Grafana 7.5.10 to 8.3.3 migration

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Step 1: Download the 8.3.3 Grafana zip file from the below URL.

Download Grafana package from

https://grafana.com/grafana/download/8.3.3?edition=oss&platform=windows

Step 2: Unzip the package and copy the custom settings from configuration files default.ini, ldap.toml and custom.ini present in conf folder from older version Grafana 7.5.10 to new version Grafana 8.3.3 folder. Particularly server, database, auth.proxy, allow_loading_unsigned_plugins section of default.ini need to be change if required in migration.

neo4j-datasource,Inference,cde-inference-plugin,cde-fusion-panel plugins are not signed plugins so we have to allow loading these plugins using the property as below. If this property is not set, we don’t see the plugins in Grafana.

allow_loading_unsigned_plugins = neo4j-datasource,Inference,cde-inference-plugin,cde-fusion-panel

Please check for below properties in default.ini file.

[database]

# You can configure the database connection by specifying type, host, name, user and password

# as separate properties or as on string using the url property.

# Either "mysql", "postgres" or "sqlite3", it's your choice

type =

host =

name =

user =

# If the password contains # or ; you have to wrap it with triple quotes. Ex """#password;"""

password =

[live]

# max_connections to Grafana Live WebSocket endpoint per Grafana server instance. See Grafana Live docs

# if you are planning to make it higher than default 100 since this can require some OS and infrastructure

# tuning. 0 disables Live, -1 means unlimited connections.

max_connections = 0

[plugins]

enable_alpha = false

app_tls_skip_verify_insecure = false

# Enter a comma-separated list of plugin identifiers to identify plugins to load even if they are unsigned. Plugins with modified signatures are never loaded.

allow_loading_unsigned_plugins = neo4j-datasource,Inference

Step 3: Postgres Backup Steps

• Stop the previous version of Grafana 7.5.10 running on the instance.

• Follow the below steps to backup existing database

  • Navigate to <postgres_installation_path>/bin

    Backup DB by executing the command pg_dump --username=username --password grafana > grafana_backup

Step 4: Run grafana-server.exe file from the bin folder of Grafana-8.3.3 folder.

Step 5: create Grafana service using following command

C:\InSights\Insights_Deployment\Server2\nssm-2.24\win64\nssm install Grafana8.3.3 "C:\InSights\Insights_Deployment\Server2\grafana-v8.3.3\bin\grafana-server.exe"

Migration in Linux

 Step 1: Download the 8.3.3 Grafana zip file from the below URL.

Download Grafana package for Linux Installation OS specific from

For RHEL or CentOS and Ubuntu

https://grafana.com/grafana/download/8.3.3?edition=oss&platform=linux

Step 2: UnTar/Unzip the package in /opt folder by giving permissions 777 and replace conf folders default.ini, ldap.toml and custome.ini settings from older version Grafana 7.5.10 to new version Grafana 8.3.3 folder. Particularly server, database, auth.proxy, allow_loading_unsigned_plugins section of default.ini need to be change if required in migration.

neo4j-datasource,Inference,cde-inference-plugin,cde-fusion-panel plugins are not signed plugins so we have to allow loading these plugins using the property as below. If this property is not set, we don’t see the plugins in Grafana.

allow_loading_unsigned_plugins = neo4j-datasource,Inference,cde-inference-plugin,cde-fusion-panel

sudo tar -zxvf grafana-enterprise-8.3.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Step 3: Postgres Backup Steps

• Stop the previous version of Grafana 7.5.10 running on the instance.

• Follow the below steps to backup existing database

  • Login as postgres user su - postgres

    Backup DB by executing the command pg_dump --username=username --password grafana > grafana_backup

Step 4 Check whether Grafana older version (7.5.10) is running or not

ps -ef|grep Grafana

Step 5: Stop the Grafana older version if running in Linux box

Kill -9 pid or sudo service Grafana stop, you can get pid from step 4

Step 6: Start Grafana 8.3.3 using command

sudo service Grafana start

Note: If permissions are not there in any of the folders run the below command.

sudo chmod 777 directory path

Step 7: Run the Grafana with Linux IP: 3000 like 150.98.xx.XX:3000

Sample Testcase for New Grafana

Testcase 1:  Check whether 8.3.3 version is up and running 

Testcase 2:  Check whether neo4j datasouce plugin is working in new version or not

Testcase 3: Check whether import/export functionality is working fine or not.

1. Click on Share dashboard button on the top of dashboard

   Select Export and click on View Json button as shown below.

   Click on Copy to Clipboard button

   Click on import as shown in Manage dashboard

   Paste copied dashboard and Click on Load button

Testcase 4: Test all dashboards available for different orgs and different folders.

Switch or and check where all preexisting dashboard lodging

Testcase 5: Create new users with Admin/Edit/Viewer

check whether Grafana can be able to login and create and Edit user functionality is working or not.

Testcase 6: Check whether light and Dark themes working in new version or not.

Go to user preference and switch themes and check if it is working properly

Grafana Dashboard Migration from v7.5.10 to v 8.3.3

1. Convert Insights Charts to built-in panels

Insights Charts panels won’t work in Grafana 8.3.3 so convert all Insights Charts panel to either Bar chart or Time Series.

Conversion of Insights Charts to Bar chart or Time Series must be done by updating JSON model because editing existing Insights Charts panel will give an error in Grafana v8.3.3 as shown below.

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a.       In JSON model search for chart type “insightscharts”

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b.       Save the queryText of insightscharts

c.       Delete the JSON object of type insightscharts from JSON model

d.       Save the dashboard. After saving the dashboard you will not see the Insights Panel on the dashboard.

e.       Add new panel like bar chart using the query saved in step b

2. Convert Stats panel with alphanumeric value to table.

Example SprintID can be alphanumeric value so if you want to show it on dashboard use chart type as Table instead of Stats

3.Use Horizontal bar chart instead of Vertical Bar chart if x axis values are overlapping. 

4. In case of Multi Bar chart widget use one query instead of multiple queries

Ex.

match (n:DEPLOYMENT) where n.JobStatus='Success' AND n.SprintID in $SprintID

with sum( case when n.JobStatus='Success' then 1 else 0 end) as SuccessCnt, sum( case when n.JobStatus='Failed' then 1 else 0 end) as FailCnt, n.inSightsTimeX as Time ,n

return distinct split(Time,"T")[0]  as inSightsTimeX, count(SuccessCnt), (count(n) - count(SuccessCnt) ) as Failed order by inSightsTimeX

Here in same query, we are finding the count for both Successful jobs and Failed jobs.

For InsightsCharts panel we were using different queries to find the count of successful and failed jobs.

5. Set threshold for Gauge panels.

6. Properties of returned fields can be overridden by the Override options.