This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Aravin
This is Part 5 of the BigAnimal in PostgreSQL series.
👉 Previous: Access Model
Scheduled Jobs Monitoring
pgAgent stores all job definitions and logs in pgagent catalog tables, located in the pgagent schema (usually in the postgres or maintenance database).
Main tables:
-
pgagent.pga_job→ Job definitions -
pgagent.pga_jobstep→ Steps of each job -
pgagent.pga_joblog→ Job execution history -
pgagent.pga_jobsteplog→ Each step’s execution log
1️⃣Check if pgAgent service is running (system-level)
sudo systemctl status pgagent
or if it’s running as a background process (for EDB pgAgent):
ps aux | grep pgagent If you see the pgAgent process, it’s running.
2️⃣ Check current running jobs (SQL query)
Run this in the database where pgAgent is installed:
SELECT j.jobid, j.jobname, j.enabled, l.jlgid AS joblogid, l.jlgstatus AS status, l.jlgstart AS start_time
FROM pgagent.pga_job j
LEFT JOIN pgagent.pga_joblog l ON j.jobid = l.jlgjobid
WHERE l.jlgstatus = 'r'
ORDER BY l.jlgstart DESC;
🔹 jlgstatus = 'r' → job is running
🔹 s = success, f = failed, i = idle
If you get no rows → no job is running currently.
3️⃣ Check recent job run status
SELECT j.jobname, l.jlgstatus, l.jlgstart, l.jlgduration
FROM pgagent.pga_job j
JOIN pgagent.pga_joblog l ON j.jobid = l.jlgjobid
ORDER BY l.jlgstart DESC
LIMIT 10;
This shows the 10 most recent job runs with their statuses.
4️⃣ Check step-level details (optional)
If you want to see which step is currently running or failed:
SELECT j.jobname, s.jstname AS step_name, sl.jslstatus AS step_status, sl.jslstart AS step_start
FROM pgagent.pga_job j
JOIN pgagent.pga_jobstep s ON j.jobid = s.jstjobid
JOIN pgagent.pga_jobsteplog sl ON s.jstid = sl.jsljstid
ORDER BY sl.jslstart DESC
LIMIT 10;
5️⃣ pgAdmin (GUI method)
- Go to pgAdmin → Jobs → [select job] → Statistics tab → you can see last run, next run, and last result.
- You can also open pgAgent → Job Logs to view running or completed jobs.
Quick Troubleshooting Tips
- Job not starting - Verify pgAgent service is running (
systemctl status pgagenton the instance, if visible) - Job not listed - Ensure you’re connected to the same database where pgAgent was configured
- Job failed - Inspect
pgagent.pga_joblog.jlgoutputfor error details - Job never runs - Check
jobenabled = trueand the schedule inpgagent.pga_schedule
Monitoring Dashboard BigAnimal Console
- Open the BigAnimal Console: https://portal.biganimal.com
- From the left sidebar, click Clusters → select your cluster.
- Click the Monitoring & Logging tab. You’ll now see:
-
Overview (Summary)— CPU, memory, storage usage -
Metrics— time-series graphs (like Grafana) -
Logs— PostgreSQL logs & events -
Queries— slow or long-running query insights
Query Monitoring (Performance tab)
BigAnimal automatically collects query performance data using pg_stat_statements and auto_explain.
We can view below in dashboard:
- Top Queries - Queries ranked by total execution time.
- Slow Queries - Queries exceeding configured thresholds.
- Query Plans - Execution plans of slowest queries.
- Query Frequency - Number of times a query pattern ran.
Save and reload configuration (no restart needed for these).
We can enable additional query logging from the console:
- Go to
Configuration→ Parameters - Set
log_min_duration_statement = 1000(Logs queries slower than 1s) - log_statement_stats = on
- log_parser_stats = on
- log_executor_stats = on
Storage & Bloat Monitoring
In the Monitoring → Storage tab:
- We will see table/index size growth.
SELECT relname AS table_name, pg_size_pretty(pg_total_relation_size(relid)) AS total_size, pg_size_pretty(pg_table_size(relid)) AS table_size, pg_size_pretty(pg_indexes_size(relid)) AS index_size
FROM pg_catalog.pg_statio_user_tables;
- Autovacuum statistics (dead tuples, last vacuum time).
SELECT relname, n_dead_tup, last_autovacuum, last_autoanalyze
ROM pg_stat_all_tables;
- Index usage efficiency (from pg_stat_user_indexes).
SELECT relname, idx_scan, idx_tup_read, idx_tup_fetch
FROM pg_stat_user_indexes;
If idx_scan is 0 or very low → consider dropping the index.
If you enable pgstattuple and pg_repack extensions, the console can show bloat percentage for each table/index.
Optional Add-ons
If you enable these extensions in BigAnimal:
-
pgstattuple→ shows table and index bloat % -
pg_repack→ allows reclaiming bloated space without downtime
Logs Dashboard
Under Monitoring & Logging → Logs,
We can:
- Filter by severity (ERROR, WARNING, LOG)
- Search for specific text (e.g., “autovacuum”, “statement timeout”)
- View PostgreSQL logs per node
- Export logs in .
txtor .jsonformat for external analysis
Log Sources Behind the Scenes
The dashboard aggregates data from:
- PostgreSQL log files (pg_log)
- System logs (e.g., WAL archiver, autovacuum, checkpoint activity)
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Aravin
Aravin | Sciencx (2025-10-22T06:48:23+00:00) Monitoring EDB BigAnimal console. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/10/22/monitoring-edb-biganimal-console/
Please log in to upload a file.
There are no updates yet.
Click the Upload button above to add an update.