Using GreptimeDB as Prometheus Data Lake in Coroot

Why Choose GreptimeDB for Prometheus Data Lake

GreptimeDB is an open-source observability database specifically engineered for wide events and Observability 2.0 practices. It is designed to use one database to natively accept incoming data across metrics, logs, and traces, while providing multiple query interfaces for seamless data exploration.

During our development journey to deliver a developer-friendly, feature-rich experience, we discovered Coroot—an open-source APM & Observability tool with zero-instrumentation dashboards and inspections. GreptimeDB can be used as a Prometheus-compatible data lake in Coroot, enabling organizations to store and analyze large volumes of telemetry data efficiently, helping developers create advanced application performance monitoring and root cause analysis.​

Seamless Integration and High-Throughput Real-Time Data Ingestion​

GreptimeDB supports Prometheus remote write and HTTP API with PromQL query capabilities, allowing developers to easily integrate it into their existing observability stack or migrate from existing Prometheus deployments. This compatibility ensures a smooth transition without requiring significant changes to existing workflows or tooling.

With support for concurrent writing of billions of index points per second, GreptimeDB can handle high-throughput data ingestion with exceptional performance.

Flexible Data Analysis with Low Storage Cost and High Performance​

GreptimeDB employs a columnar data model to store Prometheus metrics, which extends database capabilities to process time-series data and enables advanced analytical features. This architecture allows developers to perform complex queries and analyses on their telemetry data, leveraging both SQL and PromQL query languages.

• Materialized views and transformation engines streamline complex data workflows, accelerating insights and enhancing developer productivity.
• Like Prometheus alert rules, GreptimeDB’s rule engine and trigger mechanisms enable proactive alerting and automated responses.
• GreptimeDB’s scalable object storage ensures reliable, cost-effective data persistence.
• Real-time query APIs and read replicas ensure efficient data access while isolating analytical workloads from operational systems.

Unified Observability Through Combined Metrics, Logs, and Traces​

Beyond Prometheus metrics, GreptimeDB can store logs and traces, enabling a comprehensive unified observability solution. This integration allows developers to correlate metrics, logs, and traces seamlessly, providing a holistic view of application performance and system health across the entire technology stack.

(Figure 1: Unified GreptimeDB）

Why Choose Coroot as Data Monitoring and Analysis Tool​

Coroot transforms raw observability data into actionable insights through intelligent analysis and visualization. Leveraging AI-driven correlation algorithms, Coroot automates root cause analysis by examining relationships between metrics, traces, profiles and infrastructure events.

By integrating GreptimeDB as Coroot’s Prometheus-compatible data source, developers need only configure the Prometheus URL to gain immediate access to comprehensive visualization capabilities for monitoring their applications and infrastructure, making the process both efficient and straightforward.

Integration Guide: GreptimeDB and Coroot​

To integrate GreptimeDB with Coroot:

1. In the Coroot Dashboard, navigate to Settings and select the Prometheus configuration.
2. If your GreptimeDB instance is running on localhost with port 4000 (HTTP service), authentication enabled, and using the default  public database, configure as follows:

• Prometheus URL: 

  http://localhost:4000/v1/prometheus

• Authentication: Enable HTTP basic auth and enter your GreptimeDB username and password.
• Remote Write URL: 

  http://localhost:4000/v1/prometheus/write?db=public

The following image illustrates the Coroot configuration:

 

Once configured, Coroot will begin collecting and visualizing data from GreptimeDB. You can view the metrics already displayed in the Coroot dashboard.

The following images show examples of Coroot dashboard visualizations. You can view instance statuses on the Application page and click through to detailed pages to examine CPU, memory, network, and other metrics.

Conclusion​

The integration of GreptimeDB and Coroot creates a powerful observability solution that combines GreptimeDB’s high-performance time-series storage capabilities with Coroot’s intelligent monitoring and analysis features. This partnership enables developers to:

• Leverage GreptimeDB’s Prometheus-compatible interface for seamless migration and integration
• Benefit from cost-effective storage and high-throughput data ingestion

Beyond Prometheus compatibility, GreptimeDB supports unified observability by combining metrics, logs, and traces. This enables developers to analyze their data using SQL while integrating seamlessly with tools like Jaeger for logs and traces. We are excited to deepen our collaboration with Coroot to provide developers with an even more comprehensive observability solution.