Best of Grafana Labs — 2025

  1. 1
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·1y

    Dashboards and detergent: How two students monitor laundry machines in a college dorm with Grafana

    Two college students developed a system using Grafana and TimescaleDB to track laundry machine usage in dorms. They used internet-connected laundry machines' data, building a real-time dashboard that also records metrics like machine popularity and usage times. This creative approach demonstrates Grafana's versatility beyond typical network monitoring and hints at future integration possibilities with weather data or gamification.

  2. 2
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·1y

    Kubernetes Monitoring Helm chart 2.0: a simpler, more predictable experience

    Version 2.0 of the Kubernetes Monitoring Helm chart improves ease of use and flexibility in collecting telemetry data from Kubernetes clusters. Key updates include user-focused feature design, multiple data destinations, built-in integrations for popular services, and compatibility with Fleet Management. Simplified migration from version 1.x is supported by a detailed guide and migration utility.

  3. 3
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·28w

    A Star Wars dashboard deep dive: How to build your next visualization in less than 12 parsecs

    A detailed walkthrough of building a Star Wars-themed Grafana dashboard, covering practical techniques like using stat panels for custom text styling, TestData plugin for simulating dynamic data, canvas panels for creating custom visualizations with animations, and styling approaches for visual consistency. Demonstrates how to create gauges, charts, maps, and custom layouts while explaining the technical implementation behind each component.

  4. 4
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·29w

    Understand, diagnose, and optimize SQL queries: Introducing Grafana Cloud Database Observability

    Grafana Cloud Database Observability is now in public preview, offering developers, SREs, and DBAs tools to understand, diagnose, and optimize SQL queries. The solution addresses the visibility gap in database performance by providing query-level insights, execution plans, wait event analysis, and AI-powered optimization suggestions. It supports MySQL and PostgreSQL, integrates with Grafana Alloy for telemetry collection, and correlates database metrics with application and infrastructure data for comprehensive system-wide performance analysis.

  5. 5
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·34w

    Taylor Swift (Grafana’s Version): How to track and visualize data related to pop’s biggest superstar

    Grafana Labs built a comprehensive dashboard using Grafana Assistant to visualize Taylor Swift's career data, including album characteristics, Eras Tour analytics, and career milestones. The project demonstrates how Grafana Assistant's AI-powered natural language interface enables users of varying skill levels to create complex dashboards by querying data from sources like BigQuery and Kaggle datasets. The dashboard features four tabs covering profile stats, musical analysis with Spotify API data, tour attendance metrics with geomaps, and album details.

  6. 6
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·30w

    Grafana Mimir 3.0 release: performance improvements, a new query engine, and more

    Grafana Mimir 3.0 introduces a redesigned architecture that separates read and write operations using Apache Kafka as an asynchronous buffer, eliminating performance bottlenecks between ingestion and queries. The release features the Mimir Query Engine (MQE), which processes queries in a streaming fashion rather than bulk loading, reducing peak memory usage by up to 92%. These improvements deliver 15% lower resource usage in large clusters while maintaining faster query execution and higher reliability. The new ingest storage component ensures query spikes won't slow down data ingestion and vice versa, enabling independent scaling of each path.

  7. 7
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·1y

    New in Grafana 12: Dynamic dashboards that are smarter, easier to edit, and can be customized for teams

    Grafana 12 introduces dynamic dashboards designed to enhance ease of navigation, editability, and customization. Key features include tabs for segmenting data by context, a dashboard outline for quick navigation, and conditional rendering to reduce visual clutter. The release also features a new schema inspired by Kubernetes CRD to improve dashboard management, and a context-aware editing interface to streamline user workflows. These enhancements aim to address scalability challenges in large organizations and improve overall user experience.

  8. 8
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·1y

    The latest in Kubernetes Monitoring: new features to track persistent storage, simplify alerting, and more

    Grafana Cloud has introduced several new features in Kubernetes Monitoring, including enhanced storage observability, easier alert creation, and improved Fleet Management. Key updates include tracking persistent volumes, seamless navigation, streamlined troubleshooting with historical data, and advanced cost management tools. Version 2.0 of the Kubernetes Monitoring Helm chart simplifies data collection and configuration, supporting multiple telemetry destinations and built-in integrations.

  9. 9
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·1y

    Grafana Drilldown: first-class OpenTelemetry support now available for metrics

    Grafana Labs has added first-class support for OpenTelemetry in its Metrics Drilldown tool. This integration allows users to seamlessly explore and filter metrics using OpenTelemetry resource attributes alongside Prometheus labels. The new features include automatic query writing, context-aware filtering, and a consolidated interface, significantly simplifying the process of gaining insights into distributed system performance.

  10. 10
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·1y

    How CERN uses Grafana and Mimir to monitor the world's largest computer grid

    CERN operates the world's largest computing grid to support its particle accelerator research. To monitor this massive infrastructure, which includes 1.4 million computing cores and 1.5 exabytes of storage, CERN uses Grafana and Grafana Mimir. These tools provide essential dashboards and alerting functions, integrating various data sources into a unified system. Grafana has become key to ensuring 12,000 physicists can access and analyze the data they need, while Mimir addresses long-term storage challenges for Prometheus metrics.

  11. 11
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·32w

    Grafana Tempo 2.9 release: MCP server support, TraceQL metrics sampling, and more

    Grafana Tempo 2.9 introduces MCP server support enabling LLMs like Claude to query and analyze distributed tracing data through TraceQL. The release adds query sampling hints to speed up metrics queries by returning approximate results, particularly useful for high-volume environments. New operational improvements include metrics for monitoring query I/O and span timestamp distances, plus enhanced cost-attribution tracking with resource and span-level scoping for multi-tenant deployments. The team is also working on vParquet5 block format and Project Rhythm architecture to improve scalability and reduce operational costs.

  12. 12
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·36w

    Grafana 12.2 release: LLM-powered SQL expressions, updates to canvas and table visualizations, simplified reporting, and more

    Grafana 12.2 introduces LLM-powered SQL expressions for natural language query generation, enhanced table visualizations with new cell types and formatting options, improved canvas visualization with flexible pan/zoom capabilities, enhanced ad hoc filtering support for SQL data sources, and simplified one-page reporting. The release also includes updates to Drilldown apps for queryless data exploration, a new Jenkins Enterprise data source for CI/CD metrics, and authentication support for visualization actions with the Infinity data source.

  13. 13
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·40w

    Optimize application performance at the network layer: introducing HTTP Performance Insights in Frontend Observability

    Grafana Cloud Frontend Observability introduces HTTP Performance Insights, a new feature that helps frontend engineers monitor HTTP requests and identify performance bottlenecks in real time. The tool provides comprehensive dashboards with health indicators, error tracking, and drill-down capabilities for specific endpoints. It automatically analyzes existing HTTP request data without requiring additional instrumentation, offering actionable insights to optimize application performance at the network layer. Future enhancements will include Page Performance Insights, Resource Loading Intelligence, and Integrated User Experience Views.

  14. 14
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·1y

    Metrics, logs, and literature: Inside The National Library of the Netherlands’ observability stack

    The National Library of the Netherlands uses Grafana for their observability stack, ensuring seamless access to a vast collection of digital literature. The library's choice of Grafana over Splunk was driven by ease of use, cost reduction, and native Prometheus support. They deployed Grafana Mimir for metrics and Grafana Loki for logs, empowering developers with simplified infrastructure setup. Future plans include implementing Grafana Alerting, Grafana Tempo, and Grafana Faro to enhance performance monitoring.

  15. 15
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·50w

    Configure and customize Kubernetes Monitoring easier with Alloy Operator

    Grafana Labs introduces version 3.0 of the Kubernetes Monitoring Helm chart featuring Alloy Operator, which simplifies configuration by dynamically setting up telemetry data collection based on selected features. The new approach reduces the massive values.yaml file from nearly 3,000 lines and eliminates complex subchart management. Key improvements include automatic configuration of Alloy collectors when features are enabled, built-in tail sampling support for distributed tracing, and dynamic deployment of required Alloy instances. The operator uses Helm-based architecture to manage Alloy objects while maintaining security through proper encapsulation and minimal permissions.

  16. 16
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·1y

    Kubernetes Monitoring: One view for observing all your storage volumes

    Grafana Cloud has introduced a new Storage tab in its Kubernetes Monitoring solution, providing users with a single view to track volume usage over time, conduct data forensics, and troubleshoot volume provisioning. The tab includes prebuilt panels for tracking various storage metrics, reducing context switching, and making it easier to spot issues with new alert overlays. The view is available at different levels, from pod to cluster, helping users visualize storage metrics comprehensively and make informed decisions about their storage infrastructure.

  17. 17
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·28w

    Grafana Play updates: A redesigned homepage to celebrate our community

    Grafana Play, a free sandbox environment for exploring Grafana, has launched a redesigned homepage that emphasizes community contributions and makes features more discoverable. The update includes new sections like Featured Grafana Contributor, Dashboard of the Month, and Play Launchpad with Grafana Arcade games. The redesign uses existing visualization plugins and aims to create a more welcoming, playful experience while highlighting creative dashboards from the community. Future plans include adding a full demo of the LGTM Stack (Loki, Grafana, Tempo, Mimir).

  18. 18
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·1y

    Reliable, predictable, and scalable performance testing: Grafana k6 1.0 is here

    Grafana k6 1.0 marks the first major release of the open-source performance testing tool, offering enhanced stability through semantic versioning, TypeScript support, and the ability to use extensions without forking. The update also introduces revamped test insights and improved Grafana Cloud integration to foster scalable and reliable application testing.

  19. 19
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·51w

    Grafana Tempo 2.8 release: memory improvements, new TraceQL features, and more

    Grafana Tempo 2.8 introduces significant memory improvements for compactors, reducing memory usage by over 50% in high-traffic environments. New TraceQL features include query hints for retrieving most recent results, parent span ID searches, sum_over_time metrics function, and topk/bottomk functions for better cardinality control. The release includes breaking changes such as removal of serverless features, default HTTP port change from 80 to 3200, and configuration parameter renaming. Future developments include RF1 rearchitecture rollout and LLM integration through a Tempo MCP server.

  20. 20
    Article
    Avatar of grafanaGrafana Labs·1y

    Grafana Tempo 2.7 release: new TraceQL metrics functions, operational improvements, and more!

    Grafana Tempo 2.7 introduces enhancements including new TraceQL metrics functions and operational improvements aimed at optimizing performance and resource usage. Key updates include better query frontend handling, reduced ingester memory usage, and faster TraceQL query execution. Additionally, several breaking changes related to OpenTelemetry dependency, regular expression matcher, and gRPC compression settings are highlighted. The future update 'RF1 rearchitecture' promises further improvement.

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