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VictoriaMetrics

VictoriaMetrics is a third-party monitoring solution and time-series database that replaced Prometheus in PMM 2.12.0.

Push/Pull modes

VictoriaMetrics metrics data can be both ‘pushed’ to the server and ‘pulled’ by the server. When setting up services, you can decide which mode to use.

The ‘push’ mode is now default for newly-added services. (In PMM 2.12.0 the default mode was ‘pull’.)

The mode (push/pull) is controlled by the --metrics-mode flag for the pmm-admin config and pmm-admin add commands.

If you need to change the metrics mode for an existing Service, you must remove it and re-add it with the same name and the required flags. (You cannot update a service.)

Remapped targets for direct Prometheus paths

Direct Prometheus paths return structured information directly from Prometheus, bypassing the PMM application.

They are accessed by requesting a URL of the form <PMM SERVER URL>/prometheus/<PATH>.

As a result of the move to VictoriaMetrics some direct Prometheus paths are no longer available.

Prometheus path VictoriaMetrics equivalent
/prometheus/alerts No change.
/prometheus/config No equivalent, but there is some information at /prometheus/targets.
/prometheus/flags The flag metrics at /prometheus/metrics.
/prometheus/graph /graph/explore (Grafana) or graph/d/prometheus-advanced/advanced-data-exploration (PMM dashboard).
/prometheus/rules No change.
/prometheus/service-discovery No equivalent.
/prometheus/status Some information at /prometheus/metrics. High cardinality metrics information at /prometheus/api/v1/status/tsdb.
/prometheus/targets /victoriametrics/targets

Environment variables

PMM predefines certain flags that allow users to set all other VictoriaMetrics parameters as environment variables:

The environment variable must be prepended with VM_.

Example

To set downsampling, use the downsampling.period parameter as follows:

-e VM_downsampling_period=20d:10m,120d:2h

This instructs VictoriaMetrics to deduplicate samples older than 20 days with 10 minute intervals and samples older than 120 days with two hour intervals.

Troubleshooting

To troubleshoot issues, see the VictoriaMetrics troubleshooting documentation.

You can also contact the VictoriaMetrics team via:


Last update: 2023-03-24