Dashboards (Grafana) in Microservices - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is Grafana used for in microservices?

Grafana is used to create visual dashboards that show metrics and logs from microservices, helping teams monitor system health and performance in real time.

beginner

What are panels in a Grafana dashboard?

Panels are the building blocks of a Grafana dashboard. Each panel displays a specific visualization like a graph, table, or gauge representing data from a data source.

intermediate

How does Grafana connect to data sources?

Grafana connects to data sources like Prometheus, Elasticsearch, or InfluxDB using plugins. It queries these sources to fetch metrics and logs for visualization.

intermediate

What is an alert in Grafana dashboards?

An alert is a notification triggered by specific conditions in your data, such as high error rates. Grafana can send alerts via email, Slack, or other channels to notify teams.

beginner

Why use dashboards in microservices monitoring?

Dashboards provide a clear, real-time view of multiple microservices' health and performance, making it easier to spot issues and understand system behavior quickly.

What is the main purpose of a Grafana dashboard?

A To visualize and monitor data from various sources

B To write code for microservices

C To deploy microservices automatically

D To store microservice logs permanently

Grafana dashboards visualize and monitor data from connected data sources.

Which of these is NOT a common data source for Grafana?

A MySQL Workbench

B Prometheus

C Elasticsearch

D InfluxDB

MySQL Workbench is a database management tool, not a data source plugin for Grafana.

What does a Grafana alert do?

A Automatically fixes microservice bugs

B Creates new dashboards

C Sends notifications when data meets certain conditions

D Deletes old data from sources

Alerts notify teams when specific data conditions are met.

What is a panel in Grafana?

A A type of microservice

B A user account

C A database connection

D A visual element showing data on a dashboard

Panels display visualizations like graphs or tables on dashboards.

Why are dashboards important for microservices?

A They replace the need for coding

B They provide real-time insights into system health

C They automatically scale microservices

D They store source code

Dashboards help teams see system health and performance in real time.

Explain how Grafana dashboards help monitor microservices.

Think about how seeing data visually helps understand system health.

Describe the role of alerts in Grafana dashboards.

Alerts act like alarms for problems in your system.