EZ-Homelab/docs/service-docs/grafana.md

Grafana - Metrics Visualization

Table of Contents

• Overview
• What is Grafana?
• Why Use Grafana?
• Configuration in AI-Homelab
• Official Resources
• Educational Resources
• Docker Configuration
• Setup

Overview

Category: Monitoring Dashboards
Docker Image: grafana/grafana
Default Stack: monitoring.yml
Web UI: http://SERVER_IP:3001
Default Login: admin/admin
Ports: 3001

What is Grafana?

Grafana is the leading open-source platform for monitoring and observability. It visualizes data from Prometheus, InfluxDB, Elasticsearch, and 80+ other data sources with beautiful, interactive dashboards. The standard for turning metrics into insights.

Key Features

• Beautiful Dashboards: Stunning visualizations
• 80+ Data Sources: Prometheus, InfluxDB, MySQL, etc.
• Alerting: Visual alert rules
• Variables: Dynamic dashboards
• Annotations: Mark events
• Sharing: Share dashboards/panels
• Plugins: Extend functionality
• Templating: Reusable dashboards
• Community Dashboards: 10,000+ ready-made
• Free & Open Source: No limits

Why Use Grafana?

1. Industry Standard: Used everywhere
2. Beautiful: Best-in-class visualizations
3. Flexible: 80+ data sources
4. Easy: Pre-made dashboards
5. Powerful: Advanced queries
6. Alerting: Visual alert builder
7. Community: Huge dashboard library
8. Free: All features included

Configuration in AI-Homelab

/opt/stacks/monitoring/grafana/data/
  grafana.db          # Configuration database
  dashboards/         # Dashboard JSON
  plugins/            # Installed plugins

Official Resources

• Website: https://grafana.com
• Documentation: https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest
• Dashboards: https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards
• Tutorials: https://grafana.com/tutorials

Educational Resources

YouTube Videos

1. Techno Tim - Prometheus & Grafana

   • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TJx7QTrTyo
   • Complete setup guide
   • Dashboard creation
   • Alerting configuration

2. TechWorld with Nana - Grafana Tutorial

   • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDQmY1iFvSU
   • Dashboard building
   • Variables and templating
   • Best practices

3. Christian Lempa - Grafana Basics

   • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXZeTpFGw94
   • Getting started
   • Data source configuration
   • Panel types

Popular Dashboards

1. Node Exporter Full: https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/1860 (ID: 1860)
2. Docker Container & Host Metrics: https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/179 (ID: 179)
3. cAdvisor: https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/14282 (ID: 14282)

Docker Configuration

grafana:
  image: grafana/grafana:latest
  container_name: grafana
  restart: unless-stopped
  networks:
    - traefik-network
  ports:
    - "3001:3000"
  environment:
    - GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD=${GRAFANA_PASSWORD}
    - GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS=grafana-piechart-panel,grafana-worldmap-panel
    - GF_SERVER_ROOT_URL=https://grafana.${DOMAIN}
  volumes:
    - /opt/stacks/monitoring/grafana/data:/var/lib/grafana
  user: "472"  # grafana user
  labels:
    - "traefik.enable=true"
    - "traefik.http.routers.grafana.rule=Host(`grafana.${DOMAIN}`)"

Setup

1. Start Container:

   docker compose up -d grafana
   

2. Access UI: http://SERVER_IP:3001

3. First Login:

   • Username: admin
   • Password: admin
   • Set new password

4. Add Prometheus Data Source:

   • Configuration (gear) → Data Sources → Add
   • Type: Prometheus
   • URL: http://prometheus:9090
   • Save & Test

5. Import Dashboard:

   • Dashboards (squares) → Import
   • Enter dashboard ID (e.g., 1860)
   • Select Prometheus data source
   • Import

6. Popular Dashboard IDs:

   • 1860: Node Exporter Full
   • 179: Docker Container Metrics
   • 14282: cAdvisor
   • 11074: Node Exporter for Prometheus
   • 893: Docker Metrics

7. Create Custom Dashboard:

   • Dashboards → New Dashboard
   • Add Panel
   • Select visualization
   • Write PromQL query
   • Configure panel options
   • Save dashboard

Summary

Grafana is your visualization platform offering:

• Beautiful metric dashboards
• 80+ data source types
• 10,000+ community dashboards
• Visual alert builder
• Dashboard templating
• Team collaboration
• Plugin ecosystem
• Free and open-source

Perfect for:

• Prometheus visualization
• Infrastructure monitoring
• Application metrics
• Business analytics
• IoT data
• Log analysis
• Performance dashboards

Key Points:

• Change default password!
• Import community dashboards
• Prometheus common data source
• Dashboard ID for quick import
• Variables make dashboards dynamic
• Alerting built-in
• Share dashboards easily

Remember:

• Default: admin/admin
• Change password immediately
• Add Prometheus as data source
• Use community dashboards (save time)
• Learn PromQL for custom queries
• Set refresh intervals
• Export dashboards as JSON backup

Grafana turns metrics into beautiful insights!