Grafana with Prometheus
Query Prometheus from Grafana to build operational dashboards and alerts without hiding label semantics, query cost or data-source security boundaries.
Integration boundary
Grafana uses the Prometheus HTTP API as a data source, evaluates PromQL queries and presents the resulting time series in panels, variables and alert rules.
Supported approaches
Provisioned data source
Manage the Prometheus data source as versioned Grafana provisioning configuration.
UI-managed data source
Configure interactively for exploration, then govern changes and access through Grafana controls.
Prerequisites
- A reachable Prometheus-compatible API
- An authentication and TLS decision
- Grafana data-source permissions
- Known label and retention semantics
Implementation
Configure server-side access
Use a URL reachable from the Grafana server and avoid exposing credentials to browsers.
Set query intervals
Align scrape interval, panel resolution and minimum step to avoid misleading or expensive queries.
Build from recording rules
Use precomputed series for repeated expensive expressions where operationally justified.
Verification
Test the data source
Confirm health from Grafana and inspect the effective endpoint.
Compare a known query
Run the same PromQL query in Prometheus and Grafana with matching time range and step.
Review permissions
Confirm teams cannot query data sources beyond their intended boundary.
Common failure modes
- Grafana points at localhost inside its own container
- Panel step hides short events
- Dashboard variables create high-cardinality query storms
- Data-source credentials are exposed in client-side configuration
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