Grafana Flight SQL Datasource

This is a plugin for Grafana that enables queries to Flight SQL APIs.

Requirements

The plugin requires the user to run Grafana >=9.2.5.

Install via Grafana Cloud

Because Grafana Flight SQL Plugin is a community published plugin, you can install it to your existing Grafana Cloud instance.

• In your cloud instance navigate to connections and search for FlightSQL, follow the link to install.
• Or directly go to this link to install the plugin into your cloud instance.
• Now in your instance you can navigate back to connections and search for FlightSQL which will be installed and allow you to create a FlightSQL datasource.

Local installation

Download the latest Grafana Flight SQL plugin.

Create a directory for grafana to access your custom-plugins eg custom/plugins/directory.

The following shell script downloads and extracts the latest Flight SQL plugin source code into the the current working directory. Run the following inside your grafana plugin directory:

sh download-grafana-flightsql-plugin.sh

Install local grafana

1. Point your local instance of Grafana to the plugins directory. You have two options:

   • Edit the paths.plugins directive in your grafana.ini:

     [paths]
     plugins = custom/plugins/directory/

   • OR set the relevant environment variable where Grafana is started:

     GF_PATHS_PLUGINS=custom/plugins/directory/

2. Navigate to the Locally Running Grafana.

3. Follow the instructions in Adding a Flight SQL Datasource.

Install with Docker Run

docker run \
  --volume $PWD/influxdata-flightsql-datasource:/custom/plugins/directory/influxdata-flightsql-datasource \
  --publish 3000:3000 \
  --name grafana \
  grafana/grafana:latest

Install with Docker-Compose

version: '3'
services:
  grafana:
    image: grafana/grafana:latest
    ports:
      - 3000:3000
    volumes: 
      - ./influxdata-flightsql-datasource:/custom/plugins/directory/influxdata-flightsql-datasource
    restart: always

Note if using versions <=0.1.9 of the plugin

1. The plugin was only signed at version 1.0.0 you will need to add the plugin to your grafana configuration under allow_loading_unsigned_plugins.

   • Add the following to your grafana.ini:

     [plugins]
     allow_loading_unsigned_plugins = influxdata-flightsql-datasource

   • OR set the relevant environment variable where Grafana is started:

     GF_PLUGINS_ALLOW_LOADING_UNSIGNED_PLUGINS=influxdata-flightsql-datasource

Usage

Adding a Flight SQL Datasource

1. Open the side menu by clicking the Grafana icon in the top header.
2. In the side menu under the Dashboards link you should find a link named Data Sources.
3. Click the + Add data source button in the top header.
4. Select FlightSQL from the Type dropdown.

Configuring the Plugin

• Host: Provide the host:port of your Flight SQL client.

• AuthType Select between none, username/password and token.

• Token: If auth type is token provide a bearer token for accessing your client.

• Username/Password iF auth type is username and password provide a username and password.

• Require TLS/SSL: Either enable or disable TLS based on the configuration of your client.

• MetaData Provide optional key, value pairs that you need sent to your Flight SQL client.

Vendor-specific connectivity documentation can be found in the wiki.

Using the Query Builder

The default view is a query builder which is in active development:

• Begin by selecting the table from the dropdown.
• This will auto populate your available columns for your select statement. Use the + and - buttons to add or remove additional where statements.
• You can overwrite a dropdown field by typing in your desired value (e.g. *).
• The where field is a text entry where you can define any where clauses. Use the + and - buttons to add or remove additional where statements.
• You can switch to a raw SQL input by pressing the "Edit SQL" button. This will show you the query you have been building thus far and allow you to enter any query.
• Press the "Run query" button to see your results.
• From there you can add to dashboards and create any additional dashboards you like.

Development

See DEVELOPMENT.md.