Grafana tool for Monitoring & Logging

Grafana:

• Grafana is an open-source visualization and monitoring tool that allows you to create interactive dashboards and graphs for various data sources.

• Key Features:

  • Supports a wide range of data sources, including Prometheus, Elasticsearch, InfluxDB, and more.

  • Provides a rich set of visualization options like graphs, tables, heatmaps, and alerting.

  • Offers templating and dashboard variables for dynamic and flexible dashboards.

  • Allows for easy sharing and collaboration of dashboards with team members.

• Useful Commands/Actions:

  • Start Grafana service: systemctl start grafana-server

  • Access Grafana web interface: http://<Grafana_IP>:<Port>

  • Install Grafana plugins: grafana-cli plugins install <plugin_name>

  • Reload Grafana configuration: systemctl reload grafana-server

Loki:

• Loki is a horizontally scalable, highly available log aggregation system designed to work seamlessly with Grafana.

• Key Features:

  • Stores logs as chunks in object storage (e.g., Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage).

  • Utilizes labels and indexing to efficiently query and filter logs.

  • Supports log streams and log labels for better log organization.

  • Provides efficient storage and retrieval of logs.

• Useful Commands/Actions:

  • Start Loki service: loki -config.file=loki-config.yml

  • Access Loki web interface: http://<Loki_IP>:<Port>

  • Query logs from Loki CLI: loki -config.file=loki-config.yml query <query_expression>

Promtail:

• Promtail is an agent that collects and sends logs to Loki for storage and querying.

• Key Features:

  • Collects logs from various sources, such as local files, systemd journals, and Kubernetes pods.

  • Adds labels and metadata to logs for better categorization and querying.

  • Provides log enrichment capabilities through log relabeling.

  • Supports efficient log shipping to Loki via HTTP or gRPC.

• Useful Commands/Actions:

  • Start Promtail service: promtail -config.file=promtail-config.yml

  • Check Promtail logs: journalctl -u promtail.service

  • Verify Promtail configuration: promtail -config.file=promtail-config.yml -dry-run

Remember to replace <Grafana_IP>, <Port>, <Loki_IP>, <query_expression>, <plugin_name>, <Promtail_IP>, and <Promtail_Port> with the appropriate values for your setup.