Documentation Grafana Cloud Monitor applications Database Observability Investigate

Investigate performance issues

When you identify a slow or problematic query, use the investigation tools in Database Observability to understand the root cause. These tools help you analyze query execution, examine real query samples, understand where queries spend time waiting, and explore table structures.

What you can do

• Analyze explain plans: Understand how the database executes your queries and identify optimization opportunities.
• Examine query samples: Review actual query executions with their parameters and timing.
• Understand wait events: See where queries spend time waiting for resources.
• Explore table schemas: View table structures, indexes, and constraints to identify optimization opportunities.

Investigation workflow

1. Start with metrics: Identify slow queries in the Queries Overview.
2. Check the explain plan: Understand how the query executes.
3. Review samples: See actual execution times and patterns.
4. Analyze wait events: Identify resource bottlenecks.
5. Explore schemas: Check for missing indexes.
6. Optimize: Apply fixes based on your findings using the slow queries guide.

Explore next steps

• Analyze explain plans
  Use explain plans to understand query execution and identify optimization opportunities.
• Examine query samples
  Review actual query executions with their parameters, timing, and context.
• Understand wait events
  Learn where queries spend time waiting for resources like locks, I/O, and CPU.
• Explore table schemas
  Use schema details to understand table structures, indexes, and identify optimization opportunities.