Navigate to documentation and install a data source

Data sources are the foundation of observability in Grafana Cloud. They connect your monitoring platform to systems, applications, and infrastructure, enabling you to visualize and analyze telemetry data from across your environment.

Grafana Cloud supports numerous data sources including Prometheus for metrics, Loki for logs, Tempo for traces, and many third-party systems. Finding the right data source documentation helps you establish these connections efficiently.

To navigate to data source documentation and install a data source, complete the following steps:

1. Open a browser tab and navigate to Data sources.

2. Browse the list to find a data source othat matches your monitoring needs.

   For example, if you have a Prometheus server, look for Prometheus in the list of data sources.

3. Click on the data source you want to configure to view its documentation.

   Note

   The documentation contains important data source configuration requirements.

4. Return to your Grafana Cloud environment, open the navigation menu on the left side of the screen, and click Connections > Data sources.

5. Click Add new data source.

6. Search for and select the data source you want to configure.

   For example, search for and select Prometheus.

7. Configure the data source settings according to the documentation you reviewed:

   • Enter the server URL in the HTTP > URL field
   • Configure authentication, if required
   • Set any additional options specific to your data source

8. Click Save & test to verify the connection.

9. Confirm the connection test succeeds and shows a green checkmark.

The data source is connected and ready to use for creating dashboards and alerts. You can query data from this source to build visualizations that help monitor your systems.

In the next milestone, you’ll explore the integrations documentation to install pre-built monitoring solutions for specific technologies.