Documentation Plugins New Relic Template variables

New Relic template variables

Use template variables to create dynamic, reusable dashboards. Instead of hard-coding values like application names or metric namespaces, you can use variables that users can change from a drop-down at the top of the dashboard.

Before you begin

• Configure the New Relic data source.
• Familiarize yourself with Grafana template variables.

Supported variable query types

The New Relic data source supports the following variable query types:

Create a query variable

To create a query variable:

1. Navigate to your dashboard and click Dashboard settings (gear icon).
2. Click Variables in the left-side menu.
3. Click Add variable.
4. Select Query as the variable type.
5. Select the New Relic data source.
6. Choose a Query type and configure the query.
7. Click Apply.

Query type examples

The following sections describe each query type with examples.

Insights / NRQL

Use a NRQL query to populate variable values. This is the default query type.

The default query returns a list of unique application names:

SQL Copy

SELECT uniques(appName) FROM Transaction

Other examples:

List unique hostnames:

SQL Copy

SELECT uniques(host) FROM SystemSample

List unique container names:

SQL Copy

SELECT uniques(containerName) FROM ProcessSample

List transaction names for a specific application:

SQL Copy

SELECT uniques(name) FROM Transaction WHERE appName = 'my-app'

List event types that have data in the current time range:

SQL Copy

SELECT uniques(eventType) FROM NrdbQuery $__timeFilter

Applications (IDs)

Returns a list of New Relic application IDs.

Use this query type when you need application IDs for the Metrics query editor or deployment annotations.

Applications (Names)

Returns a list of New Relic application names. Use this query type when you need human-readable names for use in NRQL WHERE clauses.

Metrics

Returns a list of available metric names for a specific application. Select the application from the Application drop-down.

You can use another variable as the application selection, enabling cascading variables where the metric list updates based on the selected application.

Use variables in queries

After creating a variable, reference it in your queries using standard Grafana variable syntax.

Single-value variables

Use ${variable} or $variable syntax. Wrap in single quotes when used in string comparisons:

SQL Copy

SELECT average(duration) FROM Transaction WHERE appName = '${app}' $__timeFilter TIMESERIES

Multi-value variables

The New Relic data source supports multi-value variables. When a variable allows multiple selections, the plugin automatically formats the values for use in NRQL IN clauses:

SQL Copy

SELECT average(duration) FROM Transaction WHERE appName IN (${app}) $__timeFilter TIMESERIES

For quoted contexts, use the :singlequote formatting option:

SQL Copy

SELECT count(*) FROM Transaction WHERE appName IN (${app:singlequote}) $__timeFilter

Variable usage examples

Filter by application and host:

SQL Copy

SELECT average(duration) FROM Transaction WHERE appName = '${app}' AND host = '${host}' $__timeFilter TIMESERIES

Use a variable as an event type in Data Explorer’s Where field:

Copy

appName = '${app}' AND serverName IN (${servers:singlequote})

For more information about variables, refer to Templates and variables.