Google Cloud Monitoring

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Google Cloud Monitoring (GCM) provides visibility into the performance, uptime, and overall health of cloud-powered applications. It collects metrics, events, and metadata from Google Cloud, hosted uptime probes, and application instrumentation.

Google Cloud Monitoring parameters and supported features in Nobl9

General support:: Release channel: Stable, Beta; Connection method: Agent, Direct; Replay and SLI Analyzer: Historical data limit 30 days; Event logs: Supported; Query checker: Not supported; Query parameters retrieval: Supported; Timestamp cache persistence: Supported
Query parameters:: Query interval: 1 min; Query delay: 2 min; Jitter: 15 sec; Timeout: 50 sec
Agent details and minimum required versions for supported features:: Plugin name: n9gcm; Query delay environment variable: GCM_QUERY_DELAY; Replay and SLI Analyzer: 0.79.0-beta; Query parameters retrieval: 0.73.2; Timestamp cache persistence: 0.65.0
Additional notes:: Support for PromQL queries in Nobl9 agent v0.83.0-beta + / 0.88.0 +; Support for Google Cloud Monitoring metrics; Learn more

Authentication

Google Cloud Monitoring authorization requires user credentials. You can retrieve these credentials from the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) in the form of a Service account key file.

Learn more about authentication in Google Cloud.

Provide your Service account key when connecting GCM using the direct method. This ensures direct integration with the GCM APIs to retrieve the data, leveraging the SaaS-to-SaaS infrastructure in Nobl9.

On the Nobl9 Web, drag&drop the required file into the Service Account Key File field.
When you use sloctl, pass your credentials as the value for the gcm.serviceAccountKey field.

note

Your user account must have access to one of the following OAuth scopes:

Adding Google Cloud Monitoring as a data source

To ensure data transmission between Nobl9 and Google Cloud Monitoring, it may be necessary to list Nobl9 IP addresses as trusted.

💻ip allowlist

IP addresses to include in your allowlist for secure access:

If you're using app.nobl9.com instance:

18.159.114.21
18.158.132.186
3.64.154.26

If you're using us1.nobl9.com instance:

34.121.54.120
34.123.193.191
34.134.71.10
35.192.105.150
35.225.248.37
35.226.78.175
104.198.44.161

You can add the Google Cloud Monitoring data source using the direct or agent connection methods.

Direct connection method

A direct connection to Google Cloud Monitoring requires users to enter their credentials which Nobl9 stores safely.

Nobl9 Web

To set up this type of connection:

Navigate to Integrations > Sources.
Click .
Click the required Source button.
Choose Direct.

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 can change.
Upload your Service Account Key File to authenticate with GCP (mandatory).
Retrieve your authentication credentials from the Google Cloud Platform. The file must be in JSON format. For more information, refer to the Getting Started with Authentication | Google Cloud documentation or the Authentication section above.

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.
Enter a Display Name.
You can enter a user-friendly name with spaces in this field.
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.
Enter a Description.
Here you can add details such as who is responsible for the integration (team/owner) and the purpose of creating it.
Specify the Query delay to set a customized delay for queries when pulling the data from the data source.
- The default value in Google Cloud Monitoring integration for Query delay is 2 minutes.
info
Changing the Query delay may affect your SLI data. For more details, check the Query delay documentation.
Enter a Maximum Period for Historical Data Retrieval.
- This value defines how far back in the past your data will be retrieved when replaying your SLO based on this data source.
- The maximum period value depends on the data source.
  Find the maximum value for your data source.
- A greater period can extend the loading time when creating an SLO.
Enter a Default Period for Historical Data Retrieval.
- It is used by SLOs connected to this data source.
- The value must be a positive integer or 0.
- By default, this value is set to 0. When you set it to >0, you will create SLOs with Replay.
Click Add Data Source.

sloctl

Create a YAML definition to set up a direct connection with Google Cloud Monitoring. For this, refer to the following example:

YAML definition for the direct connection method
apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Direct
metadata:
  name: google-cloud-monitoring
  displayName: Google Cloud Monitoring Direct
  project: default
spec:
  description: Example Google Cloud Monitoring Direct
  releaseChannel: beta
  gcm:
    serviceAccountKey: "{\n  \"type\": \"service_account\",\n  \"project_id\": \"prod-app\",\n  \"private_key_id\": \"669180ba44964eddba9e2f6623721381\",\n  \"private_key\": \"-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\\nSECRET_KEY_GOES_HERE\\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----\\n\",\n  \"client_email\": \"nobl9@nobl9.iam.gserviceaccount.com\",\n  \"client_id\": \"eddba9e2f66237213812\",\n  \"auth_uri\": \"https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth\",\n  \"token_uri\": \"https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token\",\n  \"auth_provider_x509_cert_url\": \"https://www.googleapis.com/oauth2/v1/certs\",\n  \"client_x509_cert_url\": \"https://www.googleapis.com/robot/v1/metadata/x509/nobl9%40nobl9.iam.gserviceaccount.com\"\n}"
  historicalDataRetrieval:
    maxDuration:
      value: 30
      unit: Day
    defaultDuration:
      value: 15
      unit: Day
    triggeredBySloCreation:
      value: 15
      unit: Day
    triggeredBySloEdit:
      value: 15
      unit: Day
  queryDelay:
    value: 3
    unit: Minute

Field	Type	Description
`queryDelay.unit` mandatory	enum	Specifies the unit for the query delay. Possible values: `Second` \| `Minute`. • Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
`queryDelay.value` mandatory	numeric	Specifies the value for the query delay. • Must be a number less than 1440 minutes (24 hours). • Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
`logCollectionEnabled` optional	boolean	Optional. Defaults to `false`. Set to `true` if you'd like your direct to collect event logs. Contact us to activate it.
`releaseChannel` mandatory	enum	Specifies the release channel. Accepted values: `beta` \| `stable`.
Source-specific fields
`gcm.serviceAccountKey` mandatory	string	Copy and paste your credentials from the `credentials.json` file. See authentication for more details.
Replay-related fields
`historicalDataRetrieval` optional	n/a	Optional structure related to configuration related to Replay. ❗ Use only with supported sources. • If omitted, Nobl9 uses the default values of `value: 0` and `unit: Day` for `maxDuration` and `defaultDuration`.
`maxDuration.value` optional	numeric	Specifies the maximum duration for historical data retrieval. Must be integer `≥ 0`. See Replay documentation for values of max duration per data source.
`maxDuration.unit` optional	enum	Specifies the unit for the maximum duration of historical data retrieval. Accepted values: `Minute` \| `Hour` \| `Day`.
`defaultDuration.value` optional	numeric	Specifies the default duration for historical data retrieval. Must be integer `≥ 0` and `≤` `maxDuration`.
`defaultDuration.unit` optional	enum	Specifies the unit for the default duration of historical data retrieval. Accepted values: `Minute` \| `Hour` \| `Day`.

Apply your YAML definition using the sloctl apply command.

Agent connection method

Nobl9 Web

Follow the instructions below to set up an agent connection.

Navigate to Integrations > Sources.
Click .
Click the required Source button.
Choose Agent.

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 can change.

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.
Enter a Display Name.
You can enter a user-friendly name with spaces in this field.
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.
Enter a Description.
Here you can add details such as who is responsible for the integration (team/owner) and the purpose of creating it.
Specify the Query delay to set a customized delay for queries when pulling the data from the data source.
- The default value in Google Cloud Monitoring integration for Query delay is 2 minutes.
info
Changing the Query delay may affect your SLI data. For more details, check the Query delay documentation.
Enter a Maximum Period for Historical Data Retrieval.
- This value defines how far back in the past your data will be retrieved when replaying your SLO based on this data source.
- The maximum period value depends on the data source.
  Find the maximum value for your data source.
- A greater period can extend the loading time when creating an SLO.
Enter a Default Period for Historical Data Retrieval.
- It is used by SLOs connected to this data source.
- The value must be a positive integer or 0.
- By default, this value is set to 0. When you set it to >0, you will create SLOs with Replay.
Click Add Data Source.

Deploy your agent in a Kubernetes cluster or Docker container.

sloctl

Create a YAML definition to set up an agent connection with Google Cloud Monitoring. For this, refer to the following example:

YAML definition for the agent connection method
apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Agent
metadata:
  name: google-cloud-monitoring
  displayName: Google Cloud Monitoring Agent
  project: default
spec:
  description: Example Google Cloud Monitoring Agent
  releaseChannel: beta
  gcm: {}
  historicalDataRetrieval:
    maxDuration:
      value: 30
      unit: Day
    defaultDuration:
      value: 15
      unit: Day
  queryDelay:
    value: 3
    unit: Minute

Field	Type	Description
`queryDelay.unit` mandatory	enum	Specifies the unit for the query delay. Possible values: `Second` \| `Minute`. • Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
`queryDelay.value` mandatory	numeric	Specifies the value for the query delay. • Must be a number less than 1440 minutes (24 hours). • Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
`releaseChannel` mandatory	enum	Specifies the release channel. Accepted values: `beta` \| `stable`.