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Datadog

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Datadog is a cloud-scale application observability solution that monitors servers, databases, tools, and services. Nobl9 connects with Datadog to collect SLI measurements and compare them to SLO targets. Nobl9 can activate processes and notifications when the error burn rate is too high or has been surpassed because it calculates error budgets of acceptable thresholds.

Users can pass business context through monitoring data, developing and measuring reliability targets, and aligning activities against the error budget's priorities using the Datadog Nobl9 integration.

Authentication​

When deploying the Nobl9 Agent, user needs to provide an API Key and Application Key with DD_API_KEY and DD_APPLICATION_KEY environment variables. Alternatively, credentials can be passed as using a local config file with keys api_key and application_key under n9datadog (or n9datadog_v2) section.

The procedure to obtain both keys is documented in the API and Application Keys | Datadog Documentation.

note

To connect to Datadog, the Nobl9 Agent scrapes the /api/v1/query endpoint that requires timeseries_query authorization scope. Make sure your account has this scope before you connect to Datadog.

For more details, refer to Datadog Documentation.

Adding Datadog as a Data Source in the UI​

To add Datadog as a data source in Nobl9 using the Agent or Direct connection method, follow these steps:

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

Datadog Direct​

Direct Configuration in the UI​

Direct configuration for Datadog 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 the Datadog API endpoint to connect to your data source.
    It is a Datadog SaaS instance that corresponds to one of Datadog's available locations:

    • datadoghq.com (formerly referred to as COM),
    • us3.datadoghq.com
    • us5.datadoghq.com
    • datadoghq.eu (formerly referred to as EU),
    • ddog-gov.com,
    • ap1.datadoghq.com

  3. Enter the API Key.

  4. Enter the Application Key.

  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 then object is assigned to project default.
  2. Enter a Display Name.
    You can enter a 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-name). This field is populated automatically when you enter a display name, 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. Customize the Query delay to set a customized delay for queries when pulling the data from the data source.
    • The default value in Datadog integration for Query delay is 1 minute.
    info
    Changing the Query delay may affect your SLI data. For more details, check the Query delay documentation.
  6. Enter a Maximum Period for Historical Data Retrieval.
    • This value defines how far back in the past your data will be retrieved.
    • The value for the Maximum period of data retrieval depends on the Source. Check the Replay documentation for details.
    • Entering a more extended Period might slow down the loading time when creating an SLO.
      • The value must be a positive integer.
  7. Enter a Default Period for Historical Data Retrieval.
    • It is the Period that will be used by the SLO connected to this data source.
    • The value must be a positive integer or 0.
    • By default, this value is set to 0. If you set it to >0, you will create an SLO with Replay.
  8. Click the Add Data Source button.

Direct using CLI - YAML​

The YAML for setting up a Direct connection to Datadog looks like this:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Direct
metadata:
  name: datadog-direct
  displayName: Datadog direct
  project: datadog-direct
spec:
  description: direct integration with Datadog
  sourceOf: # One or many values from this list are allowed: Metrics, Services
    - Metrics
    - Services
  queryDelay:
      unit: Minute # string, one of: Second || Minute
      value: 720 # numeric, must be a number lesser than 1440 minutes (24 hours)
  datadog:
    site: us5.datadoghq.com
    apiKey: "" # secret
    applicationKey: "" # secret
  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.
  historicalDataRetrieval:
    maxDuration:
      value: 30
      unit: Day # allowed values: Minute, Hour, Day
    defaultDuration:
      value: 7
      unit: Day # allowed values: Minute, Hour, Day

Important notes:

  • spec[n].datadog.site – string: Datadog SaaS instance that corresponds to one of Datadog's available locations:
    • datadoghq.com (formerly referred to as COM),
    • us3.datadoghq.com
    • us5.datadoghq.com
    • datadoghq.eu (formerly referred to as EU),
    • ddog-gov.com,
    • ap1.datadoghq.com
  • spec[n].historicalDataRetrieval - refer to Replay Documentation | Nobl9 Documentation for more details.

Datadog Agent​

Agent Configuration in the UI​

Follow the instructions below to create your DataDog Agent configuration. Refer to the section above for the description of the fields.

  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 the Datadog API endpoint to connect to your data source.

  1. Enter a Project.
  2. Enter a Name.
  3. Create a Description.
  4. In the Advanced Settings you can:
    1. Enter a Maximum Period for Historical Data Retrieval.
    2. Enter a Default Period for Historical Data Retrieval.
  5. Click the Add Data Source button.

Agent Using CLI - YAML​

The YAML for setting up an Agent connection to Datadog looks like this:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Agent
metadata:
  name: datadog
  project: datadog
spec:
  datadog:
    site: datadoghq.com
  sourceOf:
    - Metrics
    - Services
  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)
  historicalDataRetrieval:
      maxDuration:
        value: 30 # integer greater than or equal to 0
        unit: Day # accepted values: Minute, Hour, Day
      defaultDuration: # value must be less than or equal to value of maxDuration
        value: 0 # integer greater than or equal to 0
        unit: Day # accepted values: Minute, Hour, Day

Important notes:

Agent specification from Datadog has the following fields:

  • spec[n].datadog.site – string: Datadog SaaS instance that corresponds to one of Datadog's available locations:
    • datadoghq.com (formerly referred to as COM),
    • us3.datadoghq.com
    • us5.datadoghq.com
    • datadoghq.eu (formerly referred to as EU),
    • ddog-gov.com,
    • ap1.datadoghq.com
  • spec[n].historicalDataRetrieval - refer to Replay Documentation | Nobl9 Documentation for more details.
warning

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

Deploying Datadog 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 the <DATADOG_API_KEY> and <DATADOG_APPLICATION_KEY> with your organization keys).

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-datadog-month-g
  namespace: default
type: Opaque
stringData:
  datadog_api_key: "<DATADOG_API_KEY>"
  datadog_application_key: "<DATADOG_APPLICATION_KEY>"
  client_id: "unique_client_id"
  client_secret: "unique_client_secret"
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-datadog-month-datadogagent
  namespace: default
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      nobl9-agent-name: "datadogagent"
      nobl9-agent-project: "datadog-month"
      nobl9-agent-organization: "nobl9-dev"
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        nobl9-agent-name: "datadogagent"
        nobl9-agent-project: "datadog-month"
        nobl9-agent-organization: "nobl9-dev"
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: agent-container
          image: nobl9/agent:latest
          resources:
            requests:
              memory: "350Mi"
              cpu: "0.1"
          env:
            - name: N9_CLIENT_ID
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: client_id
                  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-datadog-month-datadogagent
            - name: N9_CLIENT_SECRET
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: client_secret
                  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-datadog-month-datadogagent
            - name: DD_API_KEY
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: datadog_api_key
                  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-datadog-month-datadogagent
            - name: DD_APPLICATION_KEY
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: datadog_application_key
                  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-datadog-month-datadogagent
            # 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 Datadog​

Creating SLOs in the UI​

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

  1. Navigate to Service Level Objectives.

  2. Click the button.

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

  4. In step 2, select Datadog as the Data Source for your SLO, then specify the Metric. You can choose either a Threshold Metric, where a single time series is evaluated against a threshold, or a Ratio Metric, which allows you to enter two time series to compare (for example, a count of good requests and total requests).

    note

    For the Ratio Metric, you can choose the Data Count Method:

    • For the Non-incremental method, we expect it to be the components of the sum.
    • For the Incremental method, we expect the value of a metric to be the current sum of some numerator.

    For more information, refer to the SLO Calculations Guide.

  5. Enter a Query or Good Query and Total Query for the metric you selected. The following are query examples:

    • Threshold metric for Datadog:
      Query: avg:trace.http.request.duration{service:my-service}.as_count()

    • Ratio metric for Datadog:
      Good Query: avg:trace.http.request.hits.by_http_status{service:my-service,!http.status_class:5xx}.as_count()

      Total Query: avg:trace.http.request.hits.by_http_status{service:my-service}.as_count()

  6. In step 3, define a Time Window for the SLO.

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

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

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

SLOs using Datadog - YAML samples​

Here’s an example of Datadog using a rawMetric (Threshold metric):

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  displayName: datadog-calendar-occurrences-threshold
  name: datadog-calendar-occurrences-threshold
  project: datadog
spec:
 budgetingMethod: Occurrences
 description: ""
 indicator:
   metricSource:
     name: datadog
 service: datadog-n9
 objectives:
 - target: 0.8
   op: lte
   rawMetric:
     query:
       datadog:
         query: avg:trace.http.request.duration{*}
   displayName: awesome
   value: 0.04
 - target: 0.99
   op: lte
   rawMetric:
     query:
       datadog:
         query: avg:trace.http.request.duration{*}
   displayName: so-so
   value: 0.1
  timeWindows:
    - calendar:
        startTime: "2020-11-14 12:30:00"
        timeZone: Etc/UTC
      count: 1
      isRolling: false
      unit: Day

Important notes:

Metric queries in Datadog are described in the Querying metrics | Datadog Documentation.

warning

It is important to define queries in such a way that they return only one time series.

Example:

❌ Grouping metrics will often result in a multiple time series:

  • avg:system.load.1{*} by {host}
Image 1: Sample query with grouping metrics

✔ Same query without grouping

  • avg:system.load.1{*}
Image 2: Same query without grouping metrics
note

It is strongly suggested to not use .rollup() or .moving_rollup() functions in your queries (see Rollup | Datadog Documentation).

Nobl9 Agent uses enforced rollup described in the Rollup Interval: Enforced vs Custom | Datadog Documentation to control the number of points returned from the queries. Using .rollup() or .moving_rollup() can affect the number of returned points or the way they are aggregated. This fact, in conjunction with the time range of each query Nobl9 agent, makes, can skew calculated error budgets.

Querying the Datadog Server​

The Nobl9 Agent leverages the Query Timeseries API | Datadog Documentation parameters at a two-minute interval.

Nobl9 sends an API request containing a batch of queries against the Datadog API. The API request can contain multiple queries separated by a comma with a limit of 1024 characters per request. If the character limit is exceeded, the Nobl9 Agent will create another API request.

warning

One incorrectly defined query has an impact on other SLOs with correct query definitions. Providing an invalid query causes loss in results for all other queries batched in the same API request.
For example, when you define an SLO with an incorrect Datadog query, the results for the other SLOs using Datadog as a data source are lost.

Datadog API Rate Limits​

Requests to Datadog’s API are rate limited. For more information, refer to the Rate Limits | Datadog Documentation.

The default rate limit for the Query Timeseries API call is 1600 per hour per organization. This limits the single-query integration to query up to 26 metrics with 1 minute interval.

Nobl9 Integration with Datadog | Datadog Documentation

Rollup Interval: Enforced vs Custom | Datadog Documentation

Rate Limits | Datadog Documentation

Query Timeseries API | Datadog Documentation

Agent Metrics | Nobl9 Documentation

Creating SLOs via Terraform | Nobl9 Terraform Documentation

Creating Agents via Terraform | Nobl9 Terraform Documentation

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