Data sources on Grafana Labs

Data sources, plugins, and integrations

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

Data sources, plugins, and integrations

When working with Grafana, you’ll encounter three key concepts: data sources, plugins, and integrations. Each one is essential in building effective monitoring solutions, but they serve distinct purposes, and are often confused with one another. This document clarifies the meaning of each concept and what each one does, when to use it, and how they work together to create observability solutions in Grafana.

The most important thing to remember: every data source is powered by a plugin. You install a plugin, then configure a data source. Core plugins like Prometheus come bundled with Grafana.

Data sources

A data source is a connection to a specific database, monitoring system, service, or other external location that stores metrics, logs, traces, or other data. Examples include Prometheus, InfluxDB, PostgreSQL, and Amazon CloudWatch.

When you configure a data source in Grafana, you provide connection details, credentials, and endpoints that tell Grafana where to fetch data from. Data sources are the foundation for working with Grafana, without them, Grafana has nothing to visualize.

Every data source is powered by a data source plugin. Grafana comes bundled with core data source plugins (like Prometheus, Loki, and MySQL), and hundreds more are available in the plugin catalog for systems ranging from databases and cloud providers to tools like Jira, GitHub, and Datadog. After you configure a data source, you can query it to build dashboards. For example, you can query a Prometheus data source to display CPU metrics or query CloudWatch to visualize AWS infrastructure performance.

Plugins

A plugin extends the core functionality of Grafana. Plugins can add new data source types, visualization panels, or full-featured applications that integrate with Grafana. They make Grafana modular and extensible.

Plugins come in three types:

Data source plugins enable Grafana to connect to specific types of databases or services. Core data source plugins like Prometheus, Loki, and MySQL come bundled with Grafana. You can install additional data source plugins to connect to other systems. Examples include MSSQL, Databricks, and MongoDB.
Panel plugins control how data appears in Grafana dashboards. While Grafana comes with several built-in panel types (like graphs, single stats, and tables), panel plugins extend this by providing specialized ways to display data. Examples include pie chart, candlestick, and traffic light. Note that in some cases, panels don’t rely on a data source at all. The Text panel can render static or templated content without querying data. Panels can also support user-driven actions. For example, the Button panel can trigger workflows or external calls.
App plugins package data sources, panels, and custom pages into a single install. When you add an app plugin, you get a purpose-built experience for a specific use case. For example, the Azure Cloud Native Monitoring app gives you pre-configured data sources, dashboards, and a dedicated management page for your Azure environment, all in one install. If you’re a developer, you can also build your own app plugin.

Integrations

Integrations are exclusive to Grafana Cloud. Integrations are pre-packaged monitoring solutions that bundle data collection instructions, pre-built dashboards, and alert and recording rules. They support metrics, logs, and traces. Unlike standalone data sources, integrations provide tested configuration and ready-to-use dashboards and alerts. For example, a Linux integration provides instructions and configuration for collecting metrics and logs from your hosts, creates dashboards for monitoring, and sets up common alerts—all working together out of the box.

When to use each

Use a data source when:

You want to connect Grafana to a specific system (for example, Prometheus or MySQL).
You’re building custom dashboards with hand-picked metrics and visualizations.
Your monitoring needs are unique or not covered by pre-packaged integrations.

Use a plugin when:

You need to connect to a system Grafana doesn’t support natively.
You want to add new functionality (visualizations, workflows, or app-style extensions).
You have specialized or industry-specific requirements (for example, IoT).

Use an integration when:

You’re using Grafana Cloud and want a quick, pre-built setup.
You prefer minimal configuration with ready-to-use dashboards and alerts.
You’re new to observability and want to learn what good monitoring looks like.

Relationships and interactions

Data sources, plugins, and integrations work together to build observability solutions. The following diagram shows two paths: the custom path where you install plugins and configure data sources yourself, and the integration path where Grafana Cloud provides a pre-packaged setup.

App plugins can combine both paths by bundling data source plugins, panel plugins, and custom pages into a single package.

The following examples show how these concepts work together in practice:

Grafana includes a built-in Prometheus data source plugin. Configure a Prometheus data source by providing your server URL, then build a dashboard with a time series panel to monitor CPU usage across your hosts.
Install the Databricks data source plugin. Configure the Databricks data source and run SQL queries against your Databricks workspace. Use the Histogram panel to visualize distributions in your query results, such as latency buckets, job durations, or model output scores.
Install the Redis Application app plugin. This app provides a unified experience for monitoring Redis by working with your existing Redis data source. It adds custom pages for configuration and exploration, along with prebuilt dashboards, commands, and visualizations that help you analyze performance, memory usage, and key activity.
If you’re using Grafana Cloud, add the ClickHouse integration. This integration provides pre-built dashboards and alerts to monitor ClickHouse cluster metrics and logs, so you can visualize and analyze ClickHouse performance and health.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between a data source and a data source plugin?

A data source plugin is a software component that enables Grafana to communicate with specific types of databases or services, like Prometheus, MySQL, or InfluxDB. A data source is an actual configured connection to one of these databases, including the credentials, URL, and settings needed to retrieve data.

Think of it this way: You install a plugin but configure a data source.

Do I need a plugin to use a data source?

You must install the plugin before you configure or use the data source. Each data source plugin has its own versioning and lifecycle. Grafana includes built-in core data sources, which can be thought of as pre-installed plugins.

Can I use integrations in self-managed Grafana?

No, integrations are exclusive to Grafana Cloud. In self-managed Grafana, you can replicate similar setups manually using data sources and dashboards.

Aren’t integrations just pre-built dashboards?

No, integrations are much more than just dashboards. While dashboards are part of an integration, they’re only one piece. Integrations typically include:

Data collection setup (for example, pre-configured agents or exporters).
Predefined metrics and queries tailored to the technology.
Alerting rules and notifications to help detect common issues.
Dashboards to visualize and explore that data.

How do data sources and integrations differ in how they handle data?

Data sources query data where it already lives. They connect Grafana to an external system or database, such as Prometheus, MySQL, or Elasticsearch, and fetch data on demand. You keep full control over your own data stores, schemas, and retention policies.

In contrast, integrations focus on getting data into Grafana Cloud’s managed backends for metrics, logs, and traces. They ingest telemetry using pre-configured agents and pipelines. Instead of querying an external database, Grafana queries its own managed storage where the integration has placed the data.

Summary reference

The following table compares the three core concepts at a glance.

Concept	What it is	When to use it	Example
Data source	A configured connection to an external database or service. Available in self-managed and Cloud.	You want to query a specific system and build custom dashboards.	Prometheus, CloudWatch, PostgreSQL
Plugin	An extension that adds new data source types, visualizations, or app experiences. Available in self-managed and Cloud. Comes in three types: data source, panel, and app.	You need functionality that isn’t built into Grafana.	MongoDB data source, Geomap panel, Azure Cloud Native Monitoring app
Integration	A pre-packaged monitoring solution with collection configuration, dashboards, and alerts. Grafana Cloud only.	You want a quick, ready-to-use setup with minimal configuration.	Linux, Redis, NGINX

For detailed documentation and how-to guides related to data sources, plugins, and integrations, refer to the following references:

Data sources:

Manage data sources

Plugins:

Integrations:

For plugin developers:

Alertmanager data source

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

Alertmanager data source

Grafana includes built-in support for Alertmanager implementations in Prometheus and Grafana Mimir. After you add an Alertmanager data source, you can use the Choose Alertmanager drop-down in Grafana Alerting to view and manage Alertmanager resources such as silences, contact points, and notification policies. You can also enable the Alertmanager to receive Grafana-managed alerts.

Alertmanager implementations

The data source supports the following Alertmanager implementations. You can specify the implementation on the data source’s Settings page.

Implementation	Silences	Contact points	Notification policies	Templates
Mimir (default)	Read/write	Read/write	Read/write	Read/write
Cortex	Read/write	Read/write	Read/write	Read/write
Prometheus	Read/write	Read-only	Read-only	Read-only

When using the Prometheus implementation, you can manage silences in the Grafana Alerting UI. Contact points, notification policies, and templates are read-only because the Prometheus Alertmanager API does not support write operations for these resources.

Configure the data source

To add and configure the Alertmanager data source, complete the following steps:

Click Connections in the left-side menu.
Under Your connections, click Data sources.
Enter Alertmanager in the search bar.
Click Alertmanager.

The Settings tab of the data source is displayed.

Set the data source’s basic configuration options:

Name	Description
Name	Sets the name you use to refer to the data source
Default	Sets whether the data source is pre-selected for new panels and queries
Alertmanager Implementation	Alertmanager implementation. Mimir, Cortex, and Prometheus are supported
Receive Grafana Alerts	When enabled, the Alertmanager can receive Grafana-managed alerts. Important: This works only if receiving alerts is enabled for the Alertmanager in the Grafana Alerting Settings page
HTTP URL	Sets the HTTP protocol, IP, and port of your Alertmanager instance, such as `https://alertmanager.example.org:9093`
Access	Only Server access mode is functional

Authentication

The data source supports all standard Grafana HTTP authentication methods, including basic auth and TLS. When SigV4 authentication is enabled globally in Grafana, it’s also available for this data source.

For more information about authentication options and connection settings, refer to Data source management.

Verify the connection

Click Save & test to verify the connection. A successful connection returns Health check passed.

Note
If you’re using the Mimir implementation and Mimir Alertmanager hasn’t been configured yet, the health check may still pass. This is expected behavior when Mimir is running in lazy configuration mode.

Provision the data source

You can provision Alertmanager data sources using configuration files or Terraform.

The jsonData fields used across both methods are:

Field	Description
`implementation`	The Alertmanager implementation. Supported values: `mimir`, `cortex`, `prometheus`. Defaults to `mimir`.
`handleGrafanaManagedAlerts`	When `true`, this Alertmanager receives Grafana-managed alerts. You must also enable alert forwarding in Alerting > Administration in the Grafana UI.

Configuration file

For more information, refer to Provisioning data sources.

apiVersion: 1

datasources:
  - name: Alertmanager
    type: alertmanager
    url: http://localhost:9093
    access: proxy
    jsonData:
      implementation: prometheus
      handleGrafanaManagedAlerts: false
    basicAuth: true
    basicAuthUser: <USERNAME>
    secureJsonData:
      basicAuthPassword: <PASSWORD>

Terraform

To provision the data source with Terraform, use the grafana_data_source resource:

resource "grafana_data_source" "alertmanager" {
  name = "Alertmanager"
  type = "alertmanager"
  url  = "http://localhost:9093"

  json_data_encoded = jsonencode({
    implementation            = "prometheus"
    handleGrafanaManagedAlerts = false
  })
}

For all available configuration options, refer to the Grafana provider data source resource documentation.

Troubleshoot Alertmanager data source issues

This section covers common issues when configuring or using the Alertmanager data source.

“Health check failed.”

Symptoms:

Save & test returns Health check failed.
The Alertmanager URL may be unreachable or returning an unexpected response.

Possible causes and solutions:

Cause	Solution
Incorrect URL	Verify the URL points to your Alertmanager instance and includes the correct protocol, host, and port (for example, `http://localhost:9093`).
Network or firewall issue	Verify that the Grafana server can reach the Alertmanager endpoint. Check firewall rules and DNS resolution.
Wrong implementation selected	If you changed the implementation type, re-test the connection. See the implementation mismatch errors below.
Incorrect credentials	If basic auth is enabled, verify the username and password are correct.

“It looks like you have chosen Prometheus implementation, but detected a Mimir or Cortex endpoint.”

Symptoms:

Save & test fails with this message when Alertmanager Implementation is set to Prometheus.

Solution:

The URL you entered is a Mimir or Cortex Alertmanager endpoint, not a Prometheus one. Change Alertmanager Implementation to Mimir or Cortex and click Save & test again.

“It looks like you have chosen a Mimir or Cortex implementation, but detected a Prometheus endpoint.”

Symptoms:

Save & test fails with this message when Alertmanager Implementation is set to Mimir or Cortex.

Solution:

The URL you entered is a Prometheus Alertmanager endpoint. Change Alertmanager Implementation to Prometheus and click Save & test again.

Grafana-managed alerts are not being received

Symptoms:

Grafana-managed alert instances don’t appear in this Alertmanager.
The Receive Grafana Alerts toggle is enabled in the data source settings, but no alerts arrive.

Solution:

Enabling Receive Grafana Alerts on the data source alone isn’t enough. You must also enable alert forwarding in Alerting > Administration in the Grafana UI. Both settings must be on for Grafana-managed alerts to be forwarded to this Alertmanager.

Contact points and notification policies are read-only

Symptoms:

You can view but not edit contact points, notification policies, or templates in the Grafana Alerting UI.

Cause:

You’re using the Prometheus implementation. The Prometheus Alertmanager API doesn’t support write operations for these resources.

Solution:

If you need full read/write access to contact points and notification policies, switch to a Mimir or Cortex Alertmanager and update the Alertmanager Implementation setting.

Amazon CloudWatch data source

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

Amazon CloudWatch data source

Amazon CloudWatch is the AWS native monitoring and observability service that collects, aggregates, and stores metrics, logs, and events from AWS resources, applications, and services. CloudWatch enables you to visualize performance data, track system health, and set up automated alerts based on defined thresholds. The Amazon CloudWatch data source in Grafana extends these capabilities by allowing you to query CloudWatch data and create rich, interactive visualizations that can be correlated with data from other systems within unified dashboards.

Grafana includes native support for the Amazon CloudWatch plugin, so there’s no need to install a plugin.

Supported features

Feature	Supported
Metrics	Yes
Logs	Yes
Traces	No. Use the AWS Application Signals data source (formerly the AWS X-Ray data source) for AWS X-Ray traces.
Alerting	Yes
Annotations	Yes

Get started

The following documents will help you get started working with the CloudWatch data source:

Import pre-configured dashboards

The CloudWatch data source includes curated, pre-configured dashboards for five popular AWS services:

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud: Amazon EC2
Amazon Elastic Block Store: Amazon EBS
AWS Lambda: AWS Lambda
Amazon CloudWatch Logs: Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Amazon Relational Database Service: Amazon RDS

To import curated dashboards:

Navigate to the data source’s configuration page.
Click the Dashboards tab.

This displays the curated selection of importable dashboards.
Click Import for each dashboard you want to import.

To customize one of these dashboards, Grafana recommends saving it under a different name; otherwise, Grafana upgrades will overwrite your customizations with the new version.

Additional features

After installing and configuring the Amazon CloudWatch data source, you can:

Create a wide variety of visualizations
Configure and use templates and variables
Add transformations
Add annotations
Set up alerting
Optimize performance with query caching

Control pricing

The Amazon CloudWatch data source for Grafana uses ListMetrics and GetMetricData CloudWatch API calls to list and retrieve metrics. Pricing for CloudWatch Logs is based on the amount of data ingested, archived, and analyzed via CloudWatch Logs Insights queries. Each time you select a dimension in the query editor, Grafana issues a ListMetrics API request. Each time you change queries in the query editor, Grafana issues a new request to the GetMetricData API.

Note
Grafana now uses the GetMetricData API instead of GetMetricStatistics for CloudWatch queries. This change improves support for CloudWatch metric math and allows Grafana to automatically generate search expressions when you use wildcards or disable the Match Exact option.

Unlike GetMetricStatistics requests, GetMetricData requests do not qualify for the CloudWatch API free tier.

For more information, refer to the CloudWatch pricing page.

Manage service quotas

AWS defines quotas, or limits, for resources, actions, and items in your AWS account. Depending on the number of queries in your dashboard and the number of users accessing the dashboard, you might reach the usage limits for various CloudWatch and CloudWatch Logs resources. Quotas are defined per account and per region.

If you use multiple regions or have configured more than one CloudWatch data source to query against multiple accounts, you must request a quota increase for each account and region in which you reach the limit.

To request a quota increase, visit the AWS Service Quotas console. For more information, refer to the AWS documentation for Service Quotas and CloudWatch limits.

Cross-account observability

The CloudWatch plugin enables you to monitor and troubleshoot applications across multiple regional accounts. Using cross-account observability, you can seamlessly search, visualize and analyze metrics and logs without worrying about account boundaries.

To use this feature, configure a monitoring and source account in the AWS console under CloudWatch Settings, and then add the necessary IAM permissions. Refer to Permissions reference for the cross-account observability actions.

Query with the Grafana CLI

You can query this data source from the command line and from AI coding agents using the Grafana CLI, gcx. gcx gives you and your agent structured, terminal-based access to your Grafana data sources, which is useful for automation and agent-driven investigations.

gcx supports Grafana Cloud and Grafana OSS or Enterprise v12 and later. Before you query, install and authenticate gcx. Refer to the gcx CLI documentation for installation, configuration, and the full command reference.

For example, to explore and query your CloudWatch data source, use the gcx datasources cloudwatch commands:

# Discover the regions, namespaces, and metrics available to the data source
gcx datasources cloudwatch list-regions -d <DATASOURCE_UID>
gcx datasources cloudwatch list-namespaces -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --region us-east-1
gcx datasources cloudwatch list-metrics -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --region us-east-1 --namespace AWS/EC2

# List the dimension keys for a metric
gcx datasources cloudwatch list-dimensions -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --region us-east-1 --namespace AWS/EC2 --metric CPUUtilization

# List AWS accounts available through cross-account monitoring
gcx datasources cloudwatch list-accounts -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --region us-east-1

# Run a structured metric query
gcx datasources cloudwatch query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --region us-east-1 --namespace AWS/EC2 --metric CPUUtilization \
  --dimensions InstanceId=i-0123456789abcdef0 --since 1h

Replace <DATASOURCE_UID> with the UID of your CloudWatch data source. You can omit the -d flag when datasources.cloudwatch is configured in your gcx context. CloudWatch queries are structured rather than expression-based, so --region, --namespace, and --metric are required. The list-accounts command returns data only for data sources configured for cross-account monitoring.

Azure Monitor data source

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Azure Monitor data source

The Azure Monitor data source plugin allows you to query and visualize data from Azure Monitor, the Azure service to maximize the availability and performance of applications and services in the Azure Cloud.

Supported features

Feature	Supported
Metrics	Yes
Logs	Yes
Traces	Yes
Alerting	Yes
Annotations	Yes

Note
The Azure Monitor data source requires Grafana 12.3 or later.

Supported Azure clouds

The Azure Monitor data source supports the following Azure cloud environments:

Azure - Azure public cloud (default)
Azure US Government - Azure Government cloud
Azure China - Azure China cloud operated by 21Vianet

Supported Azure services

The Azure Monitor data source supports the following Azure services:

Service	Description
Azure Monitor Metrics	Collect numeric data from resources in your Azure account. Supports dimensions, aggregations, and time grain configuration.
Azure Monitor Logs	Collect log and performance data from your Azure account using the Kusto Query Language (KQL).
Azure Resource Graph	Query your Azure resources across subscriptions using KQL. Useful for inventory, compliance, and resource management.
Application Insights Traces	Collect distributed trace data and correlate requests across your application components.

Get started

The following documents help you get started with the Azure Monitor data source:

Configure the Azure Monitor data source - Set up authentication and connect to Azure
Azure Monitor query editor - Create and edit queries for Metrics, Logs, Traces, and Resource Graph
Template variables - Create dynamic dashboards with Azure Monitor variables
Alerting - Create alert rules using Azure Monitor data
Troubleshooting - Solve common configuration and query errors

Additional features

After you have configured the Azure Monitor data source, you can:

Add Annotations to overlay Azure log events on your graphs.
Configure and use Template variables for dynamic dashboards.
Add Transformations to manipulate query results.
Set up Alerting and recording rules using Metrics, Logs, Traces, and Resource Graph queries.
Use Explore to investigate your Azure data without building a dashboard.

Pre-built dashboards

The Azure Monitor plugin includes pre-built dashboards organized by category:

Infrastructure monitoring:

Azure / Infrastructure / Apps Monitoring
Azure / Infrastructure / Compute Monitoring
Azure / Infrastructure / Data Monitoring
Azure / Infrastructure / Network Monitoring
Azure / Infrastructure / Storage and Key Vaults Monitoring

Azure Insights:

Azure / Insights / Applications
Azure / Insights / Applications / Performance / Operations
Azure / Insights / Applications / Performance / Dependencies
Azure / Insights / Applications / Failures / Operations
Azure / Insights / Applications / Failures / Dependencies
Azure / Insights / Applications / Failures / Exceptions
Azure / Insights / Applications Test Availability Geo Map
Azure / Insights / CosmosDB
Azure / Insights / Data Explorer Clusters
Azure / Insights / Key Vaults
Azure / Insights / Networks
Azure / Insights / SQL Database
Azure / Insights / Storage Accounts
Azure / Insights / Virtual Machines by Resource Group
Azure / Insights / Virtual Machines by Workspace

Other:

Azure / Alert Consumption
Azure / Azure PostgreSQL / Flexible Server Monitoring
Azure Monitor / Container Insights / Syslog
Azure / Resources Overview

To import a pre-built dashboard:

Go to Connections > Data sources.
Select your Azure Monitor data source.
Click the Dashboards tab.
Click Import next to the dashboard you want to use.

Plugin updates

Always ensure that your plugin version is up-to-date so you have access to all current features and improvements. Navigate to Plugins and data > Plugins to check for updates. Grafana recommends upgrading to the latest Grafana version, and this applies to plugins as well.

Note
Plugins are automatically updated in Grafana Cloud.

Query with the Grafana CLI

For example, to explore and query your Azure Monitor data source, use the gcx datasources azuremonitor commands:

# Discover subscriptions, resource groups, and resources
gcx datasources azuremonitor list-subscriptions -d <DATASOURCE_UID>
gcx datasources azuremonitor list-resource-groups -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --subscription <SUBSCRIPTION_ID>
gcx datasources azuremonitor list-resources -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --subscription <SUBSCRIPTION_ID> --resource-group my-rg

# List the metrics available for a resource
gcx datasources azuremonitor list-metrics -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --subscription <SUBSCRIPTION_ID> \
  --resource-group my-rg --namespace Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines --resource my-vm

# Run a structured metrics query
gcx datasources azuremonitor query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --subscription <SUBSCRIPTION_ID> \
  --resource-group my-rg --namespace Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines --resource my-vm \
  --metric 'Percentage CPU' --aggregation Average --since 1h

# Query a Log Analytics workspace with KQL
gcx datasources azuremonitor logs query 'AppRequests | take 10' -d <DATASOURCE_UID> \
  --subscription <SUBSCRIPTION_ID> --resource-group my-rg --workspace my-workspace

# Query Azure Resource Graph with KQL
gcx datasources azuremonitor resource-graph query 'Resources | project name, type | limit 10' \
  -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --subscription <SUBSCRIPTION_ID>

Replace <DATASOURCE_UID> with the UID of your Azure Monitor data source and <SUBSCRIPTION_ID> with an Azure subscription ID. You can omit the -d flag when datasources.azuremonitor is configured in your gcx context. Metrics queries are structured rather than expression-based, so --subscription, --resource-group, --namespace, --resource, and --metric are required, while logs query and resource-graph query take KQL. Data sources configured with Current User authentication can’t be queried with API tokens or service accounts.

Elasticsearch data source

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Elasticsearch data source

Elasticsearch is a search and analytics engine used for a variety of use cases. Grafana ships with the Elasticsearch data source preinstalled, so you can query and visualize logs or metrics stored in Elasticsearch, and annotate graphs with log events, without installing a plugin. The data source is packaged as a standalone plugin that you can update independently of Grafana releases. Refer to Plugin updates for details.

Note
If you use Amazon OpenSearch Service (the successor to Amazon Elasticsearch Service), use the OpenSearch data source instead.

Key capabilities

The Elasticsearch data source supports:

Metrics queries: Aggregate and visualize numeric data using bucket and metric aggregations.
Log queries: Search, filter, and explore log data with Lucene query syntax.
Raw DSL queries: Write native Elasticsearch Query DSL in Code mode.
ES|QL queries: Query data using Elasticsearch’s pipe-based query language.
Annotations: Overlay Elasticsearch events on your dashboard graphs.
Alerting: Create alerts based on Elasticsearch query results.

Before you begin

Before you configure the Elasticsearch data source, you need:

An Elasticsearch instance (v7.17+, v8.x, or v9.x)
Network access from Grafana to your Elasticsearch server
Appropriate user credentials or API keys with read access

Supported Elasticsearch versions

This data source supports these versions of Elasticsearch:

≥ v7.17
v8.x
v9.x
Elastic Cloud Serverless

The Grafana maintenance policy for the Elasticsearch data source aligns with Elastic Product End of Life Dates. Grafana ensures proper functionality for supported versions only. If you use an EOL version of Elasticsearch, you can still run queries, but the query builder displays a warning. Grafana doesn’t guarantee functionality or provide fixes for EOL versions.

Get started

The following documentation helps you set up and use the Elasticsearch data source:

Plugin updates

Starting with Grafana v13.0, the Elasticsearch data source is a standalone plugin, preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Enterprise. This enables more frequent updates independent of Grafana releases. Grafana automatically checks the plugin catalog and installs the latest version on each server restart.

Note
Plugins are automatically updated in Grafana Cloud.

To adjust this behavior:

Opt out of auto-updates: Set preinstall_auto_update to false in your configuration file.
Update manually: Update at any time from Plugins and data > Plugins without restarting Grafana.

The standalone plugin requires Grafana 12.2.0 or later. The Elasticsearch data source bundled with Grafana 12.1 and earlier continues to work as before. These versions are unaffected by the externalization.

Users running Grafana 12.2.x through 12.4.x can install the standalone plugin from the plugin catalog if they want the latest features before upgrading to Grafana 13.0. To use the standalone plugin with Grafana 12.2.x through 12.4.x, add the following to your configuration file:

[plugin.elasticsearch]
as_external = true

[plugins]
; Install the latest version on startup:
preinstall_sync = elasticsearch
; Or install a specific version:
; preinstall_sync = elasticsearch@<version>

Additional resources

After you have configured the Elasticsearch data source, you can:

Use Explore to run user-written queries against your Elasticsearch data.
Configure and use template variables for dynamic dashboards.
Add Transformations to process query results.
Build dashboards to visualize your Elasticsearch data.

Query with the Grafana CLI

For example, to explore and query your Elasticsearch data source, use the gcx datasources elasticsearch commands:

# List the indices and fields available to the data source
gcx datasources elasticsearch list-indices -d <DATASOURCE_UID>
gcx datasources elasticsearch list-fields -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --index grafana-logs

# Search documents with a Lucene query
gcx datasources elasticsearch query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> 'app:frontend AND level:error' --since 1h

# Aggregate documents over time, split into series by a field
gcx datasources elasticsearch metrics -d <DATASOURCE_UID> 'level:error' --group-by app.keyword --since 6h

Replace <DATASOURCE_UID> with the UID of your Elasticsearch data source. You can omit the -d flag when datasources.elasticsearch is configured in your gcx context. The query command searches documents with Lucene syntax (add --mode logs for a newest-first logs view), metrics runs a time-bucketed aggregation (--agg, --field, --group-by), and list-indices and list-fields help you discover index patterns and field names.

OpenSearch - For Amazon OpenSearch Service.
Loki - The Grafana log aggregation system.

Google Cloud Monitoring data source

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

Google Cloud Monitoring data source

Google Cloud Monitoring is Google Cloud Platform’s native monitoring and observability service that collects metrics, events, and metadata from GCP resources, hosted uptime probes, and application instrumentation. The Google Cloud Monitoring data source in Grafana allows you to query and visualize this data alongside metrics from other systems, creating unified dashboards for comprehensive infrastructure and application monitoring.

Grafana ships with the Google Cloud Monitoring data source preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Grafana Enterprise, so there’s nothing for you to install. It’s packaged as a standalone plugin that updates independently of Grafana releases. For details, refer to Plugin updates.

Get started

The following documents help you get started with the Google Cloud Monitoring data source:

Configure the data source - Set up authentication and connect to Google Cloud
Query editor - Create and edit Metrics, SLO, and PromQL queries
Template variables - Create dynamic dashboards with Google Cloud Monitoring variables
Annotations - Overlay Google Cloud Monitoring events on graphs
Alerting - Create alert rules based on GCP metrics and SLOs
Google authentication - Configure authentication methods for GCP access
Troubleshooting - Solve common configuration and query errors

Supported query types

The Google Cloud Monitoring data source supports the following query types:

Query type	Description
Metrics	Query time series data from GCP resources using the visual builder or the Monitoring Query Language (MQL).
Service Level Objectives (SLOs)	Query SLO data defined in Google Cloud Monitoring to track service reliability and error budgets.
PromQL	Query Google Cloud Monitoring metrics using Prometheus Query Language (PromQL) syntax.

Additional features

After you configure the Google Cloud Monitoring data source, you can:

Create a wide variety of visualizations using GCP metrics.
Configure and use template variables for dynamic dashboards.
Add transformations to manipulate query results.
Add annotations to overlay events on your graphs.
Set up alerting based on GCP metrics.
Use Explore to investigate your Google Cloud data without building a dashboard.

Import dashboards for GCP services

The Google Cloud Monitoring plugin no longer bundles pre-configured dashboards. Earlier versions shipped curated dashboards for popular GCP services that you imported from the data source’s Dashboards tab. As of plugin version 12.6.1, these dashboards are no longer included, so the Dashboards tab doesn’t list them.

To build equivalent dashboards, do one of the following:

Browse the Grafana dashboards catalog for community and Grafana-authored dashboards that use the Google Cloud Monitoring data source.
Reference the Google Cloud dashboard samples and recreate the panels using the query editor.

When you build dashboards for multiple GCP projects, add a template variable populated with the projects accessible by the configured service account so you can switch projects from a drop-down.

Plugin updates

Starting with Grafana v13.2, the Google Cloud Monitoring data source is a standalone plugin, preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Grafana Enterprise. This enables more frequent updates independent of Grafana releases. Grafana automatically checks the plugin catalog and installs the latest version on each server restart.

To adjust this behavior:

Opt out of auto-updates: Set preinstall_auto_update to false in your configuration file.
Update manually: Update at any time from the Administration > Plugins page without restarting Grafana.

The standalone plugin requires Grafana 12.3.0 or later. The Google Cloud Monitoring data source bundled with Grafana 12.2 and earlier continues to work as before. These versions are unaffected by the change.

Users running Grafana 12.3.x through 13.1.x can install the standalone plugin from the plugin catalog if they want the latest features before upgrading to Grafana 13.2. To use the standalone plugin with these versions, add the following to your configuration file:

[plugin.stackdriver]
as_external = true

[plugins]
; Install the latest version on startup:
preinstall_sync = stackdriver
; Or install a specific version:
; preinstall_sync = stackdriver@<version>

Query with the Grafana CLI

For example, to explore and query your Google Cloud Monitoring data source, use the gcx datasources cloudmonitoring commands:

# List the projects and metrics available to the data source
gcx datasources cloudmonitoring list-projects -d <DATASOURCE_UID>
gcx datasources cloudmonitoring list-metrics -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --project my-project --service compute.googleapis.com

# Run a structured metrics query
gcx datasources cloudmonitoring query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --project my-project \
  --metric compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization --since 1h

# Split the result into one series per instance with a cross-series reducer
gcx datasources cloudmonitoring query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --project my-project \
  --metric compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization \
  --reducer REDUCE_MEAN --group-by resource.label.instance_name --since 1h

Replace <DATASOURCE_UID> with the UID of your Google Cloud Monitoring data source. You can omit the -d flag when datasources.cloudmonitoring is configured in your gcx context. Queries are structured rather than expression-based, so --project and --metric are required. The --group-by flag requires a --reducer other than REDUCE_NONE, and --filter matches are exact and case-sensitive, with no regular expression or wildcard support. The list-projects and list-metrics commands help you discover valid values.

Graphite data source

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

Graphite data source

Graphite is an open source time series database that stores numeric metrics. Grafana includes built-in support for Graphite, so you can query your metrics, build dashboards, and set up alerts without installing a plugin.

The Graphite data source includes a query editor for building metric queries and supports template variables, annotations, tag-based queries, and Grafana Alerting.

For instructions on how to add a data source to Grafana, refer to the administration documentation.

Supported features

The Graphite data source supports the following features:

Feature	Supported
Metrics	Yes
Logs	No
Traces	No
Alerting	Yes
Annotations	Yes

Get started

The following documents help you set up and use the Graphite data source:

Additional features

After you configure the Graphite data source, you can:

Use Explore to query data without building a dashboard
Build a wide variety of visualizations
Add transformations to manipulate query results
Configure template variables for dynamic, reusable dashboards

Send Grafana metrics to Graphite

Grafana can report its own internal metrics to a Graphite backend. In the [metrics.graphite] section of the Grafana configuration file, set address to your Carbon host and port, for example localhost:2003. For the full list of internal metrics settings, refer to Set up Grafana monitoring.

Graphite and Loki integration

When you change the data source selection in Explore, Graphite queries are converted to Loki queries. Grafana extracts Loki label names and values from the Graphite queries according to mappings provided in the Graphite data source configuration. Grafana automatically transforms queries using tags with seriesByTag() without requiring additional setup.

Pre-built dashboards

The Graphite data source ships with pre-built dashboards to help you monitor your Graphite deployment:

Graphite Carbon Metrics visualizes the internal metrics that Carbon reports about your Graphite stack.
Metrictank helps you monitor MetricTank, the multi-tenant time series engine that’s compatible with Graphite.

To import a pre-built dashboard, navigate to the Graphite data source’s Dashboards tab and click Import next to the dashboard you want.

InfluxDB data source

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

InfluxDB data source

InfluxDB is an open-source time series database (TSDB) developed by InfluxData. It is optimized for fast, high-availability storage and retrieval of time series data in fields such as operations monitoring, application metrics, IoT sensor data, and real-time analytics.

Grafana ships with the InfluxDB data source out of the box. The data source is preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Grafana Enterprise, so there’s nothing for you to install. It’s packaged as a standalone plugin that Grafana can update independently of Grafana releases. For details, refer to Plugin updates.

Grafana offers multiple configuration options for this data source, including a choice of three query languages (SQL, InfluxQL, and Flux). SQL and InfluxQL provide both visual builder and code editing modes, while Flux provides a code editor only.

Supported versions

This data source supports the following InfluxDB products:

InfluxDB OSS 1.x, 2.x, and 3.x
InfluxDB Enterprise 1.x and 3.x
InfluxDB Cloud Serverless
InfluxDB Cloud Dedicated
InfluxDB Cloud (TSM)

Supported features

Feature	Supported
Metrics	Yes
Logs	Yes
Traces	No
Alerting	Yes
Annotations	Yes

Get started

The following documents help you set up and use the InfluxDB data source:

Additional features

After configuring the data source, you can:

Use Explore to query data without building a dashboard.
Add transformations to manipulate query results.
Configure template variables for dynamic dashboards.
Build dashboards to visualize your InfluxDB data.
Set up alerting rules based on your InfluxDB query results.

To see the InfluxDB data source in action, explore this demo dashboard on Grafana Play:

Give it a try using Grafana Play

With Grafana Play, you can explore and see how it works, learning from practical examples to accelerate your development. This feature can be seen on InfluxDB 3.0: Hourly Electric Grid Monitor for US.

Try it

Plugin updates

Starting with Grafana v13.2, the InfluxDB data source is a standalone plugin, preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Enterprise. This enables more frequent updates independent of Grafana releases. Grafana automatically checks the plugin catalog and installs the latest version on each server restart.

To adjust this behavior:

Opt out of auto-updates: Set preinstall_auto_update to false in your configuration file.
Update manually: Update at any time from the Administration > Plugins page without restarting Grafana.

The standalone plugin requires Grafana 12.3.0 or later. The InfluxDB data source bundled with Grafana 13.1 and earlier continues to work as before. Those versions are unaffected by this change.

Caution
Grafana recommends running plugin version 13.1.0 or later. Earlier versions could write API tokens to Grafana server logs in plain text at default log levels. If you’ve run an earlier version, treat your server logs as sensitive and rotate any tokens that may have been exposed.

[plugin.influxdb]
as_external = true

[plugins]
; Install the latest version on startup:
preinstall_sync = influxdb
; Or install a specific version:
; preinstall_sync = influxdb@<version>

On self-managed Grafana, you control the plugin version. To roll back after a problematic update, pin a known-good version with preinstall_sync = influxdb@<version> and restart Grafana, or install a specific version from the Administration > Plugins page.

Note
In Grafana Cloud, plugin updates are managed automatically. You can’t pin the plugin to a specific version or roll back to a previous one yourself. If a plugin update causes problems with your dashboards or queries, contact Grafana Support.

Query with the Grafana CLI

For example, to query your InfluxDB data source, use the gcx datasources influxdb commands:

# Run a query (InfluxQL, Flux, or SQL, auto-detected from the data source)
gcx datasources influxdb query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> 'SELECT mean("value") FROM "cpu" WHERE time > now() - 1h'

# List measurements (add --bucket to use Flux mode)
gcx datasources influxdb list-measurements -d <DATASOURCE_UID>

# List field keys and tag keys, optionally filtered by measurement
gcx datasources influxdb list-field-keys -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --measurement cpu
gcx datasources influxdb list-tag-keys -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --measurement cpu

# List the values for a tag key
gcx datasources influxdb list-tag-values -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --key host

Replace <DATASOURCE_UID> with the UID of your InfluxDB data source. You can omit the -d flag when datasources.influxdb is configured in your gcx context. The list-field-keys, list-tag-keys, and list-tag-values commands work in InfluxQL mode only.

Jaeger data source

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

Jaeger data source

Jaeger is an open source, end-to-end distributed tracing system. Use the Jaeger data source to query and visualize traces, explore service dependencies, and correlate traces with logs and metrics.

Grafana ships with the Jaeger data source preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Enterprise, so there’s nothing to install. It’s packaged as a standalone plugin that updates independently of Grafana releases. For more information, refer to Plugin updates.

Supported features

Feature	Supported
Traces	Yes
Metrics	No
Logs	No
Alerting	No
Annotations	No

Get started

The following documents help you set up and use the Jaeger data source:

Plugin updates

Starting with Grafana v13.2, the Jaeger data source is a standalone plugin, preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Enterprise. This lets the data source receive updates independently of Grafana releases. Grafana automatically checks the plugin catalog and installs the latest version on each server restart.

To adjust this behavior:

Opt out of auto-updates: Set preinstall_auto_update to false in your configuration file.
Update manually: Update at any time from the Administration > Plugins page without restarting Grafana.

The standalone plugin requires Grafana 12.3.0 or later. The Jaeger data source bundled with Grafana 12.2 and earlier continues to work as before. These versions are unaffected by the change.

If you run Grafana 12.3.x through 13.1.x, you can install the standalone plugin from the plugin catalog to get the latest features before you upgrade to Grafana 13.2. To use the standalone plugin with these versions, add the following to your configuration file:

[plugin.jaeger]
as_external = true

[plugins]
; Install the latest version on startup:
preinstall_sync = jaeger
; Or install a specific version:
; preinstall_sync = jaeger@<version>

Additional features

After configuring the data source, you can:

Use Explore to query traces without building a dashboard.
Enable the Node Graph visualization to display trace structure and service dependencies.
Configure trace to logs to link spans to log entries in Loki or Splunk.
Configure trace to metrics to navigate from traces to related metrics.
Link to Jaeger traces from logs using derived fields or from metrics using exemplars.

Loki data source

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

Loki data source

Grafana Loki is a horizontally scalable, highly available, multi-tenant log aggregation system by Grafana Labs. Unlike other logging systems, Loki indexes only metadata about your logs in the form of labels, the same label model used by Prometheus. Loki compresses and stores the log content itself in chunks in object stores such as Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage, or on a local filesystem. The Loki data source in Grafana lets you query and visualize those logs, and correlate them with metrics, traces, and other data in unified dashboards.

Grafana includes built-in support for Loki, so you don’t need to install a plugin.

Supported features

Feature	Supported
Logs	Yes
Metrics	Yes. Use LogQL metric queries to derive metrics from logs.
Traces	No
Alerting	Yes
Annotations	Yes

Get started

The following documents help you get started with the Loki data source:

To learn more about Loki itself, refer to the following Loki documentation:

Additional features

After configuring the Loki data source, you can:

Use Explore to query and live tail logs without building a dashboard.
Use Grafana Logs Drilldown to explore your Loki logs without writing LogQL queries.
Create a wide variety of visualizations.
Add transformations to manipulate query results.
Set up alerting on your logs.
Add annotations to overlay log events on your graphs.
Optimize performance with query caching.

To see the Loki data source in action, explore this demo dashboard on Grafana Play:

Give it a try using Grafana Play

With Grafana Play, you can explore and see how it works, learning from practical examples to accelerate your development. This feature can be seen on Loki NGINX Service Mesh - JSON version.

Try it

Query with the Grafana CLI

For example, to query your Loki data source, use the gcx datasources loki commands:

# Run a LogQL query that returns log lines
gcx datasources loki query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> '{job="varlogs"} |= "error"' --since 1h

# Run a metric LogQL query that returns time series
gcx datasources loki metrics -d <DATASOURCE_UID> 'rate({job="varlogs"}[5m])' --since 1h

# List all labels, or the values for a single label
gcx datasources loki labels -d <DATASOURCE_UID>
gcx datasources loki labels -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --label job

# List log streams matching a selector
gcx datasources loki series -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --match '{job="varlogs"}'

Replace <DATASOURCE_UID> with the UID of your Loki data source. You can omit the -d flag when datasources.loki is configured in your gcx context. The query command returns log lines, metrics returns time series from a metric LogQL query, and series requires at least one --match stream selector.

Microsoft SQL Server data source

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

Microsoft SQL Server data source

Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL) is one of the most widely used relational databases for business applications, analytics, and operational workloads. The MSSQL data source lets you query your existing SQL Server instance directly from Grafana, with no data migration required.

The data source ships with Grafana out of the box. It’s preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Grafana Enterprise, so there’s nothing for you to install. Starting with Grafana 13.2, it’s packaged as a standalone plugin that updates independently of Grafana releases. Refer to Plugin updates for details.

You can connect to Microsoft SQL Server 2012 or newer, Azure SQL Database, and Azure SQL Managed Instance.

Supported features

Feature	Supported
Metrics	Yes
Alerting	Yes
Annotations	Yes

Supported versions

Version	Supported
Microsoft SQL Server 2012+	Yes
Azure SQL Database	Yes
Azure SQL Managed Instance	Yes

Grafana recommends using the latest available service pack for optimal compatibility.

Authentication methods

The Microsoft SQL Server data source supports the following authentication methods:

Method	Best for	Grafana Cloud	Self-managed	Supports alerting
SQL Server Authentication	Any deployment	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows Authentication (Integrated Security)	On-premises with Windows SSO	No	Yes	Yes
Windows AD (Kerberos)	Enterprise Active Directory environments	No	Yes	Yes
Azure Entra ID (App Registration)	Azure SQL with service principal	Yes	Yes	Yes
Azure Entra ID (Managed Identity)	Grafana hosted in Azure	No	Yes	Yes
Azure Entra ID (Current User)	User-level access control with Azure SQL	Yes	Yes	No

Note
Azure Entra ID (Current User) authentication doesn’t support alerting, reporting, or recorded queries because these features run on the backend without a user session.

For configuration details, refer to Configure the Microsoft SQL Server data source.

Get started

The following documentation helps you set up and use the Microsoft SQL Server data source:

Plugin updates

Starting with Grafana 13.2, the Microsoft SQL Server data source is a standalone plugin, preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Grafana Enterprise. This enables more frequent updates independent of Grafana releases. Grafana automatically checks the plugin catalog and installs the latest version on each server restart.

To adjust this behavior:

Opt out of auto-updates: Set preinstall_auto_update to false in your configuration file.
Update manually: Update at any time from the Administration > Plugins page without restarting Grafana.

The standalone plugin requires Grafana 12.3.0 or later. The Microsoft SQL Server data source bundled with Grafana 13.1 and earlier continues to work as before. These versions are unaffected by the change.

Users running Grafana 12.3.x through 13.1.x can install the standalone plugin from the plugin catalog if they want the latest features before upgrading to Grafana 13.2. To use the standalone plugin with Grafana 12.3.x through 13.1.x, add the following to your configuration file:

[plugin.mssql]
as_external = true

[plugins]
; Install the latest version on startup:
preinstall_sync = mssql
; Or install a specific version:
; preinstall_sync = mssql@<version>

Additional features

After you configure the data source, you can:

Use Explore to query data without building a dashboard
Create visualizations including time series, tables, and gauges
Add transformations to manipulate query results
Optimize performance with query caching (Grafana Enterprise and Cloud)

Query with the Grafana CLI

For example, to explore and query your Microsoft SQL Server data source, use the gcx datasources mssql commands:

# List tables and views, or filter to a single schema
gcx datasources mssql list-tables -d <DATASOURCE_UID>
gcx datasources mssql list-tables -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --schema dbo

# Show the columns of a table
gcx datasources mssql describe-table dbo.WORLD_DATA -d <DATASOURCE_UID>

# Run a SQL query (server-side macros like $__timeFilter are supported)
gcx datasources mssql query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> 'SELECT * FROM events WHERE $__timeFilter(created_at)' --since 1h

Replace <DATASOURCE_UID> with the UID of your Microsoft SQL Server data source. You can omit the -d flag when datasources.mssql is configured in your gcx context. The query command supports Grafana server-side macros such as $__timeFilter and $__timeGroup, and because T-SQL has no LIMIT, results are capped with an injected TOP (n) clause, which you can disable with --limit 0. The list-tables and describe-table commands read INFORMATION_SCHEMA for the data source’s configured database.

MySQL data source

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

MySQL data source

The MySQL data source lets you query and visualize data from MySQL and MySQL-compatible databases like MariaDB or Percona Server. Use it to create dashboards, explore SQL data, and monitor MySQL-based workloads in real time.

Watch the following video to learn more about using the Grafana MySQL data source plugin:

Give it a try using Grafana Play

With Grafana Play, you can explore and see how it works, learning from practical examples to accelerate your development. This feature can be seen on MySQL Overview.

Try it

Supported databases

This data source supports the following MySQL-compatible databases:

MySQL 5.7 and newer
MariaDB 10.5 and newer
Percona Server 5.7 and newer
Amazon Aurora MySQL
Azure Database for MySQL
Google Cloud SQL for MySQL

Grafana recommends using the latest available version for your database for optimal compatibility.

Key capabilities

The MySQL data source supports:

Time series queries: Visualize metrics over time using built-in time grouping macros.
Table queries: Display query results in table format for any valid SQL query.
Template variables: Create dynamic dashboards with variable-driven queries.
Annotations: Overlay events from MySQL on your dashboard graphs.
Alerting: Create alerts based on MySQL query results.
Macros: Simplify queries with built-in macros for time filtering and grouping.

Get started

The following documentation helps you get started with the MySQL data source:

Plugin updates

Starting with Grafana 13.2, the MySQL data source is a standalone plugin, preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Grafana Enterprise. This enables more frequent updates independent of Grafana releases. Grafana automatically checks the plugin catalog and installs the latest version on each server restart.

To adjust this behavior:

Opt out of auto-updates: Set preinstall_auto_update to false in your configuration file.
Update manually: Update at any time from the Administration > Plugins page without restarting Grafana.

The standalone plugin requires Grafana 12.3.0 or later. The MySQL data source bundled with Grafana 13.1 and earlier continues to work as before. These versions are unaffected by the change.

Users running Grafana 12.3.x through 13.1.x can install the standalone plugin from the plugin catalog if they want the latest features before upgrading to Grafana 13.2. To use the standalone plugin with Grafana 12.3.x through 13.1.x, add the following to your configuration file:

[plugin.mysql]
as_external = true

[plugins]
; Install the latest version on startup:
preinstall_sync = mysql
; Or install a specific version:
; preinstall_sync = mysql@<version>

Additional resources

After configuring the MySQL data source, you can also:

Create a wide variety of visualizations.
Configure and use templates and variables.
Add transformations.
Optimize performance with query caching.

Pre-configured dashboards

If you want to monitor your MySQL server’s performance metrics (connections, queries, replication, and more), Grafana provides pre-configured dashboards through the MySQL integration:

MySQL Overview - Key performance metrics for your MySQL server.
MySQL Logs - Log analysis for troubleshooting.

The MySQL integration uses the Prometheus MySQL Exporter to collect server metrics and includes 15 pre-configured alert rules.

To use these dashboards:

In Grafana Cloud, navigate to Connections > Add new connection.
Search for MySQL and select the MySQL integration.
Follow the setup instructions to install the MySQL Exporter.
Import the pre-configured dashboards from the integration page.

For more MySQL dashboards, browse the Grafana dashboard catalog.

Note
The MySQL integration monitors your MySQL server using Prometheus metrics. The MySQL data source documented here queries data stored in MySQL tables. These are complementary features for different use cases.

Query with the Grafana CLI

For example, to explore and query your MySQL data source, use the gcx datasources mysql commands:

# List tables and views, or filter to a single database
gcx datasources mysql list-tables -d <DATASOURCE_UID>
gcx datasources mysql list-tables -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --database mydb

# Show the columns of a table
gcx datasources mysql describe-table orders -d <DATASOURCE_UID>

# Run a SQL query (server-side macros like $__timeFilter are supported)
gcx datasources mysql query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> 'SELECT * FROM events WHERE $__timeFilter(created_at)' --since 1h

Replace <DATASOURCE_UID> with the UID of your MySQL data source. You can omit the -d flag when datasources.mysql is configured in your gcx context. The query command supports Grafana server-side macros such as $__timeFilter and $__timeGroup, and list-tables and describe-table help you explore the schema. Database and table names match exactly and are case-sensitive.

PostgreSQL - For PostgreSQL databases.
Microsoft SQL Server - For Microsoft SQL Server and Azure SQL databases.

OpenTSDB data source

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

OpenTSDB data source

OpenTSDB is an open source time series database built on top of HBase. Use the OpenTSDB data source to visualize metrics, create alerts, and build dashboards from your time series data.

Grafana ships with OpenTSDB preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Enterprise, so there’s nothing for you to install. The data source is now packaged as a standalone plugin that updates independently of Grafana releases. For details, refer to Plugin updates.

Supported features

The OpenTSDB data source supports the following features:

Feature	Supported	Notes
Metrics queries	Yes	Query time series data with aggregation, downsampling, and filtering
Alerting	Yes	Create alert rules based on OpenTSDB queries
Annotations	Yes	Overlay events on graphs using metric-specific or global annotations
Template variables	Yes	Use dynamic variables in queries
Explore	Yes	Ad-hoc data exploration without dashboards

Supported OpenTSDB versions

The data source supports OpenTSDB versions 2.1 through 2.4. Some features are version-specific:

Feature	Minimum version
Filters	2.2
Fill policies	2.2
Explicit tags	2.3

Get started

The following documents help you get started with the OpenTSDB data source:

Configure the OpenTSDB data source - Set up authentication and connect to OpenTSDB.
OpenTSDB query editor - Create and edit queries with aggregation, downsampling, and filtering.
Template variables - Create dynamic dashboards with OpenTSDB variables.
Troubleshooting - Solve common configuration and query errors.

Plugin updates

Starting with Grafana v13.2, the OpenTSDB data source is a standalone plugin, preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Enterprise. This enables more frequent updates independent of Grafana releases. Grafana automatically checks the plugin catalog and installs the latest version on each server restart.

To adjust this behavior:

Opt out of auto-updates: Set preinstall_auto_update to false in your configuration file.
Update manually: Update at any time from the Administration > Plugins page without restarting Grafana.

The standalone plugin requires Grafana 12.3.0 or later. The OpenTSDB data source bundled with Grafana 12.2 and earlier continues to work as before. These versions are unaffected by the externalization.

[plugin.opentsdb]
as_external = true

[plugins]
; Install the latest version on startup:
preinstall_sync = opentsdb
; Or install a specific version:
; preinstall_sync = opentsdb@<version>

Additional features

After you have configured the OpenTSDB data source, you can:

Add Annotations to overlay OpenTSDB events on your graphs.
Configure and use Template variables for dynamic dashboards.
Set up Alerting rules based on your time series queries.
Use Explore to investigate your OpenTSDB data without building a dashboard.

Parca data source

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 21:20:48 +0000

Parca data source

Warning
This plugin is deprecated and will only receive critical security updates. Support will end on January 2, 2027.

Parca is a continuous profiling database for analysis of CPU and memory usage, down to the line number and throughout time. You can use the Parca data source to query your profiles in Explore and to build profiling dashboards.

The Parca data source is developed and released from the standalone grafana/grafana-parca-datasource repository. Grafana doesn’t bundle it, so you build it from source and install it manually before you can use it.

Note
The Parca data source isn’t published to the Grafana plugin catalog and isn’t available in Grafana Cloud. You can’t install it with Grafana CLI, the Plugins page, or the plugins.preinstall configuration option.

Refer to the Parca documentation to learn about continuous profiling and how to instrument your applications.

To use Parca profiling data in Grafana, you should:

Set up Parca to scrape profiles from your applications.
Build and install the Parca data source on your Grafana instance.
Configure the Parca data source in Grafana.
Query your profiling data using the query editor in Explore.

Supported Parca versions

This data source supports Parca v0.19 and later.

Supported features

Feature	Supported
Profiles	Yes
Metrics	Yes
Alerting	No
Annotations	No

Get started

The following pages help you get started with the Parca data source:

Explore profiling data

Explore is the primary way to interact with Parca data in Grafana. Use Explore to query profiles and metrics without building a dashboard, and to select the Both query type to view flame graphs and time-series data side by side.

Integrate profiles into dashboards

Using the Parca data source, you can embed profiling data in your dashboards alongside other signals like logs and metrics. For example, you can place a flame graph panel showing CPU profiles next to a metrics panel tracking request latency to correlate performance bottlenecks with application behavior.

Updates

Because you install the Parca data source manually, Grafana can’t update it for you. To update, pull the latest changes from grafana/grafana-parca-datasource, rebuild, and replace the contents of your plugin directory. Refer to Install the data source for the build and deployment steps.

The Parca data source only receives critical security updates until January 2, 2027. After that date it receives no further updates.

PostgreSQL data source

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

PostgreSQL data source

Query and visualize data from any PostgreSQL-compatible database. Build dashboards with the visual query builder or raw SQL, explore tables in real time, overlay annotations, and create alerts from the same connection. The data source works with self-managed PostgreSQL and managed services such as Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, and Google Cloud SQL.

Grafana ships with the PostgreSQL data source out of the box. It’s preinstalled in Grafana OSS and Enterprise, so you don’t need to install a plugin to add it. The data source is packaged as a standalone plugin that can update independently of Grafana releases.

Supported databases

This data source supports the following PostgreSQL-compatible databases:

PostgreSQL 9.0 and newer
Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL
Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL
Azure Database for PostgreSQL
Google Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL

Grafana recommends using the latest available version for your database for optimal compatibility.

Key capabilities

The PostgreSQL data source supports:

Time series queries: Visualize metrics over time using built-in time grouping macros.
Table queries: Display query results in table format for any valid SQL query.
EXPLAIN queries: Inspect query execution plans directly in the query editor.
Template variables: Create dynamic dashboards with variable-driven queries using the built-in variable query editor.
Annotations: Overlay events from PostgreSQL on your dashboard panels.
Alerting: Create alerts based on PostgreSQL query results (time series format only).
Macros: Simplify queries with built-in macros for time filtering and grouping.

Supported PostgreSQL data types

The PostgreSQL plugin uses the PGX driver for database connectivity. The following PostgreSQL data types are supported:

Numeric types: int2, int4, int8, float4, float8, numeric
String types: text, varchar, char, bpchar
Date/time types: timestamp, timestamptz, date, time, timetz, interval
Boolean: bool
JSON types: json, jsonb
Enumerated types: Custom enum types are returned as string values.
Other types: Types not explicitly mapped (such as arrays, composites, or custom domains) are returned as string values.

Get started

The following documents help you get started with the PostgreSQL data source:

Configure the PostgreSQL data source - Set up authentication and connect to PostgreSQL.
PostgreSQL query editor - Create and edit queries with time series, table, and EXPLAIN formats.
Template variables - Create dynamic dashboards with PostgreSQL variables.
Annotations - Overlay PostgreSQL events on your dashboard graphs.
Alerting - Create alerts based on PostgreSQL query results.
Troubleshooting - Solve common configuration and query errors.

Additional features

After you configure the PostgreSQL data source, you can:

Add annotations to overlay PostgreSQL events on your graphs.
Set up alerting rules based on your time series queries.
Use Explore to investigate your PostgreSQL data without building a dashboard.
Add transformations to process query results.

To see the PostgreSQL data source in action, explore the demo dashboard on Grafana Play:

Give it a try using Grafana Play

With Grafana Play, you can explore and see how it works, learning from practical examples to accelerate your development. This feature can be seen on PostgreSQL Overview.

Try it

Plugin updates

Starting with Grafana v13.2, the PostgreSQL data source is a standalone plugin, preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Enterprise. This enables more frequent updates independent of Grafana releases. Grafana automatically checks the plugin catalog and installs the latest version on each server restart.

To adjust this behavior:

Opt out of auto-updates: Set preinstall_auto_update to false in your configuration file.
Update manually: Update at any time from the Administration > Plugins page without restarting Grafana.

The standalone plugin requires Grafana 12.3.0 or later. The PostgreSQL data source bundled with Grafana 13.1 and earlier continues to work as before. These versions are unaffected by the externalization.

Users running Grafana 12.3.x through 13.1.x can install the standalone plugin from the plugin catalog if they want the latest features before upgrading to Grafana 13.2. To use the standalone plugin with Grafana 12.3.x through 13.1.x, add the following to your configuration file:

[plugin.grafana-postgresql-datasource]
as_external = true

[plugins]
; Install the latest version on startup:
preinstall_sync = grafana-postgresql-datasource
; Or install a specific version:
; preinstall_sync = grafana-postgresql-datasource@<version>

Query with the Grafana CLI

For example, to explore and query your PostgreSQL data source, use the gcx datasources postgres commands:

# List tables and views, or filter to a single schema
gcx datasources postgres list-tables -d <DATASOURCE_UID>
gcx datasources postgres list-tables -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --schema public

# Show the columns of a table
gcx datasources postgres describe-table orders -d <DATASOURCE_UID>

# Run a SQL query (server-side macros like $__timeFilter are supported)
gcx datasources postgres query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> 'SELECT * FROM events WHERE $__timeFilter(created_at)' --since 1h

Replace <DATASOURCE_UID> with the UID of your PostgreSQL data source. You can omit the -d flag when datasources.postgres is configured in your gcx context. The query command supports Grafana server-side macros such as $__timeFilter and $__timeGroup, and list-tables and describe-table help you explore the schema. Schema and table names match exactly and are case-sensitive.

The following databases use the PostgreSQL wire protocol and may work with this data source:

TimescaleDB. Enable the TimescaleDB toggle in the data source settings for time_bucket support.
CockroachDB
Amazon Redshift. Grafana also offers a dedicated Amazon Redshift data source with additional features.
CrateDB
YugabyteDB

Prometheus data source

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Prometheus data source

Prometheus is an open source monitoring system and time series database that scrapes and stores metrics used for monitoring and alerting.

The Prometheus data source is preinstalled in Grafana, so you don’t need to install it manually. Write queries using PromQL in the query editor, or use Metrics Drilldown to explore metrics without writing queries. The Prometheus data source also works with other projects that implement the Prometheus querying API, including Grafana Mimir and Thanos.

Supported features

Feature	Supported
Metrics	Yes
Alerting	Yes
Annotations	Yes
Recording rules	Yes
Exemplars	Yes

Get started

The following documents help you set up and use the Prometheus data source:

Additional features

After you configure the Prometheus data source, you can:

Use Metrics Drilldown to browse and explore your Prometheus metrics without writing PromQL
Use Explore to query data without building a dashboard
Add transformations to manipulate query results
Create recorded queries for pre-aggregated data
Save and reuse PromQL queries across dashboards, Explore, and annotations with saved queries (available in Grafana Enterprise and Grafana Cloud)
Build a wide variety of visualizations

To see the Prometheus data source in action, explore this demo dashboard on Grafana Play:

Give it a try using Grafana Play

With Grafana Play, you can explore and see how it works, learning from practical examples to accelerate your development. This feature can be seen on The Four Golden Signals.

Try it

Cloud-managed Prometheus services

Note
In Grafana 13, the core Prometheus data source no longer supports SigV4 (AWS) or Azure AD authentication. These authentication methods have been migrated to dedicated plugins:

Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus: Use the Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus data source. For migration details, refer to AWS authentication (deprecated).

Azure Monitor Managed Service for Prometheus: Use the Azure Monitor Managed Service for Prometheus data source. For migration details, refer to Azure authentication (deprecated).

Existing data sources using these methods are automatically migrated on startup.

Plugin updates

Grafana still ships with the Prometheus data source out of the box. It’s preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Grafana Enterprise, so there’s nothing for you to install. Starting with Grafana v13.2, it’s packaged as a standalone plugin rather than built into the Grafana codebase, which means you can update the plugin as needed without waiting for a Grafana release. By default, Grafana checks the plugin catalog and installs the latest version on each server restart.

To adjust this behavior:

Opt out of auto-updates: Set preinstall_auto_update to false in your configuration file.
Update manually: Update at any time from the Administration > Plugins page without restarting Grafana.

The standalone plugin requires Grafana 12.3.0 or later. The Prometheus data source bundled with Grafana 13.1 and earlier continues to work as before, and those versions aren’t affected by this change.

Users running Grafana 12.3.x through 13.1.x can install the standalone plugin from the plugin catalog if they want the latest features before upgrading to Grafana 13.2. To use the standalone plugin with Grafana 12.3.x through 13.1.x, add the following to your configuration file:

[plugin.prometheus]
as_external = true

[plugins]
; Install the latest version on startup:
preinstall_sync = prometheus
; Or install a specific version:
; preinstall_sync = prometheus@<version>

Query with the Grafana CLI

For example, to query your Prometheus data source, use the gcx datasources prometheus commands:

# Run an instant PromQL query using an explicit data source UID
gcx datasources prometheus query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> 'up{job="grafana"}'

# Run a range query over the last hour
gcx datasources prometheus query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> 'rate(http_requests_total[5m])' --since 1h --step 1m

# List all labels, or the values for a single label
gcx datasources prometheus labels -d <DATASOURCE_UID>
gcx datasources prometheus labels -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --label job

# Get metadata, including the type and help text, for a metric
gcx datasources prometheus metadata -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --metric http_requests_total

Replace <DATASOURCE_UID> with the UID of your Prometheus data source. You can omit the -d flag when datasources.prometheus is configured in your gcx context. The same commands work with Prometheus-compatible data sources that gcx maps to this resolver, including Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus and other grafana-*prometheus-datasource flavors.

Pyroscope data source

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Pyroscope data source

Grafana Pyroscope is a horizontally scalable, highly available, multi-tenant, OSS, continuous profiling aggregation system. Add a Pyroscope data source to query your profiles in Explore.

Grafana includes built-in support for Pyroscope, so you don’t need to install a plugin. The Pyroscope data source requires Grafana v12.3 or later.

Refer to Introduction to Pyroscope to understand profiling and Pyroscope.

Supported features

The Pyroscope data source supports the following features.

Feature	Supported
Metrics	Yes
Logs	No
Traces	No
Alerting	No
Annotations	No

The Pyroscope data source returns profiling data visualized as flame graphs and time-series metrics derived from profiles. It also integrates with tracing data through the Trace to profiles feature.

Get started

The following documents help you get started with the Pyroscope data source:

Before you query profiles, configure your application to send profiles to Pyroscope.

To explore profiling data from a Pyroscope data source, try Grafana Profiles Drilldown on Grafana Play:

Give it a try using Grafana Play

With Grafana Play, you can explore and see how it works, learning from practical examples to accelerate your development. This feature can be seen on Grafana Profiles Drilldown.

Try it

Continuous profiling

While code profiling has been a long-standing practice, continuous profiling represents a modern and more advanced approach to performance monitoring.

This technique adds two critical dimensions to traditional profiles:

Time: Profiling data is collected continuously, providing a time-centric view that allows querying performance data from any point in the past.
Metadata: Profiles are enriched with metadata, adding contextual depth to the performance data.

These dimensions, coupled with the detailed nature of performance profiles, make continuous profiling a uniquely valuable tool.

Flame graphs

Flame graphs help you visualize resource allocation and performance bottlenecks. For more information about the visualization and its features, refer to the Flame graph panel.

Grafana Cloud-only features

Some Pyroscope features are available only in Grafana Cloud:

Explain flame graph: On views with a flame graph, Grafana Cloud provides an AI-driven analysis that explains the performance bottleneck, its root cause, and a recommended fix. For more information, refer to Flame graph AI.
GitHub line-level insights: Through the GitHub integration, Grafana Cloud maps profiling data to your source code and shows line-level performance insights.

Integrate profiles into dashboards

Using the Pyroscope data source, you can integrate profiles into your dashboards. For example, you can embed flame graphs using the flame graph panel.

This example shows memory profiles alongside panels for logs and metrics, which helps you debug out of memory (OOM) errors together with the associated logs and metrics.

Visualize traces and profiles data using Trace to profiles

You can link profile and tracing data using your Pyroscope data source with the Tempo data source.

Combined traces and profiles let you see granular line-level detail when available for a trace span. This allows you to pinpoint the exact function that’s causing a bottleneck in your application as well as a specific request.

For more information, refer to Configure Trace to profiles and Link tracing and profiling with span profiles.

Query with the Grafana CLI

For example, to run a profiling query against your Pyroscope data source, use gcx datasources pyroscope query:

gcx datasources pyroscope query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> '{service_name="frontend"}' \
  --profile-type process_cpu:cpu:nanoseconds:cpu:nanoseconds --since 1h

Replace <DATASOURCE_UID> with the UID of your Pyroscope data source. The query takes a label selector ({service_name="frontend"}), a profile type (--profile-type), and a time range (--since).

For more information about Pyroscope beyond the data source, refer to the following Pyroscope product documentation:

Introduction to Pyroscope: Understand continuous profiling and how Pyroscope works.
Configure the client to send profiles: Instrument your application to send profiling data to Pyroscope.
Link traces to profiles with span profiles: Correlate trace spans with profiling data.
Deploy Pyroscope: Deploy and run a self-managed Pyroscope backend.
Configure the Pyroscope server: Reference the available server configuration parameters.

Tempo data source

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Tempo data source

Grafana ships preinstalled with the Tempo data source for Grafana Tempo, a high-volume, minimal-dependency distributed tracing backend from Grafana Labs. There’s nothing to install to get started. Use the Tempo data source to search and visualize traces, correlate traces with logs, metrics, and profiles, and monitor service dependencies with the Service Graph.

As of Grafana 13.2, Tempo is packaged as a standalone plugin so it can receive updates independently of Grafana releases. For details, refer to Plugin updates.

Want to learn more about traces and the other telemetry signals? Refer to Correlate telemetry signals.

Note
Grafana Cloud users: Grafana Cloud includes Grafana Cloud Traces, a pre-configured tracing data source backed by Tempo. You can use Grafana Cloud Traces to query traces without additional setup. Use the Tempo data source when you need to connect to a self-managed Tempo instance or require custom configuration such as trace correlations.

Supported features

The Tempo data source supports the following features:

Feature	Supported	Notes
TraceQL queries	Yes	Query traces using TraceQL, the query language designed for traces
Search	Yes	Find traces by service name, span name, duration, and attributes
Service Graph	Yes	Visualize service dependencies and RED metrics
Trace to logs	Yes	Navigate from spans to related logs in Loki and other log data sources
Trace to metrics	Yes	Link spans to metrics queries in Prometheus
Trace to profiles	Yes	Link spans to profiling data in Grafana Pyroscope
Trace correlations	Yes	Embed custom correlation links in trace views
Streaming	Yes	Display TraceQL results as they become available
JSON trace upload	Yes	Upload and visualize trace files without a Tempo instance
Explore	Yes	Ad-hoc trace investigation without dashboards
Alerting	Experimental	Enable the `tempoAlerting` feature toggle to alert on TraceQL metrics queries, or use Prometheus metrics from the metrics generator

Tip
New to tracing? Learn what telemetry signals are and how they work together in Correlate telemetry signals (Grafana Cloud), or take the Introduction to tracing learning journey to learn about spans, traces, and how to read a trace in Grafana.

Prefer a queryless experience? Grafana Traces Drilldown lets you explore tracing data using RED metrics without writing TraceQL queries.

Get started

The following pages help you set up and use the Tempo data source:

Configure the Tempo data source: Connect Grafana to Tempo, set up authentication, and configure trace correlations.
Query tracing data: Search for traces, use the TraceQL editor, and upload JSON trace files.
Grafana Traces Drilldown: Explore tracing data visually using RED metrics, without writing queries.
Service Graph and Service Graph view: Visualize service dependencies and monitor request rate, error rate, and duration. Requires a linked Prometheus data source with service graph metrics.

To explore tracing data from a Tempo data source, try Grafana Traces Drilldown on Grafana Play:

Give it a try using Grafana Play

With Grafana Play, you can explore and see how it works, learning from practical examples to accelerate your development. This feature can be seen on Grafana Traces Drilldown.

Try it

Connect traces to other signals

After you’ve connected Grafana to Tempo, you can configure correlations between traces and other signals:

Trace to logs: Navigate from spans to related logs in Loki, including bidirectional linking.
Trace to metrics: Link spans to metrics queries in Prometheus or other metrics data sources.
Trace to profiles: Link spans to profiling data in Grafana Pyroscope with embedded flame graphs.
Trace correlations: Create custom correlation links to any data source or external URL.

Plugin updates

Starting with Grafana v13.2, the Tempo data source is a standalone plugin, preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Enterprise. This enables more frequent updates independent of Grafana releases. Grafana automatically checks the plugin catalog on each server restart and installs the latest version within the current major version. New major versions aren’t installed automatically.

To adjust this behavior:

Opt out of auto-updates: Set preinstall_auto_update to false in your configuration file.
Update manually: Update at any time from the Administration > Plugins page without restarting Grafana.

The standalone plugin requires Grafana 12.3.0 or later. The Tempo data source bundled with Grafana 13.1 and earlier continues to work as before. These versions are unaffected by the externalization.

[plugin.tempo]
as_external = true

[plugins]
; Install the latest version on startup:
preinstall_sync = tempo
; Or install a specific version:
; preinstall_sync = tempo@<version>

Note
On Grafana Cloud, the Tempo plugin is managed by Grafana and updates automatically.

Query with the Grafana CLI

For example, to search and query your Tempo data source, use the gcx datasources tempo commands:

# Search for traces with a TraceQL query
gcx datasources tempo query -d <DATASOURCE_UID> '{ span.http.status_code >= 500 }' --since 1h

# Retrieve a single trace by its ID
gcx datasources tempo get -d <DATASOURCE_UID> <TRACE_ID>

# List all trace labels, or the values for a single label
gcx datasources tempo labels -d <DATASOURCE_UID>
gcx datasources tempo labels -d <DATASOURCE_UID> --label service.name

# Run a TraceQL metrics query that returns time series
gcx datasources tempo metrics -d <DATASOURCE_UID> '{ } | rate()' --since 1h

Replace <DATASOURCE_UID> with the UID of your Tempo data source and <TRACE_ID> with a hex-encoded trace ID. You can omit the -d flag when datasources.tempo is configured in your gcx context. The query command searches for traces, get retrieves a single trace by ID, and metrics returns time series from a TraceQL metrics query.

Introduction to tracing
Best practices for traces: Guidance on planning spans, attributes, and trace structure for effective tracing data.
TraceQL query examples
TraceQL query language reference If you encounter issues with the Tempo data source, refer to Troubleshoot Tempo data source issues.

Configure the Tempo data source
Guide for configuring Tempo in Grafana
Query tracing data
Guide for using the Tempo data source's query editor
Service Graph and Service Graph view
Use the Service Graph and Service Graph view to visualize service dependencies and monitor RED metrics
Span filters
Use span filters to filter spans in the timeline viewer
Troubleshoot Tempo data source issues
Troubleshoot common problems with the Tempo data source in Grafana

TestData data source

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TestData data source

Every dashboard starts with data, and the TestData data source gives you data instantly. TestData is bundled with Grafana, so it’s ready to use out of the box with no installation required. It generates simulated time series, logs, traces, and more for any panel, with no external connection required. Use it to prototype dashboards, put visualizations through their paces with tricky edge cases, experiment with alert rules, and reproduce issues in a way that others can replicate.

Supported features

Feature	Supported
Metrics	Yes
Logs	Yes
Alerting	Yes
Annotations	Yes

Get started

The following pages help you set up and use the TestData data source:

Configure the TestData data source for setup and provisioning instructions.
TestData query editor for a reference of all 33 available scenarios and their options.
TestData alerting for prototyping and testing alert rules with simulated data.
TestData template variables for using TestData with dashboard variables.
TestData annotations for generating simulated annotation events.
Troubleshoot TestData for solutions to common issues.

Additional features

After adding the data source, you can:

Use Explore to run scenarios without building a dashboard.
Add transformations to manipulate query results.
Build dashboards with simulated data for prototyping and demos.

Pre-built dashboard

TestData includes a bundled dashboard that demonstrates streaming data scenarios.

To import the dashboard:

Navigate to the data source’s configuration page.
Select the Dashboards tab.
Click Import for the Streaming Example dashboard.

To customize the imported dashboard, save it under a different name first. Otherwise, upgrading Grafana can overwrite your customizations.

Report issues with test data

If you report an issue on GitHub involving time-series data rendering, use the TestData data source to replicate the problem. This makes it easier for developers to reproduce and resolve the issue.

Use a custom version of TestData

If you want to use a version of TestData different from the one shipped with Grafana, you can configure Grafana to skip loading the bundled version. This lets you install TestData as an external plugin and manage its lifecycle independently.

To enable this:

Set the as_external configuration field for the plugin to true:
ini
```
[plugin.grafana-testdata-datasource]
as_external = true
```
Restart Grafana.

With the default configuration, Grafana loads the bundled core version of TestData. An externally installed version has no effect unless as_external is set to true.

Plugin updates

TestData is a core plugin that ships with Grafana. It updates automatically when you upgrade your Grafana instance.

If you use TestData as an external plugin, navigate to Administration > Plugins and data > Plugins to check for updates.

Note
Plugins are automatically updated in Grafana Cloud.

Zipkin data source

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

Zipkin data source

When a request slows to a crawl or fails somewhere deep in your microservices, Zipkin shows you exactly where. Zipkin is an open source distributed tracing system that follows a request as it hops from service to service, so you can pinpoint the bottleneck instead of guessing.

The Zipkin data source brings those traces straight into Grafana. Query and visualize them alongside your logs and metrics to find latency bottlenecks, follow requests across services, and map the dependencies between them. Grafana ships with the data source preinstalled, so you can start exploring traces right away.

As of Grafana 13.2, Zipkin is packaged as a standalone plugin so it can receive updates independently of Grafana releases. For details, refer to Plugin updates.

Supported features

Feature	Supported
Traces	Yes
Metrics	No
Logs	No
Alerting	No
Annotations	No

Get started

The following pages help you get started with the Zipkin data source:

Additional features

After configuring the data source, you can:

Use Explore to query traces without building a dashboard
Navigate from traces to related logs with trace to logs integration
Navigate from traces to related metrics with trace to metrics integration
Enable the Node graph visualization to view service dependencies
Add Transformations to manipulate query results

Plugin updates

Starting with Grafana v13.2, the Zipkin data source is a standalone plugin, preinstalled in both Grafana OSS and Enterprise. This enables more frequent updates independent of Grafana releases. Grafana automatically checks the plugin catalog and installs the latest version on each server restart.

To adjust this behavior:

Opt out of auto-updates: Set preinstall_auto_update to false in your configuration file.
Update manually: Update at any time from the Administration > Plugins page without restarting Grafana.

The standalone plugin requires Grafana 12.3.0 or later. The Zipkin data source bundled with Grafana 13.1 and earlier continues to work as before. These versions are unaffected by the externalization.

[plugin.zipkin]
as_external = true

[plugins]
; Install the latest version on startup:
preinstall_sync = zipkin
; Or install a specific version:
; preinstall_sync = zipkin@<version>

Note
On Grafana Cloud, the Zipkin plugin is managed by Grafana and updates automatically.

Troubleshoot general data source issues

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:15:42 +0000

Troubleshoot general data source issues

This page provides solutions to common issues that apply across data sources in Grafana. For troubleshooting specific to a data source, refer to the troubleshooting page within each data source’s documentation.

Connection errors

These errors occur when Grafana can’t reach the data source backend.

“Connection refused” or timeout errors

Symptoms:

Save & test fails with a connection error or timeout
Panels show “error” or fail to load data
Intermittent connectivity issues

Possible causes and solutions:

Cause	Solution
Incorrect URL	Verify the data source URL is correct, including the protocol (`http://` or `https://`) and port number.
Network or firewall rules	Ensure the Grafana server can reach the data source endpoint. Check that firewall rules allow outbound traffic on the required port.
Data source is down	Verify the data source service is running and accepting connections.
DNS resolution failure	Confirm the hostname resolves correctly from the Grafana server.
Private network access	If the data source is on a private network and you’re using Grafana Cloud, configure Private data source connect.

TLS/SSL errors

Symptoms:

Errors mentioning “certificate,” “TLS handshake,” or “x509”
Save & test fails with SSL-related messages

Solutions:

Verify the data source is using a valid TLS certificate.
If you’re using a self-signed certificate, enable Skip TLS Verify in the data source configuration (not recommended for production) or add the CA certificate to the list of trusted certificates in Grafana.
Ensure the certificate hasn’t expired.
Confirm the certificate’s Common Name or Subject Alternative Name matches the hostname in the data source URL.

Authentication errors

These errors occur when credentials are invalid, missing, or lack the required permissions.

“Unauthorized” or “Access denied”

Symptoms:

Save & test fails with 401 Unauthorized or 403 Forbidden
Queries return access denied messages
Drop-down menus don’t populate

Possible causes and solutions:

Cause	Solution
Invalid credentials	Double-check the username, password, API key, or token. Regenerate credentials if necessary.
Expired credentials	Create new credentials and update the data source configuration.
Insufficient permissions	Ensure the account or API key has the permissions required by the data source. Refer to the specific data source’s documentation for required permissions.
Wrong authentication method	Verify you’ve selected the correct authentication type for your setup.

Query errors

These errors occur when executing queries against a properly connected data source.

“No data” or empty results

Symptoms:

Queries execute without error but return no data
Panels show “No data”
Graphs are empty

Possible causes and solutions:

Cause	Solution
Time range doesn’t contain data	Expand the dashboard time range or verify data exists in the data source for the selected period.
Incorrect query	Review the query syntax. Use the data source’s query editor to build or validate the query.
Wrong data source selected	Verify you’ve selected the correct data source in the panel or Explore.
Permissions issue	Ensure the credentials have read access to the specific resource or index being queried.

Query timeout

Symptoms:

Queries run for a long time then fail
Error messages mention timeout or query limits

Solutions:

Narrow the dashboard time range to reduce the volume of data.
Add filters to the query to reduce the result set.
Break complex queries into smaller parts.
Increase the data source timeout setting if your data source legitimately needs more time.

Data source configuration errors

“Save & test” fails after provisioning

Symptoms:

Provisioned data sources fail the connection test
Errors appear after deploying provisioning YAML files

Solutions:

Verify the provisioning YAML syntax is correct. Refer to Provision data sources for the expected format.
Ensure secureJsonData values (such as passwords, API keys, and tokens) are set correctly. These values can’t be read back after being saved.
Check that the provisioning file is in the correct directory and that Grafana has read access.
Restart Grafana after making changes to provisioning files.

Data source disappears or resets

Symptoms:

Data source changes revert after Grafana restarts
Data source configuration can’t be saved through the UI

Solutions:

Provisioned data sources can’t be edited through the UI. Make changes in the provisioning YAML file instead.
Verify no other provisioning file is overwriting your data source configuration.

Enable debug logging

To capture detailed error information for troubleshooting:

Set the Grafana log level to debug in the configuration file:
ini
```
[log]
level = debug
```
Restart Grafana for the change to take effect.
Reproduce the issue and review logs at /var/log/grafana/grafana.log (or your configured log location).
Look for entries related to your data source that include request and response details.
Reset the log level to info after troubleshooting to avoid excessive log volume.

Get additional help

If the solutions on this page don’t resolve your issue:

Check the troubleshooting page for your specific data source.
Search the Grafana community forums for similar issues.
Review Grafana GitHub issues for known bugs.
Contact Grafana Support if you’re a Grafana Enterprise, Cloud Pro, or Cloud Advanced user.

When reporting issues, include:

Grafana version and data source plugin version
Exact error messages (redact sensitive information)
Steps to reproduce the issue
Relevant configuration (redact credentials)

Data sources on Grafana Labs

Data sources, plugins, and integrations

Data sources, plugins, and integrations

Data sources

Plugins

Integrations

When to use each

Relationships and interactions

Frequently asked questions

Summary reference

Alertmanager data source

Alertmanager data source

Alertmanager implementations

Configure the data source

Authentication

Verify the connection

Provision the data source

Configuration file

Terraform

Troubleshoot Alertmanager data source issues

“Health check failed.”

“It looks like you have chosen Prometheus implementation, but detected a Mimir or Cortex endpoint.”

“It looks like you have chosen a Mimir or Cortex implementation, but detected a Prometheus endpoint.”

Grafana-managed alerts are not being received

Contact points and notification policies are read-only

Related resources

Amazon CloudWatch data source

Amazon CloudWatch data source

Supported features

Get started

Import pre-configured dashboards

Additional features

Control pricing

Manage service quotas

Cross-account observability

Query with the Grafana CLI

Related resources

Azure Monitor data source

Azure Monitor data source

Supported features

Supported Azure clouds

Supported Azure services

Get started

Additional features

Pre-built dashboards

Plugin updates

Query with the Grafana CLI

Related resources

Elasticsearch data source

Elasticsearch data source

Key capabilities

Before you begin

Supported Elasticsearch versions

Get started

Plugin updates

Additional resources

Query with the Grafana CLI

Related data sources

Google Cloud Monitoring data source

Google Cloud Monitoring data source

Get started

Supported query types

Additional features

Import dashboards for GCP services

Plugin updates

Query with the Grafana CLI

Related resources

Graphite data source

Graphite data source

Supported features

Get started

Additional features

Send Grafana metrics to Graphite

Graphite and Loki integration

Pre-built dashboards

Related resources

InfluxDB data source

InfluxDB data source

Supported versions

Supported features