Actian Ingres 12.1 Adds OpenTelemetry Metrics for Modern Observability

Actian Ingres 12.1 now emits OpenTelemetry (OTel) metrics using a Docker Compose–based stack that includes an Actian metric generator, Actian OTel agent, Grafana Alloy, Prometheus (time series database), and Grafana dashboards. This solution—called Actian Monitor—can be downloaded by Ingres and Actian Vector customers via ESD.

You can send data to your choice of OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) consumers—including Grafana Cloud, Datadog, Elastic, New Relic, and other observability platforms—and extend the provided dashboards or build your own. OTel logging support is on our roadmap for ~Q2 2026.

Por qué es importante

Modern databases and applications are increasingly distributed, making observability—the ability to understand system health and performance—essential. OTel has become the industry standard for collecting metrics and logs in a vendor‑neutral way. It provides APIs, SDKs, and the OpenTelemetry Collector to instrument services and route telemetry to any compliant backend that ingests OTLP.

With Ingres 12.1 joining the OTel ecosystem, Actian customers benefit from portable telemetry, streamlined integrations, and a modern path to unified dashboards and operational insights.

A Quick Primer on OpenTelemetry

OpenTelemetry is an open-source, vendor-neutral framework (CNCF project) that standardizes collection and export of metrics and logs. It ships language SDKs, auto-instrumentation, and the OTel Collector for receiving, processing, and exporting signals.

OTLP is the wire format for moving telemetry among apps, collectors, and backends—over gRPC or HTTP, with compression support; it’s stable for metrics and logs.

OTel Collectors build pipelines out of receivers → processors → exporters. It can run multiple pipelines for different signal types and fan out data to several backends at once.

OTel provides a high degree of vendor independence (instrument once, send anywhere) and interoperability across cloud providers and tools.

OTel has seen rapid ecosystem adoption from vendors like Grafana Cloud, Datadog, Elastic, and New Relic that natively ingest or integrate with OTLP.

Benefits You Can Expect

Ingres customers will experience these advantages:

• Vendor independence and future-proofing. Instrument Ingres once and ship telemetry to any OTLP backend without lock-in.
• Unified dashboards across many sources. Combine Ingres metrics with other service and infrastructure telemetry in one view.
• Aggregation and routing for later processing. Use Alloy/Collector pipelines to aggregate, enrich, and route metrics to multiple destinations.
• Problem determination and general health. Metrics highlight health and trends; logs (coming soon) will provide detailed context.

Real-World Scenarios for Using Ingres Metrics

When you’re running complex systems, raw metrics are only half the story. The real magic happens when you connect the dots. Here are a few practical ways teams are putting Ingres metrics to work:

• Correlating database and app performance. Ever wonder why your app slowed down after that last release? By comparing Ingres query metrics with application-level data, you can spot regressions before they become customer complaints.
• Bringing multiple data sources together. Metrics don’t live in isolation. Place Ingres data side-by-side with Prometheus-scraped node metrics, or even mirror them into platforms like Datadog, Elastic, or New Relic. This gives you a single pane of glass for troubleshooting and optimization.
• Aggregating for deeper analysis later. Sometimes you need the big picture. Configure Alloy to export metrics locally and to your cloud backends. This way, you can run fleet-wide analytics without scrambling for missing data when it matters most.

What You Get With Actian Ingres 12.1 OTel Integration

Highlights and capabilities:

• Over 100 metrics to drive comprehensive database monitoring.
• Delivered as a Docker Compose–based stack (packaged deployment) from metric generation through presentation.
• Pre-built dashboards you can use out-of-the-box or customize.
• Flexible outputs: use the provided stack, send to Grafana Cloud, Datadog, Elastic, New Relic, or any OTLP consumer. 

Docker Compose stack is comprised of:

• Ingres metric generator.
• Actian OTel agent to emit OTel metrics.
• Grafana Alloy (Grafana’s distribution of the OTel Collector).
• Prometheus (time series database) for metrics storage and query.
• Grafana for dashboards and visualization. Users can enable enterprise functionality with a license from Grafana.

Deployment flexibility:

• Run the packaged stack as-is for a turn‑key experience.
• Have the ability to point OTLP exporters to Grafana Cloud, Datadog, Elastic, or New Relic.

Availability for Actian Monitor

The Ingres OTel solution is called Actian Monitor, and Ingres customers can download the installer via ESD.

Actian plans to add logging support in or around Q2 2026, completing a robust metrics and logs observability story for Ingres.

Closing Thoughts on Implementing OTel

By adopting OTel in Ingres 12.1, Actian aligns with modern observability practices: open standards, portable pipelines, and choice of backends. With over 100 metrics, a packaged Compose stack, pre-built dashboards, and OTLP compatibility (including Grafana Cloud, Datadog, Elastic, and New Relic), Ingres users can combine, compare, and analyze telemetry across their ecosystem—boosting insight, reliability, and speed to resolution.

Find out more about new features and benefits in Ingres 12.1, and why it’s modern, secure, and connected.

Acerca del autor

About Robert DeSantis

Robert DeSantis is a Senior Software Development Engineer and Development Director at Actian Corporation. Based in San Jose, California, he’s part of a small engineering team that advances Actian database technologies. With more than 30 years of technology experience, he helps set engineering and support priorities for products while delivering features that improve customer self-sufficiency, usability, and modernization.