DocumentationPluginsDatadog data sourceDatadog templates and variables

Datadog templates and variables

Instead of hard-coding details such as server, application, and sensor names in metric queries, you can use variables. Grafana lists these variables in dropdown select boxes at the top of the dashboard to help you change the data displayed in your dashboard. Grafana refers to such variables as template variables.

For an introduction to templates and variables, see the following topics:

• Variables
• Templates
• Add and manage variables
• Variable syntax

To add a new Datadog query variable, see Add a query variable. Use your Datadog data source as your data source. The following queries are available:

For custom tag groups, enter the tag group name. For example, if your custom tag group name is subscription_name, enter that name in the Query field.

After you create a variable, you can add it to your Datadog queries. For more information, see Variable syntax.

Ad hoc filters

The ad hoc filters variable ships with Grafana and can be used with all Datadog queries. Ad hoc filters allow you to retrieve all key-value pairs from tags, such as region:east or region:west, and uses them as query tags. To create this variable, complete the following steps:

1. Open your dashboard and go to Dashboard settings.
2. Click Variables under Settings in the sidebar menu.
3. Click Add variable.
4. Select the Ad-hoc filters variable type from the dropdown menu.
5. Enter general options.
6. Select Datadog as the data source.

Ad hoc filters are one of the most complex and flexible variable options available. Instead of a regular list of variable options, this variable allows you to build a dashboard-wide ad hoc query. Filters you apply in this manner are applied to all panels on the dashboard.