Creating dashboards - Amazon Managed Grafana

Creating dashboards

This documentation topic is designed for Grafana workspaces that support Grafana version 10.x.

For Grafana workspaces that support Grafana version 9.x, see Working in Grafana version 9.

For Grafana workspaces that support Grafana version 8.x, see Working in Grafana version 8.

Creating a dashboard

Dashboards and panels allow you to show your data in visual form using Grafana. Each panel needs at least one query to display a visualization. Before you get started, complete the following prerequisites.

  • Ensure that you have the proper permissions. For more information about permissions, see Users, teams, and permissions.

  • Identify the dashboard to which you want to add the panel.

  • Understand the query language of the target data source.

  • Ensure that data source for which you are writing a query has been added. For more information, see Connect to data sources.

To create a dashboard:

  1. Sign into Grafana, and select Dashboards from the left menu.

  2. Select New, then New dashboard.

  3. On the empty dashboard, select + Add visualization. This opens the new visualization dialog box.

  4. Select a data source. You can choose an existing data source, one of Grafana's built in data sources for testing, or choose Configure a new data source to set up a new one (only users with Admin permissions can configure new data sources).

    The Edit panel view opens, with your data source selected. You can change the data source for the panel later, using the Query tab of the panel editor, if needed.

  5. Write or construct a query in the query language of your data source. Choose the refresh dashboard icon to perform a query on the data source, seeing the results as you go.

  6. In the Visualization list, select a visualization type. Grafana displays a preview of your query results with the visualization applied. For more information, see Visualizations options.

  7. Under Panel options, you can enter a title and description for your panel.

  8. Most visualizations need some adjustment before they display the exact information that you need. You can adjust panel settings in the following ways.

  9. When you've finished configuring your panel, choose Save to save the dashboard.

    Alternatively, select Apply to see changes without leaving the panel editor.

  10. Add a note to describe the visualization (or describe your changes) and then click Save in the upper-right corner of the page.

    Note

    Notes are helpful if you need to revert the dashboard to a previous version.

  11. Choose Save.

  12. Optionally, you can add more panels to the dashboard by choosing Add in the dashboard header, and selecting Visualization from the drop-down.

Copying an existing dashboard

You can quickly copy an existing dashboard, to jumpstart creating a new one.

To copy an existing dashboard

  1. Select Dashboards from the left menu.

  2. Choose the dashboard you want to copy, to open it.

  3. Select Settings (gear icon) in the top right of the dashboard.

  4. Select Save asin the top right corner of the dashboard.

  5. (Optional) Specify the name, folder, description, and whether or not to copy the original dashboard tags for the copied dashboard.

  6. Select Save.

Configuring repeating rows

You can configure Grafana to dynamically add panels or rows to a dashboard based on the value of a variable. Variables dynamically change your queries across all rows in a dashboard. For more information about repeating panels, see Configure repeating panels.

You can also repeat rows if you have variables set with Multi-value or Include all values selected.

Before you get started, ensure that the query includes a multi-value variable, then you should complete the following steps.

To configure repeating rows

  1. Select Dashboards from the left menu, then choose the dashboard you want to modify.

  2. At the top of the dashboard, select Add, and then select Row from the drop down.

    If the dashboard is empty, you can alternately select the + Add row button in the middle of the dashboard.

  3. Hover over the row title and select the Settings (gear) icon that appears.

  4. On the Row Options dialog box, add a title and select the variable for which you want to add repeating rows.

    Note

    To provide context to dashboard users, add the variable to the row title.

  5. Select Update.

Repeating rows and the Dashboard special data source

If a row includes panels using the special Dashboard data source—the data source that uses a result set from another panel in the smae dashboard—then corresponding panels in repeated rows will reference the panel in the original row, not the ones in the repeated rows.

For example, in a dashboard:

  • Row 1 includes Panel 1A and Panel 1B.

  • Panel 1B uses the results from Panel 1A by using the Dashboard data source.

  • Repeating Row 2 includes Panel 2A and Panel 2B.

  • Panel 2B references Panel 1A, not Panel 2A.

To move a panel

  1. Open the dashboard.

  2. Select the panel title and drag the panel to the new location. You can place a panel on a dashboard in any location.

To resize a panel

  1. Open the dashboard.

  2. To adjust the size of the panel, drag the lower-right corner of the panel. You can size a dashboard panel to suits your needs.