Open-Source Oracle Database Performance History with PostgreSQL and Grafana

Description and use

Harry Performance Scraper is an open‑source pipeline that collects Oracle performance data, stores it in PostgreSQL, and visualizes it in Grafana, enabling post‑incident investigations.

Problem

Oracle databases expose many performance metrics, but capturing and retaining the detailed evidence needed for post‑incident investigations is difficult because most data disappears once workloads change.

Outcome

Harry provides a self‑hosted, open‑source solution that captures detailed Oracle performance history, stores it relationally in PostgreSQL, and visualizes it in Grafana, enabling DBAs to investigate incidents long after they occur.

Workflow

• Configure Oracle collectors to run scheduled queries at desired intervals (e.g., 2s, 15s, 1m, 2m).
• Deploy Harry Performance Scraper as one or more instances with leader election for high availability.
• Harry writes collected data into a PostgreSQL schema, partitioning high‑frequency samples from slowly changing data.
• Use Grafana dashboards (e.g., Database Activity History, Top Consumers) to explore activity timelines, SQL, waits, and plans.
• Optionally enable ASH collectors if licensed, or rely on non‑ASH dynamic views.
• Set retention policies in PostgreSQL to keep desired history length.
• Query the PostgreSQL repository directly with SQL for custom analysis or export data.
• Use Grafana alerts on PostgreSQL data for proactive monitoring.

Evidence

Harry writes the collected information into a relational PostgreSQL schema. High-frequency samples are kept separate from SQL text, execution plans and other slowly changing data.

Source

Grafana is the interface. The PostgreSQL repository is the evidence.

Source