---
title: "Check requirements | Grafana Labs"
description: "Verify that your PostgreSQL database, Grafana Cloud account, and Alloy installation meet the requirements for Database Observability."
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

# Check requirements

Before starting the setup, verify that your environment meets the requirements for Database Observability. Getting these right upfront prevents troubleshooting later.

## Grafana Cloud requirements

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| Requirement            | Details                                                                                                                                                                               |
|------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Account                | Grafana Cloud account with Editor or Admin role                                                                                                                                       |
| Database Observability | Activated in your Grafana Cloud stack. Open **Observability** > **Database** in the navigation menu and click **Activate Database Observability** if the app isn’t already active. |
| Stack                  | Access to Grafana Cloud Mimir (metrics) and Grafana Cloud Loki (logs) data sources                                                                                                    |
| Permissions            | Ability to view and create dashboards                                                                                                                                                 |

## PostgreSQL requirements

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| Requirement             | Details                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
|-------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Version                 | PostgreSQL 14.0 or later                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| pg\_stat\_statements    | Extension loaded through `shared_preload_libraries` and created in each database you monitor                                                                                                                                                           |
| Query tracking settings | `compute_query_id` set to `on`, `pg_stat_statements.track` set to `all`, and `track_activity_query_size` set to `4096`. `track_activity_query_size` (like `shared_preload_libraries`) needs a PostgreSQL restart; the others apply on a config reload. |
| Connection              | Alloy must connect directly to the database host — avoid load balancers or connection poolers like PgBouncer                                                                                                                                           |
| Monitoring user         | User with the `pg_monitor` and `pg_read_all_stats` roles, plus read access to the schemas you want to monitor                                                                                                                                          |

## Grafana Alloy requirements

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| Requirement     | Details                                                                                                                   |
|-----------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Version         | Grafana Alloy 1.17.0 or later. Database Observability is generally available, so no `--stability.level` flag is required. |
| Network         | Outbound access to Grafana Cloud endpoints                                                                                |
| Database access | Network connectivity to your PostgreSQL instance                                                                          |

## Checklist

Before proceeding, verify:

- Grafana Cloud account is active with appropriate permissions
- Database Observability is activated in your Grafana Cloud stack
- PostgreSQL version is 14.0 or later
- You can change PostgreSQL configuration and restart PostgreSQL if the query tracking settings need to change
- Network connectivity exists between the Alloy host and your PostgreSQL database
- Network connectivity exists between the Alloy host and Grafana Cloud
- You have administrative access to create a PostgreSQL monitoring user
- Alloy connects directly to the database, not through a load balancer or PgBouncer

In the next milestone, you’ll prepare your PostgreSQL database for monitoring.