Slide 5 of 10

Data source connections overview

Query data in place

Unlike integrations or remote write, data source connections don’t require you to send any data to Grafana Cloud. Instead, Grafana queries your existing systems directly — the data stays where it is.

Data sourceWhat you can query
PrometheusQuery your existing Prometheus servers directly
CloudWatchQuery AWS metrics without storing in Grafana Cloud
Azure MonitorDirect queries to Azure metrics and logs
ElasticsearchVisualize existing log data
InfluxDBQuery time-series data in place
SQL databasesQuery PostgreSQL, MySQL, BigQuery directly

Questions answered

With Data Source Connections, you can answer…
How do metrics from my existing Prometheus compare to CloudWatch?
What’s happening across all my monitoring tools in one view?
Can I correlate my Elasticsearch logs with Prometheus metrics?
What does my data look like without storing it in Grafana Cloud?

Problems solved

ProblemHow data source connections help
Don’t want to store data in Grafana CloudQuery data where it lives
Already invested in other monitoring toolsKeep using them, visualize in Grafana
Data residency requirementsData never leaves your infrastructure
Need unified view of disparate systemsSingle pane of glass for all data sources
Data sources on private networkPrivate Data Source Connect (PDC) for secure access

Architecture

Data Source Connections Architecture - Data stays in your infrastructure while Grafana Cloud queries on demand

Your data never moves. Perfect for when you can’t store data in Grafana Cloud or you want to evaluate Grafana with existing data.

Script

The third approach is different: instead of moving data to Grafana Cloud, you query it where it already lives.

Data source connections let you connect to your existing Prometheus servers, your CloudWatch account, Azure Monitor, Elasticsearch, InfluxDB, SQL databases, you name it. The data never moves. Grafana just queries it on demand.

This is perfect when storing data in Grafana Cloud isn’t an option. Maybe you’ve already invested heavily in another monitoring tool.

Maybe you have data residency requirements that prevent data from leaving your infrastructure.

Or maybe you just want to see what Grafana can do with your existing data before committing to anything.

The important thing to understand is that this is a visualization approach, not a storage approach. You get the unified view, seeing all your data in one place, but you don’t get Grafana Cloud’s managed storage benefits like long-term retention or recording rules.

The data stays yours, in your systems.

One more thing: by default, Grafana Cloud connects over the public internet. If your data sources are on a private network, you’ll need Private Data Source Connect to reach them securely.

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