job_name}` is a job name you assign to scraped metrics by default, such as `scrape-cockroach-us-east4`.
   - `{cluster_id}` is your CockroachDB Standard cluster ID as determined in step 1, resembling `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.
   - `{cluster_region}` is a region of your CockroachDB Standard cluster as shown in the `targets` of step 3, such as `us-east4`. You can also find your cluster’s region(s) on the Cluster Overview page.
   - `{secret_key}` is your CockroachDB Standard API key. See API Access for instructions on generating this key.

## Monitor the status of a metrics export configuration

To check the status of an existing Amazon CloudWatch metrics export configuration, use the following Cloud API command:

    curl --request GET \
      --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/cloudwatch \
      --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}"

Where:

- `{cluster_id}` is the cluster ID of your CockroachDB Standard cluster, which can be found in the URL of your Cloud Console for the specific cluster you wish to configure, resembling `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.
- `{secret_key}` is your CockroachDB Standard API key. See API Access for instructions on generating this key.

To check the status of an existing Datadog metrics export configuration, use the following Cloud API command:

    curl --request GET \
      --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/datadog \
      --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}"

Where:

- `{cluster_id}` is the cluster ID of your CockroachDB Standard cluster, which can be found in the URL of your Cloud Console for the specific cluster you wish to configure, resembling `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.
- `{secret_key}` is your CockroachDB Standard API key. See API Access for instructions on generating this key.

To check the status of an existing Prometheus metrics export configuration, use the following Cloud API command:

    curl --request GET \
      --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/prometheus \
      --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}"

Where:

- `{cluster_id}` is the cluster ID of your CockroachDB Standard cluster, which can be found in the URL of your Cloud Console for the specific cluster you wish to configure, resembling `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.
- `{secret_key}` is your CockroachDB Standard API key. See API Access for instructions on generating this key.

## Update an existing metrics export configuration

To update an existing CockroachDB Standard metrics export configuration, make any necessary changes to your cloud provider configuration (e.g., Amazon CloudWatch, Datadog, or Prometheus), then issue the same `POST` Cloud API command as shown in the Enable metrics export instructions for your cloud provider with the desired updated configuration. Follow the Monitor the status of a metrics export configuration instructions to ensure the update completes successfully.

## Disable metrics export

To disable an existing Amazon CloudWatch metrics export configuration, and stop sending metrics to CloudWatch, use the following Cloud API command:

    curl --request DELETE \
      --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/cloudwatch \
      --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}"

Where:

- `{cluster_id}` is the cluster ID of your CockroachDB Standard cluster, which can be found in the URL of your Cloud Console for the specific cluster you wish to configure, resembling `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.
- `{secret_key}` is your CockroachDB Standard API key. See API Access for instructions on generating this key.

To disable an existing Datadog metrics export configuration, and stop sending metrics to Datadog, use the following Cloud API command:

    curl --request DELETE \
      --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/datadog \
      --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}"

Where:

- `{cluster_id}` is the cluster ID of your CockroachDB Standard cluster, which can be found in the URL of your Cloud Console for the specific cluster you wish to configure, resembling `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.
- `{secret_key}` is your CockroachDB Standard API key. See API Access for instructions on generating this key.

To disable an existing Prometheus metrics export configuration, and stop sending metrics to Prometheus, use the following Cloud API command:

    curl --request DELETE \
      --url https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster_id}/metricexport/prometheus \
      --header "Authorization: Bearer {secret_key}"

Where:

- `{cluster_id}` is the cluster ID of your CockroachDB Standard cluster, which can be found in the URL of your Cloud Console for the specific cluster you wish to configure, resembling `f78b7feb-b6cf-4396-9d7f-494982d7d81e`.
- `{secret_key}` is your CockroachDB Standard API key. See API Access for instructions on generating this key.

## Limitations

- Metrics export to Amazon CloudWatch is available only on CockroachDB Standard clusters which are hosted on AWS. If your CockroachDB Standard cluster is hosted on GCP, you can export metrics to Datadog or Prometheus instead.
- Amazon CloudWatch does not currently support histograms. Any histogram-type metrics emitted from your CockroachDB Standard cluster are dropped by CloudWatch. See Prometheus metric type conversion for more information, and Logging dropped Prometheus metrics for instructions on tracking dropped histogram metrics in CloudWatch.

## Troubleshooting

### Amazon CloudWatch

Be sure you are providing your own AWS Account ID as shown on the AWS IAM page to step 6, not the AWS cloud provider account ID as returned from step 3.

If you are using an existing AWS role, or are otherwise using a role name different from the example name used in this tutorial, be sure to use your own role name in step 8 in place of `CockroachCloudMetricsExportRole`.

Your CockroachDB Standard cluster must be running on AWS (not GCP) to make use of metrics export to Amazon CloudWatch. If your CockroachDB Standard cluster is hosted on GCP, you can export metrics to Datadog or Prometheus instead.

## See Also

- Export Metrics From a CockroachDB Advanced Cluster
- Differences in Metrics between Third-Party Monitoring Integrations and DB Console