Skip to content
Go to dashboard

2.13gRPC

What it checks#

A gRPC monitor asks a gRPC server whether it is healthy. It calls the standard health service, grpc.health.v1.Health/Check, on a host and port. The check is up only when the server answers SERVING.

A TCP monitor reads a server that is shutting down as healthy, because it still accepts connections. A gRPC monitor asks the server itself.

When it is up, degraded or down#

  • Up: the server answered SERVING within the timeout, and the response-time assertion passed, if you set one.
  • Degraded: the answer was slower than your slow limit, if you set one.
  • Down: any other answer, such as health status is NOT_SERVING. Also down:
    • the server has no health service: the server does not implement the gRPC health service (grpc.health.v1.Health).
    • the health service does not know the service you named: the server's health service does not know the service "acme.orders.v1.Orders".
    • no answer in time: no health answer within 10s.
    • the connection or TLS failed, or an assertion failed, for example assertion response_time_ms < 200: got 340.

Configuration#

Dashboard fieldDefaultLimits and notes
nameEmptyRequired. Up to 200 characters, on one line.
check interval60 secondsAt least 1 second. Your plan's minimum interval still applies: below it the form shows Your plan checks at most every N seconds.
timeout10 secondsIn seconds. A value above 60 seconds counts as 60 seconds.
locationsNone (runs from us-west)Choose from the regions shown. The check runs from each one you pick.
on failure — notifyNone (all team channels)Pick channels to limit who is alerted. Shown only when your team has channels.
endpoint (host)EmptyRequired. Host only, such as api.acme.io. A scheme, port or path gives Host only — no scheme, port or path.
endpoint (port)EmptyRequired. 1 to 65535.
plaintextOffOff: the connection uses TLS and the server's certificate is checked. On: plain HTTP/2 without TLS.
serviceEmptyOptional. The service name sent in the health request, such as acme.orders.v1.Orders. Empty asks about the server as a whole. Spaces give No spaces in a service name.
assertions — response-time only for grpcNoneResponse time only.

Assertions supported#

response_time_ms only: how long the health call took. The operator list shows eq, neq, contains, lt, gt and matches.

Example#

API request body (CreateGrpcMonitor)
json
{
  "name": "orders gRPC",
  "host": "api.acme.io",
  "port": 443,
  "serviceName": "acme.orders.v1.Orders",
  "intervalSeconds": 60,
  "assertions": [
    {"type": "response_time_ms", "op": "ASSERTION_OP_LT", "value": "200"}
  ]
}

Good to know#

  • Your server must register the gRPC health service. Most gRPC frameworks include one you can turn on.
  • Server errors: host required, port must be in 1..65535, service_name must not contain spaces, service_name must be at most 255 characters.

Last updated