Remote Observability Service

Overview

The Remote Observability Service makes SkySQL observability features available for MariaDB enterprise customers on-premises or in private clouds.

Compatibility

MariaDB Products

  • MariaDB Enterprise ColumnStore 5

  • MariaDB Enterprise ColumnStore 6

  • MariaDB Enterprise Server 10.3

  • MariaDB Enterprise Server 10.4

  • MariaDB Enterprise Server 10.5

  • MariaDB Enterprise Server 10.6

  • MariaDB MaxScale 2.4

  • MariaDB MaxScale 2.5

  • MariaDB MaxScale 6

  • MariaDB Xpand 5.3

  • MariaDB Xpand 6

Operating Systems

  • CentOS 7

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

  • Rocky Linux 8

  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

  • Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

  • Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Introduction

This procedure shows how to install and configure MariaDB Agent Manager to send monitoring data to the Remote Observability Service. This procedure is intended to be followed linearly from the top to the bottom of the page.

Some steps in the procedure contain different instructions for MariaDB Enterprise Server and MariaDB Xpand. If the host is running MariaDB Enterprise ColumnStore or MariaDB Enterprise Cluster (powered by Galera), the instructions for MariaDB Enterprise Server should be used.

Some steps in the procedure contain different instructions for Forwarding Hosts and Monitored Hosts. Read the instructions carefully to determine which instructions apply to each host.

Workload Analysis (WLA)

Workload Analysis is available for services running MariaDB Enterprise Server that use the Remote Observability Service.

For additional information, see "Workload Analysis".

MariaDB Agent Manager

The MariaDB Agent Manager coordinates deployment of the agents needed to consolidate and push data to the Remote Observability Service.

The Remote Observability Service should be used with MariaDB Agent Manager 1.2 or a version released more recently than 2023-01-09.

Host Types

These instructions describe actions performed on two types of hosts:

  • Forwarding Hosts forward data to the Remote Observability Service. Forwarding Hosts run the following components:

    • A local Prometheus server

    • skysql_uni_exporter

    • MariaDB Agent Manager daemon

  • Monitored Hosts are servers that run MariaDB Enterprise Server, MariaDB Xpand, or MariaDB MaxScale. Monitored Hosts transmit monitoring data to Forwarding Hosts. Monitored Hosts run exporters to collect the monitoring data, such as:

    • mariadb_exporter

    • maxscale_exporter

    • node_exporter

Dedicated Forwarding Hosts are supported, but not required. A service can have one dedicated Forwarding Host.

A Monitored Host can serve as a combined Forwarding and Monitored Host. In non-production environments, particularly when only a single host is in use, it might be preferable for the host to serve both roles.

System Requirements

Memory Requirements

On each Forwarding Host, the expected memory footprint of MariaDB Agent Manager and its components is around 150 MB.

Storage Requirements

On each Forwarding Host, the Prometheus data directory must have sufficient storage capacity to cache service metrics. The service metrics typically require 100 MB or less. The specific capacity requirements depend on the number of services, the service types, and the Prometheus configuration.

For additional information about the specific directories that are used, see "MariaDB Agent Manager Directory Reference".

Prerequisites

Before deploying MariaDB Agent Manager, you must meet the following prerequisites:

  • Sign-up for a SkySQL Portal Account

  • Generate a SkySQL API Key with the desired key scopes, and save the API key to a plain-text file

    • For the Remote Observability Service, the API key must have the "Observability API: Write" key scope

    • When users are part of a team, the API key must be created by the team owner.

  • Enable the Remote Observability Service:

    1. Log in to the SkySQL Portal.

    2. Click on "Remote Observability service" in the left navigation menu.

    3. In the popup window, click the "Enable" button.

      If the "Enable" button is not present, then your account already has the Remote Observability Service enabled, so you can skip to the next step.

Step 1: Create Dedicated OS User

For security purposes, MariaDB does not recommend running MariaDB Agent Manager as root.

On each Forwarding Host and Monitored Host, consider creating a dedicated user account and group for MariaDB Agent Manager.

To create a user account named mariadbagent in a default group with the same name:

$ groupadd mariadbagent
$ useradd --create-home --gid mariadbagent mariadbagent

Switch to a shell using the new dedicated user account:

$ su -l mariadbagent

Each of the subsequent steps in this procedure should be performed using this dedicated user account.

Step 2: Install MariaDB Agent Manager

MariaDB Agent Manager transmits monitoring metrics and topology status data to the Remote Observability Service.

On each Forwarding Host and Monitored Host, MariaDB Agent Manager must be installed using one of the following methods:

Step 3: Start and Configure MariaDB Agent Manager

On each Forwarding Host and Monitored Host, MariaDB Agent Manager must be configured and started. The procedure depends upon the software running on the node.

For each Forwarding Host and Monitored Host, follow the procedure for the type of node linked in the pages below:

Step 4: Check SkySQL Monitoring

After MariaDB Agent Manager has been started on each Forwarding Host and Monitored Host, check SkySQL Monitoring.

Next Steps