Datadog integration is based on the OpenTelemetry Collector and the Datadog plugin bundled with the OpenTelemetry collector. Once the integration is enabled, BigAnimal configures data planes to send the telemetry to your Datadog account by way of Datadog's cloud receive endpoint.

Note

Datadog integration doesn't install the Datadog agent. It sends telemetry to the Datadog API.

Prerequisites

You need a Datadog account before you can use this integration.

Enabling Datadog

To enable the Datadog integrations:

  1. From the Projects page, select an existing project.
  2. Go to Settings on the left-side navigation.
  3. From the Settings list, select Integrations.
  4. Select Datadog. In the window, provide the details:
    • Datadog API Key For details, see Datadog API and Application Keys. The API key is sensitive information. You can't retrieve it after you save it.
    • Datadog Site Name Select a site name from the list. The telemetry goes to the Datadog site you choose.
    • Datadog Site URL The Datadog site URL appears based on the Datadog site name you selected.
    • Datadog API Key ID Assign a name for the API key ID. You can use the API key ID to check the configuration details.
  5. Select Save.

Enabling this integration sends BigAnimal telemetry to your Datadog account.

Important

Generate a new API key in Datadog to enable this integration in BigAnimal. This API key must be specific to this integration. Don't share the key. Whenever you disable this integration, revoke the API key using the Datadog interface. Revoking it disables the Datadog ingestion and billable usage from the BigAnimal integration. Revoking the API key doesn't impact the other services that use the Datadog API.

Metrics

BigAnimal sends a subset of the OpenTelemetry Collector's metrics from the hostmetrics and kubeletstats receivers. It also sends BigAnimal custom metrics for the monitored Postgres instance.

You can see a list of metrics in the Datadog interface along with the tags for each metric.

To see the list of metrics, select Metrics > Summary. Then select a metric to see the tags for that metric.

The set of metrics delivered to Datadog is subject to change. Metrics with names that begin with postgres.preview. or biganimal.preview. are likely to be renamed or removed in a future release. Other metrics may also be renamed, added, or removed to better integrate into the DataDog platform.

Cost

Telemetry sent to Datadog will incur charges on your Datadog plan according to the Datadog price list. We recommend that you continually monitor your billable Datadog usage as the cost could change. Datadog provides usage metrics for this purpose, such as datadog.estimated_usage.hosts, datadog.estimated_usage.containers, and datadog.estimated_usage.metrics.custom.

Be aware of the following cost considerations:

  • Datadog bills for each monitored Kubernetes node as an "Infrastructure Host".
  • Datadog may also bill for each Postgres container and monitoring agent container at the "Container Monitoring" rate.
  • Datadog counts some of the metrics sent by BigAnimal as custom metrics. Custom metrics dimensions above the free limit are billable at a rate set in the Datadog price list.
  • The Datadog metrics without limits feature can limit cardinality-based billing for custom metrics. However, it enables ingestion-based billing instead, so the overall price might actually be greater.

Disabling Datadog

To disable the Datadog integration for BigAnimal and ensure no further costs are incurred on your Datadog account, you must revoke the API key provided to BigAnimal. Disabling the integration on the BigAnimal portal doesn't prevent costs from being incurred.

Further reading

For more information, see: