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New Relic

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New Relic is a software solution that monitors performance and availability. It sets and rates application performance across the environment using a standardized Apdex (application performance index) score. You can use any New Relic query to gather SLIs and apply them in Nobl9 to define your new SLOs.

Scope of support​

With the New Relic integration, you can use any New Relic Query | New Relic Documentation to gather SLIs and apply them in Nobl9 to define your new SLOs.

Authentication​

NewRelic Insights API Query Key, that is NEWRELIC_INSIGHTS_QUERY_KEY, must be passed as an environment variable during agent startup. Query keys are not query-specific - any query key in your New Relic account will run any query. The value of the New Relic account ID is returned by Intake API. The Key is account_id. There is no possibility to overwrite the value of account_id with the environmental variables.

Your account_id shows on your New Relic account once you list out your accounts:

  1. Using the New Relic ONE interface, select Manage your plan in User preferences:

    Image 1: New Relic Preferences in the New Relic ONE UI

  2. Copy Account ID from the Plan management page:

    Image 2: Plan management page in the New Relic ONE UI

For more information on account ID, refer to the Account ID | New Relic Documentation.

To retrieve your INSIGHTS_QUERY_KEY:

  1. On your New Relic Account, go to API Keys :

    Image 3: New Relic Menu in the New Relic UI

  2. In the Looking for other keys? section, click the Insights Query Keys link:

    Image 4: Insights Query Keys link in New Relic UI
    caution
    Don't create or use API Keys from the API Keys section of your New Relic account.

    Nobl9 requires an Insights Query Key that begins with the NRIQ- prefix.

    You can only obtain this key from the New Relic Insights API (see step 3 below).

  3. Once the New Relic Insights API tab has loaded, click the blue plus button next to the Query Keys section on the right-hand side of the page to create a new INSIGHTS_QUERY_KEY:

    Image 5: New Relic Insights query key

Adding New Relic as a Data Source in the UI​

To add New Relic 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.

New Relic Direct​

Direct Configuration in the UI​

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

  1. Enter the New Relic Account ID to connect to your data source.
    Your Account ID shows on your New Relic account once you list out your accounts.

  2. Enter the Insights Query Key.
    Refer to the Authentication section 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 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. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Click the Add Data Source button.

Direct Using CLI - YAML​

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

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Direct
metadata:
  name: newrelic-direct
  displayName: Newrelic direct
  project: newrelic-direct
spec:
  description: direct integration with Newrelic
  sourceOf: # One or many values from this list are allowed: Metrics, Services
    - Metrics
    - Services
  newRelic:
    accountId: 12345678 # secret
    insightsQueryKey: "" # secret
  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:

New Relic Agent​

Agent Configuration in the UI​

Follow the instructions below to configure your New Relic Agent. Refer to the section above for the description of the fields.

  1. Enter the New Relic Account ID to connect to your data source.

  2. Select a Project.

  3. Enter a Display Name.

  4. Enter a Name.

  5. Create a Description.

  6. In the Advanced settings, you can:

    1. Enter a Maximum Period for Historical Data Retrieval.

    2. Enter a Default Period for Historical Data Retrieval.

  7. Click the Add Data Source button.

Agent Using CLI - YAML​

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

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Agent
metadata:
  name: newrelic
  displayName: New Relic Agent # optional
  project: newrelic
spec:
  description: Agent settings for new relic datasource # optional
  sourceOf:
    - Metrics
    - Services
  newrelic:
    accountId: 12345678
  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:

note

It is possible that a user is assigned to multiple accounts. In any case, the account ID can be obtained in the same way.

warning

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

Deploying New Relic 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 <NEWRELIC_INSIGHTS_QUERY_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-newrelic-week-ble
  namespace: default
type: Opaque
stringData:
  newrelic_insights_query_key: "<NEWRELIC_INSIGHTS_QUERY_KEY>"
  client_id: "<CLIENT_ID>"
  client_secret: "<CLIENT_SECRET>"
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-newrelic-week-ble
  namespace: default
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      nobl9-agent-name: "newrelicagent"
      nobl9-agent-project: "newrelic-week"
      nobl9-agent-organization: "nobl9-dev"
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        nobl9-agent-name: "newrelicagent"
        nobl9-agent-project: "newrelic-week"
        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-newrelic-week-ble
            - name: N9_CLIENT_SECRET
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: client_secret
                  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-newrelic-week-ble
            - name: NEWRELIC_INSIGHTS_QUERY_KEY
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: newrelic_insights_query_key
                  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-newrelic-week-ble
            # 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 New Relic​

Creating SLOs in the UI​

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

  1. Navigate to Service Level Objectives.

  2. Click the button.

  3. Select a data source for your SLO.

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

  5. 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.

  6. Use the New Relic's query language (NRQL) to enter a Query or a Good Query and Total Query for the metric you selected. For more details on NRQL and query samples, refer to the New Relic Query Examples section.

    • Nobl9 queries for time series data using the TIMESERIES clause.
      • You can add an empty TIMESERIES clause in your NRQL query or skip it altogether as Nobl9 adds missing TIMESERIES clause or overwrites the existing one.
      • As TIMESERIES clause is overwritten, do not append it with custom parameters.

    warning

    Do not append the time range by using the SINCE and UNTIL clauses in your queries as Nobl9 must have control over queried time range.

    For details on the position of the TIMESERIES clause, go to New Relic query examples below.

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

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

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

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

SLOs using New Relic - YAML samples​

Here’s an example of New Relic using a rawMetric (Threshold metric)

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  displayName: My SLO
  name: my-slo
  project: my-project
spec:
    budgetingMethod: Timeslices
    description: ""
    indicator:
      metricSource:
        name: newrelic
    service: newrelic-polakpotrafipl
    objectives:
    - target: 0.6
      op: lte
      rawMetric:
        query:
          newRelic:
            nrql: SELECT average(duration) FROM Transaction TIMESERIES
      displayName: rather-bad
      timeSliceTarget: 0.6
      value: 0.6
    - target: 0.99
      op: lte
      rawMetric:
        query:
          newRelic:
            nrql: SELECT average(duration) FROM Transaction TIMESERIES
      displayName: stretched
      timeSliceTarget: 0.99
      value: 1.2
    timeWindows:
    - count: 1
      isRolling: true
      unit: Hour

Specification for metric from New Relic always has one mandatory field:

  • nrql – It can be used to retrieve detailed New Relic data and get insight into your applications, hosts, and business-important activity.

New Relic Query Examples​

caution: position of the TIMESERIES clause

Nobl9 queries to New Relic are sensitive to the position of the TIMESERIES clause. For example, to make the following correct NewRelic query work in Nobl9:

SELECT
    count(*)
FROM
    Transaction TIMESERIES
WHERE
    httpResponseCode IN ('301', '200', '302')

Move the TIMESERIES clause to the end of your Nobl9 query:

SELECT
    count(*)
FROM
    Transaction
WHERE
    httpResponseCode IN ('301', '200', '302') TIMESERIES

The following are valid query examples:

  • TIMESERIES clause:
    SELECT count(*) FROM Transaction TIMESERIES 1 hour

    1 hour will be overwritten by the Agent and set to a different value.

  • Threshold metric for New Relic:
    Query: SELECT average(duration) FROM Transaction TIMESERIES

  • Ratio metric for New Relic:
    Good Query: SELECT count() FROM Transaction WHERE httpResponseCode IN ('200','301','302') TIMESERIES

    Total Query: SELECT count() FROM Transaction TIMESERIES

For details on New Relic Query Language, refer to the Introduction to NRQL | New Relic Documentation.

One Point in Results​

Queries must be written in such a way that they return only one time series. In other words, you must always query for a single attribute or use a single function (or expression).

Examples:

❌ Incorrect queries:

  • SELECT * FROM Transaction - selects ALL attributes

  • SELECT average(duration), min(duration) FROM Transaction - selects 2 functions

✔ Correct queries:

  • SELECT count(*) FROM Transaction TIMESERIES - selects a single function.

  • SELECT average(duration) FROM Transaction TIMESERIES - selects a single attribute.

Other clauses mutually exclusive with TIMESERIES

❌ Other clauses that are mutually exclusive with TIMESERIES clause must not be used. Example:

  • SELECT count(*) FROM PageView FACET city

Querying the New Relic Server​

The Nobl9 Agent leverages NewRelic Insights API parameters. It pulls data at a two-minute interval from the New Relic server.

New Relic API Rate limits​

For the information on New Relic rate limits, refer to the following documentation:

Introduction to NRQL | New Relic Documentation

Query Insights Event Data via API | New Relic Documentation

Rate Limits for NRQL Queries | New Relic Documentation

Agent Metrics | Nobl9 Documentation

Creating SLOs via Terraform | Nobl9 Terraform Documentation

Creating Agents via Terraform | Nobl9 Terraform Documentation

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