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Amazon Redshift

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Amazon Redshift is a managed scalable database warehouse where Nobl9 users can store their metrics information. Nobl9 allows retrieving metrics data from Redshift, enabling customers to use standard SQL statements that require two specific return valuesβ€”a value and a timestamp.

Authentication​

Authentication - scope of support​

  • Nobl9 does not support SQL connections.
  • Nobl9 does not support temporary credentials.
  • Nobl9 supports authentication via AWS Secrets Manager stored secret for authenticating with the Data API.
  • Use Cross-Account IAM roles to authenticate to Redshift (see below for the deprecated authentication method)

Secret-ARN​

Nobl9 supports authenticating with Amazon Redshift’s Data API using the AWS Secrets Manager. To connect to Redshift through direct and agent configuration, you must create a secret and ensure the secret is tagged with the RedshiftDataFullAccess permission.

tip

When running the agent, you will also be asked to provide the ARN for the secret.

For more information on Redshift secrets, refer to Using the Amazon Redshift Data API | Amazon Redshift documentation.

Cross-account IAM roles​

Prerequisites​

You can activate cross-account access in AWS using the External ID and Nobl9 AWS Account ID. To create an IAM role ARN with cross-account access, make sure the following prerequisites are complete:

  1. Copy the External ID and Nobl9 AWS Account ID values in the Data source wizard.
Redshift IAM ARN config
Image 1: Configuring IAM Role ARN in the Data source wizard
  1. Policy permissions for your IAM role require a custom policy that allows action secretsmanager:GetSecretValueon for the resource pointed by the SecretARN.

    When you miss this policy, create it in the IAM > Policies > Create Policy > Specify Permission > JSON section:

AWS Account ID

In the policy editor, apply the following JSON statement, replacing your-Secret-ARN with your AWS Secret ARN value in the statement.resource field.

{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "VisualEditor0",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": "secretsmanager:GetSecretValue",
"Resource": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:*:your-Secret-ARN"
}
]
}

IAM role ARN creation​

Sign in to the AWS Management Console. Open the IAM console.

  1. Choose Roles on the navigation pane.

The Roles section opens.

  1. Click Create Role:

    Create AWS role

To create the access role, you select a trusted entity first.

  1. Choose the AWS account role tile:
AWS Account ID
  1. Choose Another AWS account. Paste the Nobl9 Account ID you copied in the Nobl9 Data source wizard.
    This is the account you're granting access to your resources.

  2. Select Require External ID. Paste the Nobl9 External ID you copied in the Nobl9 Data source wizard.
    This option automatically adds a condition to the trust policy, allowing users to assume the role only if the request includes the correct sts:ExternalID.

AWS Account ID
  1. Click Next.
  2. In the Add Permissions section, attach the AmazonRedshiftDataFullAccess permission policy. Click Next:
AWS Account ID

Important

Make sure this policy allows action secretsmanager:GetSecretValueon for the resource pointed by the SecretARN. When this action is missing, read Prerequisites.

  1. Click Next and save the role. Then, copy its IAM Role ARN to the Data source wizard in Nobl9 UI.

Adding Amazon Redshift as a data source​

To ensure data transmission between Nobl9 and your data source, it may be necessary to list Nobl9 IP addresses as trusted.

IP addresses to add to your allowlist:
  • 18.159.114.21
  • 18.158.132.186
  • 3.64.154.26
⚠ Applies to app.nobl9.com only. In all other cases, contact Nobl9 support.

You can add the Amazon Redshift data source using the direct or agent connection methods. For both methods, start with these steps:

  1. Navigate to Integrations > Sources.
  2. Click .
  3. Click the relevant Source icon.
  4. Choose a relevant connection method (Agent or Direct), then configure the source as described below.

Amazon Redshift direct​

Direct configuration in the UI​

Direct connection to Amazon Redshift requires users to enter their credentials which Nobl9 stores safely. To set up this type of connection:

  1. Select one of the following Release Channels:
    • The stable channel is fully tested by the Nobl9 team. It represents the final product; however, this channel does not contain all the new features of a beta release. Use it to avoid crashes and other limitations.
    • The beta channel is under active development. Here, you can check out new features and improvements without the risk of affecting any viable SLOs. Remember that features in this channel may be subject to change.
  2. Enter your AWS Secret ARN (mandatory).
    The secret must be tagged with RedshiftDataFullAccess permission. For more information, see Data API | Amazon Redshift documentation

  3. Enter the IAM Role ARN.
    Check the instructions above for more details.

  1. Select a Project.
    Specifying a project is helpful when multiple users are spread across multiple teams or projects. When the Project field is left blank, Nobl9 uses the default project.
  2. Enter a Display Name.
    You can enter a user-friendly name with spaces in this field.
  3. Enter a Name.
    The name is mandatory and can only contain lowercase, alphanumeric characters, and dashes (for example, my-project-1). Nobl9 duplicates the display name here, transforming it into the supported format, but you can edit the result.
  4. Enter a Description.
    Here you can add details such as who is responsible for the integration (team/owner) and the purpose of creating it.
  5. Specify the Query delay to set a customized delay for queries when pulling the data from the data source.
    • The default value in Amazon Redshift integration for Query delay is 30 seconds.
    info
    Changing the Query delay may affect your SLI data. For more details, check the Query delay documentation.
  6. Click Add Data Source.

Direct using CLI - YAML​

The YAML for setting up a direct connection to Amazon Redshift looks like this:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Direct
metadata:
name: redshift-direct
displayName: Redshift Direct
project: redshift-direct
spec:
redshift:
roleARN: "" # secret
secretARN: "" # secret
sourceOf:
- Metrics
releaseChannel: beta # string, one of: beta || stable
queryDelay:
unit: Minute # string, one of: Second || Minute
value: 720 # numeric, must be a number less than 1440 minutes (24 hours)
logCollectionEnabled: false # boolean, defaults to 'false'. Set to true if you'd like your source to collect logs. It's a beta functionality available only through direct release channel. Reach out to support@nobl9.com to activate it.

Amazon Redshift agent​

Agent configuration in the UI​

Follow the instructions below to create your Amazon Redshift agent connection. Refer to the section above for the description of the fields.

  1. Enter a Project.
  2. Enter a Display Name.
  3. Enter a Name.
  4. Create a Description.
  5. Customize the Query Delay.
  6. Click Add Data Source.

Agent using CLI - YAML​

The YAML for setting up an agent connection to Amazon Redshift looks like this:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Agent
metadata:
name: redshift-agent
displayName: Redshift Agent # optional
project: default
spec:
description: Agent settings for redshift datasource # optional
sourceOf:
- Metrics
releaseChannel: beta # string, one of: beta || stable
queryDelay:
unit: Minute # string, one of: Second || Minute
value: 720 # numeric, must be a number less than 1440 minutes (24 hours)
redshift: {}
warning

You can deploy only one agent in one YAML file by using the sloctl apply command.

Deploying Amazon Redshift agent​

When you add the data source, Nobl9 automatically generates a Kubernetes configuration and a Docker command line for you to use to deploy the agent. Both of these are available in the web UI, under the Agent Configuration section. Be sure to swap in your credentials (e.g., replace <AWS_SECRET_ARN>, <AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID>, and <AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY> with your organization key).

If you use Kubernetes, you can apply the supplied YAML config file to a Kubernetes cluster to deploy the agent. It will look something like this:

# DISCLAIMER: This deployment description contains only the fields necessary for the purpose of this demo.
# It is not a ready-to-apply k8s deployment description, and the client_id and client_secret are only exemplary values.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-default-my-amazon-redshift
namespace: default
type: Opaque
stringData:
aws_access_key_id: <AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID>
aws_secret_access_key: <AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY>
aws_secret_arn: <AWS_SECRET_ARN>
client_id: client_id
client_secret: client_secret
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-default-my-amazon-redshift
namespace: default
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
matchLabels:
nobl9-agent-name: my-amazon-redshift
nobl9-agent-project: default
nobl9-agent-organization: nobl9-dev
template:
metadata:
labels:
nobl9-agent-name: my-amazon-redshift
nobl9-agent-project: default
nobl9-agent-organization: nobl9-dev
spec:
containers:
- name: agent-container
image: nobl9/agent:0.69.4
resources:
requests:
memory: "350Mi"
cpu: "0.1"
env:
- name: N9_CLIENT_ID
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
key: client_id
name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-default-my-amazon-redshift
- name: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
key: aws_access_key_id
name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-default-my-amazon-redshift
- name: AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
key: aws_secret_access_key
name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-default-my-amazon-redshift
- name: AWS_SECRET_ARN
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
key: aws_secret_arn
name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-default-my-amazon-redshift
- name: N9_CLIENT_SECRET
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
key: client_secret
name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-default-my-amazon-redshift
# The N9_METRICS_PORT is a variable specifying the port to which the /metrics and /health endpoints are exposed.
# The 9090 is the default value and can be changed.
# If you don’t want the metrics to be exposed, comment out or delete the N9_METRICS_PORT variable.
- name: N9_METRICS_PORT
value: "9090"

Creating SLOs with Amazon Redshift​

Creating SLOs in the UI​

Follow the instructions below to create your SLOs with Amazon Redshift in the UI:

  1. Navigate to Service Level Objectives.

  2. Click .
  3. In step 1 of the SLO wizard, select the Service the SLO will be associated with.

  4. In step 2, select Redshift as the data source for your SLO.

    1. Enter a Region (mandatory).
      Use one of the regional endpoints that are listed here.

    2. Enter a Cluster ID (mandatory).
      It is an identifier of your Amazon Redshift cluster that is a part of your Redshift secret. For more details on Redshift, secrets go here. For example redshift-cluster-1.

    3. Enter a Database name (mandatory).
      It is the name of your Amazon Redshift database. For example dev.

    4. Select a metric type. You can choose between two types of metrics:

      1. A Threshold Metric is a single time series evaluated against a threshold.

      2. A Ratio Metric allows you to enter two-time series to compare (for example, a count of good requests and total requests).

        1. Choose the Data Count Method for your ratio metric:
          • Non-incremental: counts incoming metric values one-by-one. So the resulting SLO graph is pike-shaped.
          • Incremental: counts the incoming metric values incrementally, adding every next value to previous values. It results in a constantly increasing SLO graph.
    5. Enter a Query or Good query and Total query:

      1. Query example for the Threshold metric (Raw metric):
        Query: SELECT value as n9_value, timestamp as n9_time FROM httpstatuscodes WHERE timestamp BETWEEN :n9date_from AND :n9date_to

      2. Query example for the Ratio metric (count metric):
        Good query:SELECT value as n9value, timestamp as n9date FROM httpstatuscodes WHERE timestamp BETWEEN :n9date_from AND :n9date_to
        Total query: SELECT value as n9value, timestamp as n9date FROM sinusoid WHERE timestamp BETWEEN :n9date_from AND :n9date_to

      SLI values for good and total
      When choosing the query for the ratio SLI (countMetrics), keep in mind that the values ​​resulting from that query for both good and total:
      • Must be positive.
      • While we recommend using integers, fractions are also acceptable.
        • If using fractions, we recommend them to be larger than 1e-4 = 0.0001.
      • Shouldn't be larger than 1e+20.
  5. In step 3, define a Time Window for the SLO.

  6. In step 4, specify the Error Budget Calculation Method and your Objective(s).

  7. In step 5, add a Name, Description, and other details about your SLO. You can also select Alert Policies and Labels on this screen.

  8. When you’re done, click Create SLO.

SLOs using Amazon Redshift - YAML samples​

Here’s an example of Amazon Redshift using a rawMetric (threshold metric)

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
name: redshift-raw
displayName: Redshift Raw SLO
project: redshift
spec:
description: Redshift SLO Description
service: redshift
indicator:
metricSource:
name: redshift
project: redshift
budgetingMethod: Occurrences
objectives:
- target: 0.8
value: 0.8
op: lte
rawMetric:
query:
redshift:
region: eu-central-1
clusterId: n9-dev-tooling-redshift
databaseName: dev
query: SELECT value as n9value, timestamp as n9date FROM sinusoid WHERE
timestamp BETWEEN :n9date_from AND :n9date_to
displayName: average
- target: 0.9
value: 0.9
op: lte
rawMetric:
query:
redshift:
region: eu-central-1
clusterId: n9-dev-tooling-redshift
databaseName: dev
query: SELECT value as n9value, timestamp as n9date FROM sinusoid WHERE
timestamp BETWEEN :n9date_from AND :n9date_to
displayName: so-so
timeWindows:
- calendar:
startTime: "2020-11-14 11:00:00"
timeZone: Etc/UTC
count: 1
isRolling: false
unit: Day

The Amazon Redshift SLO requires the following fields:

n9date and n9value:

Amazon Redshift SQL query needs to return two values - n9date and n9value:

  • n9date is the timestamp for the data.

  • n9value is a float containing the actual metric.

    Note that Amazon RedShift accepts these values in the following format:

    • :n9date_from

    • :n9date_to

    This allows users to enter virtually any query.

Querying the Amazon Redshift server​

To call the AWS Redshift Data API, Nobl9 runs the aws redshift-data execute-statement command that is executed once per minute. Nobl9 queries for data from the previous minute.

Amazon Redshift API rate limits​

The following rate limits apply to the Amazon Redshift API:

  • The maximum query result size is 100 MB. If a call returns more than 100 MB of response data, the call is ended.

  • The maximum retention time for query results is 24 hours.

  • The maximum query statement size is 100 KB.

  • The Data API is available to query single-node and multiple-node clusters of the following node types:

    • dc2.large
    • dc2.8xlarge
    • ds2.xlarge
    • ds2.8xlarge
    • ra3.xlplus
    • ra3.4xlarge
    • ra3.16xlarge
  • The cluster must be in a virtual private cloud (VPC) based on the Amazon VPC service.

Data API | Amazon Redshift documentation

Regional Endpoints | Amazon Redshift documentation

Agent metrics

Creating SLOs via Terraform

Creating agents via Terraform