Documentation Plugins Zendesk Configure

Configure the Zendesk data source

This document explains how to configure the Zendesk data source and provision it with configuration files.

Before you begin

Before you configure the data source, ensure you have:

• The plugin installed: The Zendesk plugin installed in your Grafana instance. Refer to Install the Zendesk data source.
• Grafana permissions: The organization administrator role. Only users with this role can add data sources.
• A Zendesk subdomain: The subdomain of your Zendesk instance.
• A Zendesk API token: An API token with access to the resources you want to query. Refer to Managing access to the Zendesk API to create one.

Key concepts

If you’re new to Zendesk, these terms are used throughout the configuration:

Add the data source

To add the Zendesk data source:

1. Click Connections in the left-side menu.
2. Click Add new connection.
3. Type Zendesk in the search bar.
4. Select Zendesk.
5. Click Add new data source.

Configure settings

After you add the data source, configure its settings. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.

Set a Name to identify the data source in panels and queries, and optionally toggle Default to make it the default data source for new panels.

Connection

Under Connection > Server configuration, provide the details Grafana uses to reach your Zendesk instance:

Authentication

The Zendesk data source uses Basic authentication with your Zendesk account email and an API token. Under Authentication, provide your credentials:

Verify the connection

Click Save & test to verify the connection. Grafana runs a health check that queries the ticket count for your account. When the test succeeds, Grafana displays health check succeeded for 'Count tickets' query, which confirms that the credentials and subdomain are valid.

If the test fails, Grafana displays the reason returned by the health check. For example, missing credentials return invalid/empty Email. For more failure messages and fixes, refer to Troubleshoot the Zendesk data source.

Connect through Private data source connect

The Zendesk data source supports Private data source connect (PDC), which lets Grafana Cloud reach the Zendesk API through a secure tunnel from your private network. Use PDC when your network policy requires outbound traffic to Zendesk to originate from your own environment rather than directly from Grafana Cloud.

Because PDC routes requests through the plugin’s backend, it works with the Zendesk data source. To use it:

1. Set up a PDC connection and deploy the PDC agent in your network. Refer to Configure Private data source connect.
2. In the Zendesk data source configuration, expand Private data source connect and select your PDC connection.
3. Click Save & test to verify that Grafana can reach Zendesk through the tunnel.

Provision the data source

You can define the data source in YAML files as part of the Grafana provisioning system. For more information about provisioning and available settings, refer to Provisioning Grafana data sources.

Here is a provisioning example for the Zendesk data source:

YAML Copy

apiVersion: 1
datasources:
  - name: Zendesk Data Source
    type: grafana-zendesk-datasource
    jsonData:
      services:
        zendesk:
          auth:
            username: '<EMAIL_ADDRESS>'
      variables:
        subdomain: '<ZENDESK_SUBDOMAIN>'
    secureJsonData:
      zendesk.password: '<ZENDESK_API_TOKEN>'

Replace the placeholders with your values:

• <EMAIL_ADDRESS>: The email address used to sign in to Zendesk.
• <ZENDESK_SUBDOMAIN>: The subdomain of your Zendesk instance.
• <ZENDESK_API_TOKEN>: The API token generated from Zendesk.

Provision with Terraform

You can also provision the data source with the Grafana Terraform provider. The following example creates the Zendesk data source with the grafana_data_source resource:

hcl Copy

resource "grafana_data_source" "zendesk" {
  type = "grafana-zendesk-datasource"
  name = "Zendesk Data Source"

  json_data_encoded = jsonencode({
    services = {
      zendesk = {
        auth = {
          username = "<EMAIL_ADDRESS>"
        }
      }
    }
    variables = {
      subdomain = "<ZENDESK_SUBDOMAIN>"
    }
  })

  secure_json_data_encoded = jsonencode({
    "zendesk.password" = "<ZENDESK_API_TOKEN>"
  })
}

Replace the placeholders with your values:

• <EMAIL_ADDRESS>: The email address used to sign in to Zendesk.
• <ZENDESK_SUBDOMAIN>: The subdomain of your Zendesk instance.
• <ZENDESK_API_TOKEN>: The API token generated from Zendesk.