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# Create the datadog user with select only permissions:
#  CREATE USER datadog WITH PASSWORD '<complex_password>';
#
# Grant select permissions on a table or view that you want to monitor:
#  GRANT SELECT ON <schema>.<table> TO datadog;
#
# Grant permissions for a specific column on a table or view that you want to monitor:
#  GRANT SELECT (id, name) ON <schema>.<table> TO datadog;
#
# Let non-superusers look at pg_stat_activity in a read-only fashon.

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Boostrapping Salt on Linux EC2 with Cloud-Init

Salt is a great tool for remote execution and configuration management, however you will still need to bootstrap the daemon when spinning up a new node. One option is to create and save a custom AMI, but this creates another resource to maintain and document.

A better method for Linux machines uses Canonical's CloudInit to run a bootstrap script during an EC2 Instance initialization. Cloud-init takes the user_data string passed into a new AWS instance and runs it in a manner similar to rc.local. The bootstrap script needs to:

1. Install Salt with dependencies
2. Point the minion to the master