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Dashboards

Build panels in the portal, or import the Grafana JSON you already have.

Open Insights → Dashboards.

Import a Grafana dashboard​

Dashboards → Import takes a Grafana dashboard JSON model as-is. Paste it or upload the file, map its data source inputs to your tenant, pick a folder, save.

This is the fastest way to check Insights against something you already trust: import a dashboard you use every day and compare it panel for panel.

Build a panel​

The panel editor has three parts.

Queries. One or more rows, each with its own data source, so a panel can draw a metric and a log-derived count together. Rows support rename, duplicate, hide and drag-reorder.

Server-side expressions run on the query results rather than in the data source: Math for free-form formulas, Reduce to collapse a series to one number, Resample to put series on a common interval.

Transformations reshape the result before it is drawn: join, filter, rename, organise fields, and the rest of the standard set. Reach for these before you complicate the query.

Visualisation. Time series, stat, table, logs, traces, bar chart, pie chart, histogram, heatmap, and the node graph used by the service graph. The options pane carries the standard field config: units, decimals, thresholds, axis and legend settings, and per-field overrides.

Variables​

Dashboard settings → Variables defines the values the whole dashboard reads from. Query variables pull their options from your data, so an env or service variable stays current without editing.

Ad-hoc filters are a variable too. They add label matchers to every query on the dashboard, which turns one dashboard into per-service views without duplicating it.

Annotations​

Dashboard settings → Annotations overlays events on time-based panels. Use it for deploys and incidents, so a step change in a graph carries its explanation.

Exemplars​

A metric panel can plot exemplars alongside the series. Each exemplar is a link from an aggregate to one request that made it up. Click one and the popover takes you to that trace, which is the shortest route from "p99 moved" to "here is a slow request".

Exemplars only appear where your instrumentation records them.

Keep the history​

Every save makes a version. Dashboard settings → Versions lists them and restores any one. If two people save the same dashboard at once, the second save reports the conflict rather than overwriting.

Deleted dashboards go to Recently deleted, where they can be restored or purged.

Organise​

Folders, plus a star per dashboard for your own list. Move a dashboard between folders from the manage view.

The JSON model​

Dashboard settings → JSON model shows the full document and lets you edit it directly. Use it to copy a dashboard between tenants, or to fix something the UI does not expose yet.

Next​

  • Snapshots to share a frozen copy.
  • Alerting to be told when a panel would look wrong.
  • Managed Grafana if you want a Grafana of your own with these datasources already wired up.