Grafana: Syllabus

Mastering Grafana: Real-Time Monitoring and Intelligent Dashboards

Grafana is a powerful open-source observability platform that enables real-time monitoring, interactive data visualization, and intelligent dashboard creation. This book provides a hands-on approach to mastering Grafana, covering dashboard design, data source integration, alerting, and real-world applications.

Module 1: Introduction to Grafana and Data Visualization#

• What is Grafana? Key features and use cases
• Understanding data visualization principles
• Installing and setting up Grafana
• Navigating the Grafana UI and Dashboard Editor

Module 2: Connecting Data Sources to Grafana#

• Adding and managing data sources in Grafana
• Integrating Grafana with PostgreSQL for SQL-based monitoring
• Connecting Trino for big data analysis and federated queries
• Working with Prometheus for time-series monitoring
• Configuring cloud-based data sources (AWS, GCP, Azure)

Module 3: Designing Intelligent Dashboards#

• Understanding Grafana panels and visualizations
• Creating custom dashboards for different use cases
• Using transformations and queries to manipulate data
• Best practices for designing intuitive and efficient dashboards

Module 4: Real-Time Monitoring and Alerting#

• Setting up real-time data streaming in Grafana
• Creating alerts with threshold-based and anomaly detection methods
• Configuring notifications (Slack, Email, Webhooks)
• Implementing event-driven monitoring with alerts

Module 5: Advanced Data Visualization Techniques#

• Creating heatmaps, histograms, and time-series charts
• Implementing drill-downs and interactivity in dashboards
• Using annotations and templating for dynamic dashboards
• Correlating multiple data sources for deeper insights

Module 6: Performance Optimization and Security#

• Optimizing queries and caching for better dashboard performance
• Implementing role-based access control (RBAC) for Grafana users
• Securing dashboards with authentication and authorization
• Logging and auditing user activity in Grafana

Module 7: Deploying Grafana in Production#

• Running Grafana on Docker and Kubernetes
• Configuring high availability and load balancing
• Automating dashboard deployments with Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC)
• Monitoring and troubleshooting Grafana in production environments

Module 8: Integrating Grafana with Observability Stacks#

• Using Grafana with Prometheus for full-stack monitoring
• Combining Loki for log aggregation and analysis
• Implementing Jaeger for distributed tracing
• Creating unified observability dashboards

Hands-On Projects

Project 1: Real-Time System Monitoring with PostgreSQL and Grafana#

• Connect PostgreSQL to Grafana for real-time database monitoring
• Build dashboards to visualize query performance and server metrics
• Implement alerting for high CPU and memory usage

Project 2: Data Analytics Dashboard with Trino and Grafana#

• Integrate Trino as a federated query engine for big data analytics
• Design an intelligent analytics dashboard with multiple data sources
• Optimize queries and dashboard performance

Project 3: Building a Cloud Infrastructure Monitoring Dashboard#

• Connect Grafana to AWS CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, or Google Cloud Monitoring
• Set up real-time alerts for cloud resource utilization
• Implement security monitoring dashboards for compliance tracking

Project 4: Implementing Full-Stack Observability with Grafana, Prometheus, and Loki#

• Set up a complete observability stack with Grafana, Prometheus, and Loki
• Monitor infrastructure, logs, and applications in a unified dashboard
• Implement anomaly detection and historical log analysis

Project 5: Deploying Grafana in a Scalable Kubernetes Environment#

• Deploy Grafana on Kubernetes with Helm
• Configure persistent storage and high availability
• Automate dashboard deployment with Terraform

References#

• Grafana Official Documentation
• PostgreSQL Monitoring Best Practices
• Trino Query Optimization
• Prometheus and Grafana Integration