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DocumentationGrafana AgentFlow modeGet startedMigrate from Prometheus

Migrate from Prometheus to Grafana Agent Flow

The built-in Grafana Agent convert command can migrate your Prometheus configuration to a Grafana Agent flow configuration.

This topic describes how to:

• Convert a Prometheus configuration to a flow configuration.
• Run a Prometheus configuration natively using Grafana Agent flow mode.

Components used in this topic

• prometheus.scrape
• prometheus.remote_write

Before you begin

• You must have an existing Prometheus configuration.
• You must have a set of Prometheus applications ready to push telemetry data to Grafana Agent.
• You must be familiar with the concept of Components in Grafana Agent flow mode.

Convert a Prometheus configuration

To fully migrate your configuration from Prometheus to Grafana Agent in flow mode, you must convert your Prometheus configuration into a Grafana Agent flow mode configuration. This conversion will enable you to take full advantage of the many additional features available in Grafana Agent flow mode.

In this task, we will use the convert CLI command to output a flow configuration from a Prometheus configuration.

1. Open a terminal window and run the following command:

   static-binaryflow-binary

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   AGENT_MODE=flow grafana-agent convert --source-format=prometheus --output=OUTPUT_CONFIG_PATH INPUT_CONFIG_PATH

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   grafana-agent-flow convert --source-format=prometheus --output=OUTPUT_CONFIG_PATH INPUT_CONFIG_PATH

   Replace the following:

   • INPUT_CONFIG_PATH: The full path to the Prometheus configuration.
   • OUTPUT_CONFIG_PATH: The full path to output the flow configuration.

2. Start the agent in flow mode using the new flow configuration from OUTPUT_CONFIG_PATH:

Debugging

1. If the convert command can’t convert a Prometheus configuration, diagnostic information is sent to stderr. You can bypass any non-critical issues and output the flow configuration using a best-effort conversion by including the --bypass-errors flag.

   Caution

   If you bypass the errors, the behavior of the converted configuration may not match the original Prometheus configuration.
   Make sure you fully test the converted configuration before using it in a production environment.
   

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   AGENT_MODE=flow grafana-agent convert --source-format=prometheus --bypass-errors --output=OUTPUT_CONFIG_PATH INPUT_CONFIG_PATH

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   grafana-agent-flow convert --source-format=prometheus --bypass-errors --output=OUTPUT_CONFIG_PATH INPUT_CONFIG_PATH

2. You can also output a diagnostic report by including the --report flag.

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   AGENT_MODE=flow grafana-agent convert --source-format=prometheus --report=OUTPUT_REPORT_PATH --output=OUTPUT_CONFIG_PATH INPUT_CONFIG_PATH

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   grafana-agent-flow convert --source-format=prometheus --report=OUTPUT_REPORT_PATH --output=OUTPUT_CONFIG_PATH INPUT_CONFIG_PATH

   • Replace OUTPUT_REPORT_PATH with the output path for the report.

   Using the example Prometheus configuration below, the diagnostic report provides the following information:

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   (Info) Converted scrape_configs job_name "prometheus" into...
     A prometheus.scrape.prometheus component
   (Info) Converted 1 remote_write[s] "grafana-cloud" into...
     A prometheus.remote_write.default component

Run a Prometheus configuration

If you’re not ready to completely switch to a flow configuration, you can run Grafana Agent using your existing Prometheus configuration. The --config.format=prometheus flag tells Grafana Agent to convert your Prometheus configuration to flow mode and load it directly without saving the new configuration. This allows you to try flow mode without modifying your existing Prometheus configuration infrastructure.

In this task, we will use the run CLI command to run Grafana Agent in flow mode using a Prometheus configuration.

Start the agent in flow mode and include the command line flag --config.format=prometheus. Your configuration file must be a valid Prometheus configuration file rather than a flow mode configuration file.

Debugging

1. You can follow the convert CLI command debugging instructions to generate a diagnostic report.

2. Refer to the Grafana Agent Flow Debugging for more information about a running Grafana Agent in flow mode.

3. If your Prometheus configuration cannot be converted and loaded directly into Grafana Agent, diagnostic information is sent to stderr. You can bypass any non-critical issues and start the Agent by including the --config.bypass-conversion-errors flag in addition to --config.format=prometheus.

   Caution

   If you bypass the errors, the behavior of the converted configuration may not match the original Prometheus configuration.
   Do not use this flag in a production environment.
   

Example

This example demonstrates converting a Prometheus configuration file to a Grafana Agent flow mode configuration file.

The following Prometheus configuration file provides the input for the conversion:

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global:
  scrape_timeout:    45s

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: "prometheus"
    static_configs:
      - targets: ["localhost:12345"]

remote_write:
  - name: "grafana-cloud"
    url: "https://prometheus-us-central1.grafana.net/api/prom/push"
    basic_auth:
      username: USERNAME
      password: PASSWORD

The convert command takes the YAML file as input and outputs a River file.

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AGENT_MODE=flow grafana-agent convert --source-format=prometheus --output=OUTPUT_CONFIG_PATH INPUT_CONFIG_PATH

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grafana-agent-flow convert --source-format=prometheus --output=OUTPUT_CONFIG_PATH INPUT_CONFIG_PATH

The new flow configuration file looks like this:

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prometheus.scrape "prometheus" {
  targets = [{
    __address__ = "localhost:12345",
  }]
  forward_to     = [prometheus.remote_write.default.receiver]
  job_name       = "prometheus"
  scrape_timeout = "45s"
}

prometheus.remote_write "default" {
  endpoint {
    name = "grafana-cloud"
    url  = "https://prometheus-us-central1.grafana.net/api/prom/push"

    basic_auth {
      username = "USERNAME"
      password = "PASSWORD"
    }

    queue_config {
      capacity             = 2500
      max_shards           = 200
      max_samples_per_send = 500
    }

    metadata_config {
      max_samples_per_send = 500
    }
  }
}

Limitations

Configuration conversion is done on a best-effort basis. The Agent will issue warnings or errors where the conversion cannot be performed.

Once the configuration is converted, we recommend that you review the Flow Mode configuration file created and verify that it is correct before starting to use it in a production environment.

Furthermore, we recommend that you review the following checklist:

• The following configurations are not available for conversion to flow mode: rule_files, alerting, remote_read, storage, and tracing. Any additional unsupported features are returned as errors during conversion.
• Check if you are using any extra command line arguments with Prometheus that are not present in your configuration file. For example, --web.listen-address.
• Metamonitoring metrics exposed by the Flow Mode usually match Prometheus metamonitoring metrics but will use a different name. Make sure that you use the new metric names, for example, in your alerts and dashboards queries.
• The logs produced by Grafana Agent will differ from those produced by Prometheus.
• Grafana Agent exposes the Grafana Agent Flow UI.