postgres-exporter Installation Guide Installation Guide

postgres-exporter is a free and open-source Prometheus exporter for PostgreSQL metrics. Postgres Exporter connects to PostgreSQL databases and exports metrics for Prometheus monitoring, essential for database observability

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 128MB minimum

Storage: 50MB for installation

Network: PostgreSQL and HTTP access

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 9187 (default postgres-exporter port)

PostgreSQL connection

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install postgres-exporter
sudo dnf install -y prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now postgres_exporter

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9187/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
postgres_exporter --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install postgres-exporter
sudo apt install -y prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now postgres_exporter

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 9187

# Verify installation
postgres_exporter --version

bash

# Install postgres-exporter
sudo pacman -S prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now postgres_exporter

# Verify installation
postgres_exporter --version

bash

# Install postgres-exporter
apk add --no-cache prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Enable and start service
rc-update add postgres_exporter default
rc-service postgres_exporter start

# Verify installation
postgres_exporter --version

bash

# Install postgres-exporter
sudo zypper install -y prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now postgres_exporter

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9187/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
postgres_exporter --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Start service
brew services start prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Verify installation
postgres_exporter --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'postgres_exporter_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service postgres_exporter start

# Verify installation
postgres_exporter --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Or using Scoop
scoop install prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Verify installation
postgres_exporter --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
postgres_exporter --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable postgres_exporter

# Start service
sudo systemctl start postgres_exporter

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop postgres_exporter

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart postgres_exporter

# Check status
sudo systemctl status postgres_exporter

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u postgres_exporter -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add postgres_exporter default

# Start service
rc-service postgres_exporter start

# Stop service
rc-service postgres_exporter stop

# Restart service
rc-service postgres_exporter restart

# Check status
rc-service postgres_exporter status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'postgres_exporter_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service postgres_exporter start

# Stop service
service postgres_exporter stop

# Restart service
service postgres_exporter restart

# Check status
service postgres_exporter status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start prometheus-postgres-exporter
brew services stop prometheus-postgres-exporter
brew services restart prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Check status
brew services list | grep prometheus-postgres-exporter

powershell

# Start service
net start postgres_exporter

# Stop service
net stop postgres_exporter

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service postgres_exporter
Stop-Service postgres_exporter
Restart-Service postgres_exporter

# Check status
Get-Service postgres_exporter

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream prometheus-postgres-exporter_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:9187;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name prometheus-postgres-exporter.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name prometheus-postgres-exporter.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/prometheus-postgres-exporter.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/prometheus-postgres-exporter.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://prometheus-postgres-exporter_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName prometheus-postgres-exporter.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://prometheus-postgres-exporter.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName prometheus-postgres-exporter.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/prometheus-postgres-exporter.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/prometheus-postgres-exporter.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:9187/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:9187/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend prometheus-postgres-exporter_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/prometheus-postgres-exporter.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend prometheus-postgres-exporter_backend

backend prometheus-postgres-exporter_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server prometheus-postgres-exporter1 127.0.0.1:9187 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R prometheus-postgres-exporter:prometheus-postgres-exporter /etc/prometheus-postgres-exporter
sudo chmod 750 /etc/prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9187/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status postgres_exporter

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u postgres_exporter -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep prometheus-postgres-exporter)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/prometheus-postgres-exporter"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/prometheus-postgres-exporter-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/prometheus-postgres-exporter /var/lib/prometheus-postgres-exporter

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/prometheus-postgres-exporter-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop postgres_exporter

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/prometheus-postgres-exporter/prometheus-postgres-exporter-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start postgres_exporter

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u postgres_exporter -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/prometheus-postgres-exporter/prometheus-postgres-exporter.log

# Check configuration
postgres_exporter --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/prometheus-postgres-exporter

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 9187

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 9187

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep prometheus-postgres-exporter)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep prometheus-postgres-exporter)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 9187

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  prometheus-postgres-exporter:
    image: prometheus-postgres-exporter:latest
    ports:
      - "9187:9187"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/prometheus-postgres-exporter
      - ./data:/var/lib/prometheus-postgres-exporter
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade prometheus-postgres-exporter

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update prometheus-postgres-exporter

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/prometheus-postgres-exporter-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart postgres_exporter

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/prometheus-postgres-exporter

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/prometheus-postgres-exporter -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/prometheus-postgres-exporter

Official Documentation: https://docs.prometheus-postgres-exporter.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/prometheus-postgres-exporter/prometheus-postgres-exporter

Community Forum: https://forum.prometheus-postgres-exporter.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.prometheus-postgres-exporter.org/best-practices

---

Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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