Environment variables in PMM

Configure PMM Server by setting Docker container environment variables using the -e var=value syntax:

docker run -e PMM_DATA_RETENTION=720h -e PMM_DEBUG=true percona/pmm-server:3

Core configuration variables

Performance & storage

Variable	Default	Description	Example
PMM_DATA_RETENTION	30d	Duration to retain metrics data. Must be in multiples of 24h.	720h (30 days)
PMM_METRICS_RESOLUTION	1s	Base metrics collection interval	5s
PMM_METRICS_RESOLUTION_HR	5s	High-resolution metrics interval	10s
PMM_METRICS_RESOLUTION_MR	10s	Medium-resolution metrics interval	30s
PMM_METRICS_RESOLUTION_LR	60s	Low-resolution metrics interval	300s

Feature flags

Variable	Default	Effect when enabled
PMM_ENABLE_UPDATES	true	Allows version checks and UI updates
PMM_ENABLE_TELEMETRY	true	Enables usage data collection
PMM_ENABLE_ALERTING	true	Enables Percona Alerting system
PMM_ENABLE_BACKUP_MANAGEMENT	true	Enables backup features
PMM_ENABLE_AZURE_DISCOVER	false	Enables Azure database discovery

Debugging

Variable	Default	Purpose
PMM_DEBUG	false	Enables verbose logging
PMM_TRACE	false	Enables detailed trace logging

Advanced configuration

Networking

Variable	Description
PMM_PUBLIC_ADDRESS	External DNS/IP for PMM server
PMM_INTERFACE_TO_BIND	Network interface binding

Database connections

Variable	Purpose
PMM_CLICKHOUSE_*	ClickHouse connection settings
PMM_POSTGRES_*	PostgreSQL connection settings

Supported external variables

• Grafana: All GF_* variables
• VictoriaMetrics: All VM_* variables
• Kubernetes: All KUBERNETES_* variables
• System: Standard variables like HOME, PATH, etc.

Variables for migrating from PMM v2 to PMM v3

When migrating from PMM v2 to PMM v3, you’ll need to update your environment variables to match the new naming convention. This is because PMM v3 introduces several important changes to improve consistency and clarity.

To see the full lists of variable name changes between PMM v2 and PMM v3, see the Migration guide.