Step by Step guide to install Grafana on Rocky Linux 8 and other RPM based distros.
Table of Contents:
- What is Grafana?
- Environment Specification
- Update Linux Operating System
- Add Grafana Yum Repository in Linux
- Install Grafana Server
- Configure Linux Firewall
- Access Grafana Server
- Conclusion
What is Grafana? :
Grafana is a multi-platform open source analytics and interactive visualization web application. It provides charts, graphs, and alerts for the web when connected to supported data sources. A licensed Grafana Enterprise version with additional capabilities is also available as a self-hosted installation or an account on the Grafana Labs cloud service. It is expandable through a plug-in system. End users can create complex monitoring dashboards using interactive query builders. Grafana is divided into a front end and back end, written in TypeScript and Go, respectively.
As a visualization tool, Grafana is a popular component in monitoring stacks, often used in combination with time series databases such as InfluxDB, Prometheus and Graphite; monitoring platforms such as Sensu, Icinga, Checkmk, Zabbix, Netdata, and PRTG; SIEMs such as Elasticsearch and Splunk; and other data sources. The Grafana user interface was originally based on version 3 of Kibana.
Grafana is licensed under an AGPLv3 license. Contributors to Grafana need to sign a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) that gives Grafana Labs the right to relicense Grafana in the future. The CLA is based on The Apache Software Foundation Individual Contributor License Agreement. (Source: Wikipedia)
Environment Specification:
We are using a minimal Rocky Linux 8 virtual machine with following specifications.
- CPU - 3.4 Ghz (2 cores)
- Memory - 2 GB
- Storage - 20 GB
- Operating System - Rocky Linux 8.5 (Green Obsidian)
- Hostname – grafana-01.centlinux.com
- IP Address - 192.168.116.129 /24
Update Linux Operating System:
Connect with grafana-01.centlinux.com as root user by using a ssh client.
Execute following command to build cache for installed yum repositories.
# dnf makecache
Rocky Linux 8 - AppStream 1.6 kB/s | 4.8 kB 00:02
Rocky Linux 8 - BaseOS 1.7 kB/s | 4.3 kB 00:02
Rocky Linux 8 - Extras 1.8 kB/s | 3.5 kB 00:01
Metadata cache created.
As a best practice, update software packages in your Linux operating system before installing Grafana server.
# dnf update -y
Last metadata expiration check: 0:01:52 ago on Sun 20 Feb 2022 08:28:10 PM PKT.
Dependencies resolved.
Nothing to do.
Complete!
Our Linux server is already up-to-date. The result may vary on your operating system.
Check the Linux Kernel and operating system version, being used in this installation guide.
# cat /etc/rocky-release Rocky Linux release 8.5 (Green Obsidian) # uname -r 4.18.0-348.12.2.el8_5.x86_64
Add Grafana Yum Repository in Linux:
Create a .repo file in /etc/yum.repos.d directory by using vim text editor.
# vi /etc/yum.repos.d/grafana.repo
And add following directives in that file.
[grafana] name=grafana baseurl=https://packages.grafana.com/oss/rpm repo_gpgcheck=1 enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=https://packages.grafana.com/gpg.key sslverify=1 sslcacert=/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt
Build the cache for Grafana yum repository.
# dnf makecache Rocky Linux 8 - AppStream 1.6 kB/s | 4.8 kB 00:02 Rocky Linux 8 - BaseOS 1.2 kB/s | 4.3 kB 00:03 Rocky Linux 8 - Extras 1.6 kB/s | 3.5 kB 00:02 grafana 169 B/s | 454 B 00:02 grafana 1.3 kB/s | 1.7 kB 00:01 Importing GPG key 0x24098CB6: Userid : "Grafana <info@grafana.com>" Fingerprint: 4E40 DDF6 D76E 284A 4A67 80E4 8C8C 34C5 2409 8CB6 From : https://packages.grafana.com/gpg.key Is this ok [y/N]: y grafana 682 kB/s | 8.1 MB 00:12 Metadata cache created.
Install Grafana Server:
Since, you have added the Grafana yum repository, you can now easily install this Open Source analytics tool by executing following dnf command.
# dnf install -y grafana
After successful installation of Grafana server, enable and start the network service as follows.
# systemctl enable --now grafana-server
Synchronizing state of grafana-server.service with SysV service script with /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable grafana-server
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/grafana-server.service → /usr/lib/systemd/system/grafana-server.service.
Check the status of Grafana service.
# systemctl status grafana-server
● grafana-server.service - Grafana instance
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/grafana-server.service; disabled; ve>
Active: active (running) since Sun 2022-02-20 20:41:22 PKT; 6s ago
Docs: http://docs.grafana.org
Main PID: 1999 (grafana-server)
Tasks: 8 (limit: 5808)
Memory: 110.5M
CGroup: /system.slice/grafana-server.service
└─1999 /usr/sbin/grafana-server --config=/etc/grafana/grafana.ini -->
Feb 20 20:41:22 grafana-01.centlinux.com grafana-server[1999]: logger=sqlstore >
Feb 20 20:41:22 grafana-01.centlinux.com grafana-server[1999]: logger=plugin.ma>
Feb 20 20:41:22 grafana-01.centlinux.com grafana-server[1999]: logger=plugin.fi>
Feb 20 20:41:22 grafana-01.centlinux.com systemd[1]: Started Grafana instance.
Feb 20 20:41:22 grafana-01.centlinux.com grafana-server[1999]: logger=http.serv>
Configure Linux Firewall:
To make your Grafana server accessible across the network, you have to allow it in your Linux firewall.
# firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=grafana success # firewall-cmd --reload success
Access Grafana Server:
Open URL http://grafana-01.centlinux.com:3000/login in a web browser.
Login by using default Grafana username/password i.e. admin/admin
Conclusion:
In this article, you have successfully installed Grafana on Rocky Linux 8.
