Deploy Grafana on Kubernetes

This page explains how to install and run Grafana on Kubernetes (K8S). It uses Kubernetes manifests for the setup. If you prefer Helm, refer to the Grafana Helm community charts.

Deploy Grafana OS on Kubernetes

This section explains how to install Grafana using Kubernetes. If you are interested in the Grafana Enterprise version of this information, see Deploy Grafana Enterprise on Kubernetes.

Create a Grafana Kubernetes manifest

1. Create a file called grafana.yaml.
2. Copy and paste the following contents and save the file.

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: grafana-pvc
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 1Gi
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  labels:
    app: grafana
  name: grafana
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: grafana
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: grafana
    spec:
      securityContext:
        fsGroup: 472
        supplementalGroups:
          - 0
      containers:
        - name: grafana
          image: grafana/grafana:8.4.4
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          ports:
            - containerPort: 3000
              name: http-grafana
              protocol: TCP
          readinessProbe:
            failureThreshold: 3
            httpGet:
              path: /robots.txt
              port: 3000
              scheme: HTTP
            initialDelaySeconds: 10
            periodSeconds: 30
            successThreshold: 1
            timeoutSeconds: 2
          livenessProbe:
            failureThreshold: 3
            initialDelaySeconds: 30
            periodSeconds: 10
            successThreshold: 1
            tcpSocket:
              port: 3000
            timeoutSeconds: 1
          resources:
            requests:
              cpu: 250m
              memory: 750Mi
          volumeMounts:
            - mountPath: /var/lib/grafana
              name: grafana-pv
      volumes:
        - name: grafana-pv
          persistentVolumeClaim:
            claimName: grafana-pvc
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: grafana
spec:
  ports:
    - port: 3000
      protocol: TCP
      targetPort: http-grafana
  selector:
    app: grafana
  sessionAffinity: None
  type: LoadBalancer

Send the manifest to the Kubernetes API server

1. Run the following command: kubectl apply -f grafana.yaml

2. Check that it worked by running the following: kubectl port-forward service/grafana 3000:3000

3. Navigate to localhost:3000 in your browser. You should see a Grafana login page.

4. Use admin for both the username and password to login.

Deploy Grafana Enterprise on Kubernetes

The process for deploying Grafana Enterprise is almost identical to the preceding process, except for additional steps that are required for adding your license file.

Obtain Grafana Enterprise license

To run Grafana Enterprise, you need a valid license. To obtain a license, contact a Grafana Labs representative. This topic assumes that you have a valid license in a license.jwt file. Associate your license with a URL that you can use later in the topic.

Create license secret

Create a Kubernetes secret from your license file using the following command:

kubectl create secret generic ge-license --from-file=/path/to/your/license.jwt

Create Grafana Enterprise configuration

Create a Grafana configuration file with the name grafana.ini. Then paste the content below.

Note: You will have to update the root_url field to the url associated with the license you were given.

[enterprise]
license_path = /etc/grafana/license/license.jwt
[server]
root_url =/your/license/root/url

Create Configmap for Grafana Enterprise configuration

Create a Kubernetes Configmap from your grafana.ini file with the following command:

kubectl create configmap ge-config --from-file=/path/to/your/grafana.ini

Create Grafana Enterprise Kubernetes manifest

Create a grafana.yaml file, and copy-and-paste the following content into it. The YAML that follows is identical to the one for a Grafana installation, except for the additional references to the Configmap that contains your Grafana configuration file and the secret that has your license.

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: grafana-pvc
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 1Gi
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  labels:
    app: grafana
  name: grafana
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: grafana
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: grafana
    spec:
      securityContext:
        fsGroup: 472
        supplementalGroups:
          - 0
      containers:
        - image: grafana/grafana-enterprise:latest
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          name: grafana
          ports:
            - containerPort: 3000
              name: http-grafana
              protocol: TCP
          readinessProbe:
            failureThreshold: 3
            httpGet:
              path: /robots.txt
              port: 3000
              scheme: HTTP
            initialDelaySeconds: 10
            periodSeconds: 30
            successThreshold: 1
            timeoutSeconds: 2
          resources:
            limits:
              memory: 4Gi
            requests:
              cpu: 100m
              memory: 2Gi
          volumeMounts:
            - mountPath: /var/lib/grafana
              name: grafana-pv
            - mountPath: /etc/grafana
              name: ge-config
            - mountPath: /etc/grafana/license
              name: ge-license
      volumes:
        - name: grafana-pv
          persistentVolumeClaim:
            claimName: grafana-pvc
        - name: ge-config
          configMap:
            name: ge-config
        - name: ge-license
          secret:
            secretName: ge-license
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: grafana
spec:
  ports:
    - port: 3000
      protocol: TCP
      targetPort: http-grafana
  selector:
    app: grafana
  sessionAffinity: None
  type: LoadBalancer

Caution: If you use LoadBalancer in the Service and depending on your cloud platform and network configuration, doing so might expose your Grafana instance to the Internet. To eliminate this risk, use ClusterIP to restrict access from within the cluster Grafana is deployed to.

1. Send manifest to Kubernetes API Server kubectl apply -f grafana.yaml

2. Check that it worked by running the following: kubectl port-forward service/grafana 3000:3000

3. Navigate to localhost:3000 in your browser. You should see the Grafana login page.

4. Use admin for both the username and password to login. If it worked, you should see Enterprise (Licensed) at the bottom of the page.