Grafana Overview

Understanding Grafana UI

Grafana is an open-source data visualization tool. You use Grafana to create and to view charts, graphs, and other visuals to help organize and understand data. Paragon Automation Release 21.1 uses Grafana to render graphs that you create from the Charts page of the UI. With Release 21.2, you can create graphs and other visuals directly from Grafana. For more information, see Grafana Documentation.

When you create a chart, the data is rendered from the TSDB database. The TSDB database library (shim) is based on InfluxDB, an open-source time series database. Information sent to and received from the TSDB database is in the InfluxDB format. With Release 21.2, Paragon Automation also supports Grafana's open source InfluxDB plug-in. After you run a query from the Grafana UI, the open-source InfluxDB sends a back-end request to the Paragon Automation TSDB. The Paragon Automation TSDB sends the response in InfluxDB format.

In Paragon Automation Release 21.2, when you run a query from the Grafana UI using influxDB as a data source, you can only view data of a specific device in a device group. You use syntax parameters such as FROM and SELECT that the influxDB recognizes. You cannot view aggregate data of a device group, or view aggregate data of multiple device groups using the influxDB plug-in. However, with Release 21.3, Paragon Automation supports the Juniper Paragon Insights TSDB plug-in.

This plug-in is installed when you install Paragon Automation. The Juniper Paragon Insights TSDB plug-in is based on the influxDB plug-in but also supports the ability to view aggregate data of a device group, or view aggregate data of multiple device groups. You can view aggregate data by using syntax parameters such as DEVICE, DEVICE GROUPS, and MEASUREMENT. The default data source for Paragon Insights in Grafana is based on the Juniper Paragon Insights TSDB plug-in.

For more information on supported syntax parameters, see Table 1.

Table 1: Examples of InfluxDB and TSDB Syntax Parameters

InfluxDB Querying Options	TSDB Querying Options
FROM—Select the data source (device, device group, topic/rule).	DEVICE—Select one or more than one device for this query.
SELECT—Select the data field, and apply aggregation and transformation types to the data.	DEVICE GROUP—Select one or more than one device group for this query.
GROUP BY—Specify how to group data based on KPI keys.	MEASUREMENT—Select the Paragon Insights topic or rule name.
FORMAT AS—Specify if you want to format as table, time series, or log.	FIELDS—Select the fields to which you want to apply the aggregation.
	WHERE—Filter data based on tags and fields.
	GROUP BY—Specify how to group data based on KPI keys.
	FORMAT AS—Specify if you want to format as table, time series, or log.
	PER DEVICE LIMIT—Set the per-device limit of the base query for each device (database) that you have selected.
	AGGREGATED LIMIT—Set the aggregate limit for the device (databases) after the base query is run.
	AGGREGATED LIMIT—Rename a field. For example, if you select mean as an aggregation function for a field named bps, you can give it an alias name called mean_bps.

Using the Grafana UI

You access the Grafana UI by selecting Monitoring>Graphs>Grafana from the Paragon Automation UI.

You can access Grafana by logging into the Paragon Insights UI. All logged in users can access and use Grafana and its features by clicking Monitoring>Graphs>Grafana.

You use dashboards to monitor the status and health of devices. Follow these steps to view existing dashboards or create new dashboards from the Grafana UI:

• To create a dashboard, click (+) > Create > Dashboards > Add Panel from the right-nav panel.
• To view existing dashboards, click Dashboards from the right-navy panel.