pg_exporter

A PostgreSQL metric exporter for Prometheus written in Rust

Goals

pg_exporter is designed with a selective metrics approach:

• Modular collectors – Expose only the metrics you actually need instead of collecting everything by default.
• Avoid unnecessary metrics – Prevent exposing large numbers of unused metrics to Prometheus, reducing load and keeping monitoring efficient.
• Customizable collectors – Tailor the metrics to your specific requirements while maintaining compatibility with the official postgres_exporter.
• Low memory footprint – Designed to minimize memory usage and maximize efficiency while scraping metrics.

Download or build

Install via Cargo:

cargo install pg_exporter

Or download the latest release from the releases page.

Usage

Run the exporter and use the socket directory:

pg_exporter --dsn postgresql:///postgres?user=postgres_exporter

in pg_hba.conf you need to allow the user postgres_exporter to connect, for example:

local  all  postgres_exporter  trust

You can also specify a custom port, for example 9187:

pg_exporter --dsn postgresql://postgres_exporter@localhost:5432/postgres --port 9187

Available collectors

The following collectors are available:

• --collector.default default
• --collector.activity activity
• --collector.databases databases
• --collector.vacuum vacuum
• --collector.locks locks
• --collector.stat stat

You can enable --colector.<name> or disable --no-collector.<name> For example, to disable the vacuum collector:

pg_exporter --dsn postgresql:///postgres?user=postgres_exporter --no-collector.vacuum

Enabled by default

This collectors are enabled by default:

• default
• activity
• vacuum

Project layout

The project is structured as follows:

├── bin
├── cli
├── collectors
├── exporter
└── lib.rs

All the collectors are located in the collectors directory. Each collector is in its own subdirectory, making it easy to manage and extend.

collectors
├── activity
│   ├── connections.rs
│   ├── mod.rs
│   └── wait.rs
├── config.rs
├── database
│   ├── catalog.rs
│   ├── mod.rs
│   ├── README.md
│   └── stats.rs
├── default
│   ├── mod.rs
│   ├── postmaster.rs
│   ├── settings.rs
│   └── version.rs
├── locks
│   ├── mod.rs
│   └── relations.rs
├── mod.rs <-- main file to register collectors
├── register_macro.rs
├── registry.rs
├── stat
│   ├── mod.rs
│   └── user_tables.rs
├── util.rs
└── vacuum
    ├── mod.rs
    ├── progress.rs
    └── stats.rs

In mod.rs file inside the collectors directory, you can see how each collector is registered. This modular approach allows for easy addition or removal of collectors as needed.

Each collector can then be extended with more specific metrics. For example, the vacuum collector has two files: progress.rs and stats.rs, this allows for better organization and separation of concerns within the collector and better testability. (or that is the plan).

Feedback

This project is a work in progress. Your feedback, suggestions, and contributions are always welcome!