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AMS Prometheus

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Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus (or AMS Prometheus) is a monitoring and alerting service that ensures easy-to-use monitoring of containerized applications and infrastructure. It's scalable, and you don't have to worry about hosting it yourself.

Amazon Prometheus parameters and supported features in Nobl9
General support:
Release channel: Stable, Beta
Connection method: Agent

Query parameters:
Query interval: 1 min
Query delay: 0
Jitter: 15 sec
Timeout: 30 sec

Agent details and minimum required versions for supported features:
Environment variable: PROM_QUERY_DELAY
Plugin name: n9prometheus
Replay and SLI Analyzer: 0.55.0
Maximum historical data retrieval period: 30 days
Query parameters retrieval: 0.73.2
Timestamp cache persistence: 0.65.0

Additional notes:
Support for Prometheus metrics
No support for IAM roles for bare EC2 instances
Learn more

Authentication​

For more details, refer to Authentication for AMS Prometheus.

To set up the connection, AMS Prometheus requires users to enter the URL. To get the URL:

  1. Sign in to your AWS account.

  2. Click the AMS Prometheus in the Management & Governance panel:

    Image 1: Configuring authentication for AMS Prometheus (1)
  3. Click All workspaces.

    Image 2: Configuring authentication for AMS Prometheus (2)
  4. Choose a relevant workspace:

    Image 3: Configuring authentication for AMS Prometheus (3)
  5. In the Summary screen, copy the Endpoint - query URL

    Image 4: Configuring authentication for AMS Prometheus (4)
warning

The url that you need is the Endpoint - query URL without the /api/v1/query string at the end of the URL.

Adding Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus as a data source​

To ensure data transmission between Nobl9 and Amazon Prometheus, 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 Prometheus data source using the agent connection method.

Nobl9 Web​

Follow the instructions below to create your AMS Prometheus agent connection:

  1. Navigate to Integrations > Sources.
  2. Click .
  3. Click the required Source icon.
  4. Choose Agent.
  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 can change.
  2. Add the URL to connect to your data source (mandatory).
    Refer to Authentication for AMS Prometheus for detailed instructions on how to get the URL.

  3. Enter a Region (mandatory).
    The list of supported Regions for AMS Prometheus is here.

  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 Prometheus integration for Query delay is 0 seconds.
    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 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.
      • The value must be a positive integer.
  7. 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.
  8. Click Add Data Source.

sloctl​

The YAML for setting up an agent connection to AMS Prometheus looks like this:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Agent
metadata:
name: amazon-prometheus-agent
displayName: AMS Prometheus Agent
project: default
spec:
description: Agent settings for Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus datasource
sourceOf:
- Metrics
releaseChannel: beta
queryDelay:
unit: Minute
value: 720
amazonPrometheus:
url: https://aps-workspaces.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/workspaces/some_workspace_id
region: eu-central-1
historicalDataRetrieval:
maxDuration:
value: 30 # Max value for Amazon Prometheus
unit: Day
defaultDuration:
value: 0
unit: Day
FieldTypeDescription
queryDelay.unit
mandatory
enumSpecifies the unit for the query delay. Possible values: Second | Minute.
β€’ Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
queryDelay.value
mandatory
numericSpecifies the value for the query delay.
β€’ Must be a number less than 1440 minutes (24 hours).
β€’ Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
releaseChannel
mandatory
enumSpecifies the release channel. Accepted values: beta | stable.
Source-specific fields
amazonPrometheus.url
mandatory
stringis the `Endpoint - query URL` in AMS Prometheus. Check Authentication for AMS Prometheus for detailed instructions on how to get it
amazonPrometheus.region
mandatory
stringCheck the list of supported regions for AMS Prometheus.
Replay-related fields
historicalDataRetrieval
optional
n/aOptional structure related to configuration related to Replay.
❗ Use only with supported sources.
β€’ If omitted, Nobl9 uses the default values of value: 0 and unit: Day for maxDuration and defaultDuration.
maxDuration.value
optional
numericSpecifies the maximum duration for historical data retrieval. Must be integer β‰₯ 0. See Replay documentation for values of max duration per data source.
maxDuration.unit
optional
enumSpecifies the unit for the maximum duration of historical data retrieval. Accepted values: Minute | Hour | Day.
defaultDuration.value
optional
numericSpecifies the default duration for historical data retrieval. Must be integer β‰₯ 0 and ≀ maxDuration.
defaultDuration.unit
optional
enumSpecifies the unit for the default duration of historical data retrieval. Accepted values: Minute | Hour | Day.
warning

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

caution

The Nobl9 agent makes one request to API per minute per unique query. Make sure that your AMS Prometheus server can handle additional traffic. For more details, go to AMP Quotas.

Agent deployment​

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 Nobl9 Web, under the Agent Configuration section. Be sure to swap in your credentials.

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-awsprometheus-month-prom
namespace: default
type: Opaque
stringData:
client_id: "unique_client_id"
client_secret: "unique_client_secret"
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-awsprometheus-month-prom
namespace: default
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
matchLabels:
nobl9-agent-name: "prom"
nobl9-agent-project: "awsprometheus-month"
nobl9-agent-organization: "nobl9-dev"
template:
metadata:
labels:
nobl9-agent-name: "amazon-prom"
nobl9-agent-project: "amazon-prometheus-month"
nobl9-agent-organization: "nobl9-dev"
spec:
containers:
- name: agent-container
image: nobl9/agent:0.82.2
resources:
requests:
memory: "350Mi"
cpu: "0.1"
env:
- name: N9_CLIENT_ID
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
key: client_id
name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-awsprometheus-month-prom
- name: N9_CLIENT_SECRET
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
key: client_secret
name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-awsprometheus-month-prom
# 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"
# N9_ALLOWED_URLS is an optional security parameter that limits the URLs that an Agent can query
# for metrics. URLs defined in the Nobl9 app are prefix-compared against the N9_ALLOWED_URLS list of
# comma separated URLs.
# - name: N9_ALLOWED_URLS
# value: "http://172.16.0.2/api/v1/query,http://172.16.0.3"

Creating SLOs with AMS Prometheus​

Nobl9 Web​

Follow the instructions below to create your SLOs with AWS Prometheus in the Nobl9 Web:

  1. Navigate to Service Level Objectives.
  2. Click .
  3. Select a Service.
    It will be the location for your SLO in Nobl9.
  4. Select your Amazon managed service for Prometheus data source.
  5. Modify Period for Historical Data Retrieval, when necessary.
    • This value will be used to replay your SLO and defines how far back in the past your data will be retrieved.
    • A longer period can extend the data loading time for your SLO.
    • Must be a positive whole number up to the maximum period value you've set when adding the Amazon managed service for Prometheus data source.
  6. Select the Metric type:
    • Threshold metric: a single time series is evaluated against a threshold.
    • Ratio metric: two-time series for comparison for good events and total events.
      For ratio metrics, select the Data count method: incremental or non-incremental.
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.
  1. Enter a Query (for the Threshold metric) or Good Query, and Total Query (for the Ratio metric). The following are query examples:

    • Threshold metric for AMS Prometheus: Query: sum(changes(kube_pod_status_ready{condition="true"}[5m]))

    • Ratio metric for AMS Prometheus: Good Query: sum(server_requests{code=~"2xx|3xx",host=""}) Total Query: server_requests{code="total",host=""}

  1. Define the Time Window for your SLO:
  2. Configure the Error budget calculation method and Objectives:
    • Occurrences method counts good attempts against the count of total attempts.
    • Time Slices method measures how many good minutes were achieved (when a system operates within defined boundaries) during a time window.
    • You can define up to 12 objectives for an SLO.

    • Similar threshold values for objectives
      To use similar threshold values for different objectives in your SLO, we recommend differentiating them by setting varying decimal points for each objective.
      For example, if you want to use threshold value 1 for two objectives, set it to 1.0000001 for the first objective and to 1.0000002 for the second one.
      Learn more about threshold value uniqueness.
  3. Add the Display name, Name, and other settings for your SLO:
    • Name identifies your SLO in Nobl9. After you save the SLO, its name becomes read-only.
      Use only lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes.
    • Create Composite SLO: with this option selected, you create a composite SLO 1.0. Composite SLOs 1.0 are deprecated. They're fully operable; however, we encourage you to create new composite SLOs 2.0.
      You can create composite SLOs 2.0 with sloctl using the provided template. Alternatively, you can create a composite SLO 2.0 with Nobl9 Terraform provider.
    • Set Notifications on data. With it, Nobl9 will notify you in the cases when SLO won't be reporting data or report incomplete data for more than 15 minutes.
    • Add alert policies, labels, and links, if required.
      Up to 20 items of each type per SLO is allowed.
  4. Click CREATE SLO.

  5. SLO configuration use case
    Check the SLO configuration use case for a real-life SLO example.

sloctl​

Here's an example of Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus using rawMetric (threshold metric):

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
displayName: My AMS Prometheus SLO
name: my-awsprometheus-slo
project: my-awsprometheus-project
spec:
budgetingMethod: Occurrences
description: ""
indicator:
metricSource:
name: my-amsprometheus-source
service: my-service
objectives:
- target: 0.8
op: lte
rawMetric:
query:
amazonPrometheus:
promql: myapp_server_requestMsec{host="*",job="nginx"}
displayName: average
value: 200
- target: 0.5
op: lte
rawMetric:
query:
amazonPrometheus:
promql: myapp_server_requestMsec{host="*",job="nginx"}
displayName: so-so
value: 150
timeWindows:
- calendar:
startTime: "2020-11-14 11:00:00"
timeZone: Etc/UTC
count: 1
isRolling: false
unit: Day

Important notes:

  • Specification for metric from Prometheus has one mandatory field:

    • promql – a Prometheus query in the PromQL (Prometheus Query Language) that allows the user to select and aggregate time-series data in real-time.

Querying the AMS Prometheus server​

Nobl9 agent makes one request to API per minute per unique query. Make sure that your Prometheus server can handle additional traffic. For more details on Amazon service quota, go to Service Quotas | Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus documentation.

For a more in-depth look, consult additional resources: