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Grafana Overview, Benefits, Use Cases, Setup, Prometheus Integration, Data Source Configuration & Visualization
Implementation of Monitoring
Learning Outcome
5
Create dashboards, queries, and graphs
4
Configure Prometheus as a Grafana data source
3
Identify real-world use cases of Grafana
2
Explain why Grafana is required in monitoring
1
Clearly define what Grafana is
Earlier, we learned
Prometheus collects and stores metrics
Raw metrics are difficult to understand directly
Metrics are stored as time-series data
Understanding the Concept
Imagine you receive a report with thousands of numbers
Without charts or graphs, it becomes difficult to understand trends.
Grafana converts those numbers into visual dashboards and graphs
Prometheus gives raw numbers
What is Grafana?
Grafana is an open-source visualization and analytics platform
used to display monitoring data in graphical format
Analyzing system performance
Important clarification
It connects to data sources like Prometheus
It is mainly used for
Creating dashboards
Visualizing metrics
Grafana does NOT collect metrics
Key Features of Grafana
Customizable panels
Multiple visualization types
Alerting capability
Real-time dashboard updates
Why Grafana?
Grafana is used because raw metrics alone are not useful
-Prometheus shows numeric values
-Converts numbers into graphs
Problem Without Grafana
Solution with Grafana
-Hard to compare multiple systems
-Difficult to understand trends
-Shows multiple metrics on one screen
-Displays trends over time
Better performance analysis
Benefits in DevOps
Faster issue detection
Clear system visibility
Centralized monitoring
Use Cases of Grafana
Used by: Product teams & management
Infrastructure Monitoring
Visualizes CPU, memory, and disk usage
Used by: DevOps engineers & system administrators
Application & Container Monitoring
Tracks request rate, errors, response time, and pod performance
Used by: Developers & SRE teams
Business Metrics Visualization
Displays website traffic, user activity, and API usage
Setting Up Grafana
Default credentials:
Step 1: Install Grafana
Step 2: Start Grafana Service
Enable auto-start:
Step 3: Verify Status
Step 4: Access Web Interface
Open browser:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install grafanasudo systemctl status grafana-server
sudo systemctl status grafana-server
sudo systemctl enable grafana-server
sudo systemctl start grafana-server
http://localhost:3000
You will be asked to change password on first login
Username: admin
Password: admin
Creating Prometheus Data Source
Grafana must connect to Prometheus
Click: Save & Test
If successful → Grafana is now connected to Prometheus
Login to Grafana
Click Settings (Gear Icon)
Select Data Sources
Click Add Data Source
Choose Prometheus
Enter Prometheus URL: http://localhost:9090
Querying Prometheus Metrics in Grafana
Grafana uses PromQL to fetch data from Prometheus
CPU Example: node_cpu_seconds_total
1 → Service is up 0 → Service is down
up Meaning :
Basic Query Example:
Why Querying is Important?
Filters specific metrics
Helps analyze performance
Calculates rate and averages
Creating Visualization (Panels)
After adding data source:
Enter PromQL query
Click Create Dashboard
Select visualization type
Click Add New Panel
Common Visualization Types
Each panel represents one metric or query
Time Series
Table
Stat panel
Bar chart
Gauge
Creating Graphs (Detailed Process)
Click Apply
Graph updates automatically in real time
Add new panel
Enter PromQL query
Select “Time Series”
Customize: Title, Legend, Units (seconds, percentage, bytes)
Adjust time range (Last 5m, 1h, 24h)
Grafana Dashboard Structure
Dashboard contains
Save dashboard
Export dashboard
Share dashboard
Multiple panels
Time selector
Refresh interval
You can :
Key Points
Default Grafana port: 3000
Prometheus default port: 9090
Grafana needs at least one data source
PromQL is used for querying
Panels combine into dashboards
Dashboards provide centralized monitoring
Summary
5
Essential for clear and real-time monitoring
4
Creates dashboards and graphs
3
Uses PromQL to fetch metrics
2
It connects to Prometheus
1
Grafana is a visualization tool
Quiz
What type of tool is Grafana?
A. Monitoring data collection tool
B. Visualization and analytics tool
C. Deployment tool
D. Log storage tool
Answer
What type of tool is Grafana?
A. Monitoring data collection tool
B. Visualization and analytics tool
C. Deployment tool
D. Log storage tool
DevOps-Grafana Overview
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