Install Grafana Agent on a Linux host using Ansible

This guide will show you how to install the Grafana Agent on a Linux host using Ansible and to use it to push logs to Grafana Cloud.

Before you begin

Before you begin, you should have the following available:

A Grafana Cloud account.
A Linux machine
Command line (terminal) access to that Linux machine with unzip binary installed
Account permissions sufficient to install and use the Grafana Agent on the Linux machine
Ansible installed on the Linux machine

Install Grafana Agent binary using Ansible

This Ansible playbook installs the latest version of Grafana Agent Binary and also creates a systemd service to manage the Grafana agent. It creates a new user named grafana-agent on the Linux machine for running the Grafana Agent.

Create a file named grafana-agent.yml and add the following:

- name: Install Grafana Agent
  hosts: all
  become: true

  vars:
    grafana_cloud_api_key: <Your Cloud Access Policy token> # Example - glc_eyJrIjoiYjI3NjI5MGQxZTcyOTIxYTc0MDgzMGVhNDhlODNhYzA5OTk2Y2U5YiIsIm4iOiJhbnNpYmxldGVzdCIsImlkIjo2NTI5
    logs_username: <loki-username> # Example - 411478
    loki_url: <loki-push-url> # Example - https://logs-prod-017.grafana.net/loki/api/v1/push
  tasks:
    - name: Install Grafana Agent
      ansible.builtin.include_role:
        name: grafana_agent
      vars:
        grafana_agent_logs_config:
          configs:
            - clients:
                - basic_auth:
                    password: '{{ grafana_cloud_api_key }}'
                    username: '{{ logs_username }}'
                  url: '{{ loki_url }}'
              name: default
              positions:
                filename: /tmp/positions.yaml
              scrape_configs:
                - job_name: integrations/node_exporter_direct_scrape
                  static_configs:
                    - targets:
                        - localhost
                      labels:
                        instance: hostname
                        __path__: /var/log/*.log
                        job: integrations/node_exporter
              target_config:
                sync_period: 10s

Replace the following field values:
- <Your Cloud Access Policy token> with a token from the Cloud Access Policy you created in the Grafana Cloud portal.
- <loki-username> with the Loki Username
- <loki-push-url> with the push endpoint URL of Loki Instance

Run the Ansible playbook on the Linux machine

In the Linux machine’s terminal, run the following command from the directory where the Ansible playbook is located.

ansible-playbook grafana-agent.yml

Validate

The Grafana Agent service on the Linux machine should be active and running. You should see a similar output:

$ sudo systemctl status grafana-agent.service
  grafana-agent.service - Grafana Agent
    Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/grafana-agent.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
    Active: active (running) since Wed 2022-07-20 09:56:15 UTC; 36s ago
  Main PID: 3176 (agent-linux-amd)
    Tasks: 8 (limit: 515)
    Memory: 92.5M
      CPU: 380ms
    CGroup: /system.slice/grafana-agent.service
      └─3176 /usr/local/bin/agent-linux-amd64 --config.file=/etc/grafana-cloud/agent-config.yaml

In a Grafana Cloud stack, click Explore in the left-side menu.
At the top of the page, use the dropdown menu to select your Loki logs data source. In the Log Browser, run the query {job="integrations/node_exporter"}