Grafana Glossary
Introduction
Navigating the expanse of data visualization and analytics tools necessitates a rich familiarity with key terminologies and core principles.
In this guide, we unveil essential terms pertaining to data visualization, analytics, and performance insights within the context of Grafana. Cultivate a deeper understanding of Grafana, polish your data visualization capabilities, and seamlessly refine your analytics expertise as you explore this comprehensive glossary.
Grafana Terms
A
app plugin: A Grafana extension that empowers users to augment their experience by incorporating a variety of panel and data source plugins, along with custom pages, to enhance functionality.
D
dashboard: A grouping of one or more panels, arranged in one or more rows, that offers a quick and easy way to view relevant information together.
data source: An entity such as a file, database, or service that supplies the data. Grafana inherently supports various data sources and can be expanded to accommodate more data sources using plugins.
data source plugin: Enhances Grafana by adding compatibility for extra data sources.
E
exemplar: An exemplar refers to a specific data instance that exemplifies one of the data points aggregated into a metric. It includes the observed value, which may be accompanied by an optional timestamp, and additional labels that are often used to reference a trace.
Explore: Explore enables users to concentrate on crafting a query, with the option to refine it to obtain the desired metrics before constructing a dashboard.
export or import dashboard: Grafana offers the functionality to export dashboards to a JSON file, which can be shared with others. Users can import dashboards that have been previously exported or discovered on the Grafana Dashboards page, facilitating collaboration within the community.
exporter: An exporter converts data from a data source into a format that is compatible with Prometheus for processing.
G
graph: A frequently utilized visualization method that presents data in the form of points, lines, or bars.
I
Integration (Grafana Cloud): In Grafana Cloud, each Integration employs the cloud agent to establish a connection between your data source and Grafana Cloud for visualization purposes. It's worth noting that Prometheus uses the term "integrations" to denote software that exposes Prometheus metrics without the need for an exporter, a different meaning from our usage here.
M
mixin: A mixin represents a collection of Grafana dashboards and Prometheus rules and alerts, formulated in Jsonnet and bundled together as a single package.
P
panel: A fundamental component in Grafana, consisting of a query and a visualization, which can be relocated and resized within a dashboard.
panel plugin: Expands Grafana's visualization capabilities.
plugin: A Grafana extension, empowering users to add extra functionality for an enhanced experience.
Q
query: Utilized to retrieve data from a data source, with the structure and format of the query varying depending on the specific data source.
T
time series: A sequence of measurements, arranged in chronological order, stored in data sources and retrieved as the outcome of a query.
trace: The observed path taken by a request as it travels through a distributed system.
transformation: Transformations manipulate the result set of a query before it is forwarded for visualization.
V
visualization: A visual depiction of query outcomes.
Guide to Install Grafana
Ready to dive into using Grafana? Ensure you have it installed correctly by following these detailed installation guides tailored to different distros.
With these installation guides, you'll be up and running with Grafana in no time!