Monitoring Aurora Limitless databases with Database Insights - Amazon CloudWatch
Available features for Aurora LimitlessEnable Database Insights for Aurora LimitlessMonitoring Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Databases with Database InsightsAnalyze DB load for Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Databases with Database Insights
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Monitoring Aurora Limitless databases with Database Insights

Database Insights supports monitoring Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Databases at the instance level. Currently, you can view Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Databases only in the Database Instance Dashboard, not in the Fleet Health Dashboard.

Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Databases use shard groups. Each shard group consists of multiple database instances that work together to process distributed workloads. Database Insights helps you understand the load distribution among the instances within a shard group.

Database Insights provides monitoring at both the shard group level and for individual instances within the group. Database Insights provides a new dashboard per shard group where you can see database load distributed across the instances in the shard group. From there, you can navigate to the specific instance dashboard within a shard group.

Available features for Aurora Limitless

The following table displays the features available for Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless tables. They indicate whether each feature is supported in the Standard and Advanced monitoring modes, and whether they are available at the Shard Group level, the instance level, or both.

Feature Standard Advanced ShardGroup Instance
Query, graph, and set alarms on database metrics with up to seven days of retention Supported Supported Yes Yes
Define fine‐grained access control policies to restrict access to potentially sensitive dimensions such as SQL text Supported Supported Yes Yes
Use the Calling services tab to view calling services with CloudWatch Application Signals Not supported Supported Yes No
Import Performance Insights counter metrics into CloudWatch automatically Not supported Supported N/A N/A
Use the Load Distribution component to analyze load distribution across instances within the same shard group Supported Supported Yes No
Use the DB Load chart, DB Load analysis, and all the TopN tables to analyze the top contributors to DB Load by dimension Supported Supported Yes Yes
Analyze operating system processes happening in your databases with detailed metrics per running process. You must have Amazon RDS Enhanced Monitoring enabled. Not supported Supported No TBD
Use the Performance analysis tab to analyze database performance for a time period of your choice with on‐demand analysis Not supported (Performance analysis reports are not available for Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Databases) Not supported No No
View a consolidated dashboard of database metrics on the DB Health Dashboard Not supported Supported No Yes
Configure and view database telemetry and logs Not supported Supported Yes Yes
View Amazon RDS events in Database Insights Not supported Supported Yes No
Visualize per‐query statistics Not supported Supported No Yes
Analyze slow SQL queries Not supported Supported No Yes

Enable Database Insights for Aurora Limitless

  1. Open the CloudWatch console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Database Insights.

  3. Choose your Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database from the list.

  4. Choose Enable.

Monitoring Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Databases with Database Insights

Database Insights works similarly for Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database as it does for standard Aurora DB clusters. However, you track metrics at the shard group level for Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database. The two main metrics to track are the following:

  • Database load – Measures the level of activity in your database. The key metric is DBLoad, which is collected every second. The unit for the DBLoad metric is average active sessions (AAS). To get the average active sessions, Database Insights samples the number of sessions concurrently running a query. The AAS is the total number of sessions divided by the total number of samples for a specific time period.

  • Maximum CPU – The maximum computational power available to your database. To see whether active sessions are exceeding the maximum CPU, look at their relationship to the Max vCPU line. The Max vCPU value is determined by the number of vCPU (virtual CPU) cores for your DB instance.

You can also "slice" the DBLoad metric into dimensions, which are subcategories of the metric. The most useful dimensions are the following:

  • Top instances – Shows the relative DB load for your instances (shards and routers) in descending order.

  • Wait events – Cause SQL statements to wait for specific events to happen before they can continue running. Wait events indicate where work is impeded.

  • Top SQL – Shows which queries contribute the most to DB load.

Analyze DB load for Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Databases with Database Insights

With Database Insights, you can track metrics at the shard group level and at the instance level for an Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database. When analyzing DB load for an Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database, you might want to compare the DB load for each shard and router to the maximum vCPU.

The Absolute view shows the number of Average active sessions (AAS) and the estimated vCPU. The Relative view shows the ratio of AAS to the estimated vCPU.

Analyzing relative DB load using the Database Insights dashboard

You might want to improve the performance of your Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database by tracking relative DB load. To analyze relative DB load by instance for your Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database, use the following procedure.

To analyze relative DB load using the console

  1. Open the CloudWatch console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/cloudwatch/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Database Insights.

  3. Choose an Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database. The Database Insights dashboard is displayed for that Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database.

  4. In the Database load (DB load) section, choose Instances for Sliced by. To see the ratio of Average active sessions (AAS) to vCPU cores for all of the instances in your Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database, choose Relative for Viewed as.

    The Average active sessions chart shows the DB load for instances in yourAurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database.

  5. To view the top instances, choose the Top instances tab.

  6. (Optional) To analyze DB load for an instance in your Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database, choose the instance name in the Instances column.

Analyzing DB load by waits using the Database Insights dashboard

You might want to improve the performance for your Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database by tracking wait events. To analyze DB load by wait events for your Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database, use the following procedure.

To analyze DB load by waits for Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database using the console

  1. Open the CloudWatch console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/cloudwatch/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Database Insights.

  3. Choose an Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database. The Database Insights dashboard is displayed for that Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database.

  4. In the Database load (DB load) section, choose Waits for Sliced by. To view the number of AAS and the estimated vCPU, choose Absolute for Viewed as.

    The Average active sessions chart shows the DB load for instances in your Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database.

  5. Scroll down to the Top SQL tab.

  6. Choose the SQL statement to expand it into its component statements.

Analyzing load distribution using the Database Insights dashboard

You might want to balance the load distribution for instances on your Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database. To analyze load distribution of the instances on an Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database, use the following procedure.

To analyze load distribution of the instances on an Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database using the console

  1. Open the CloudWatch console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/cloudwatch/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Database Insights.

  3. Choose an Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database. The Database Insights dashboard is displayed for that Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database.

  4. In the Database load (DB load) section, choose Instances for Sliced by. To view the number of AAS and the estimated vCPU for all instances in your Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database, choose Absolute for Viewed as.

    The Average active sessions chart shows the DB load for instances in your Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database.

  5. To see a chart of the load distribution of the instances in your Aurora PostgreSQL Limitless Database, choose the Load distribution tab.