Connect to a Splunk data source - Amazon Managed Grafana
ConfigurationUsage

Connect to a Splunk data source

Note

This data source is for Grafana Enterprise only. For more information, see Manage access to Enterprise plugins.

Additionally, in workspaces that support version 9 or newer, this data source might require you to install the appropriate plugin. For more information, see Extend your workspace with plugins.

Configuration

Data source configuration

When configuring the Data Source, ensure that the URL field utilizes https and points to the your configured Splunk port. The default Splunk API point is 8089, not 8000 (this is default web UI port). Enable Basic Auth and specify Splunk username and password.

Browser (direct) access mode and CORS

Amazon Managed Grafana does not support browser direct access for the Splunk data source.

Advanced options

Stream mode

Enable stream mode if you want to get search results as they become available. This is experimental feature, don’t enable it until you really need it.

Poll result

Run search and then periodically check for result. Under the hood this option runs search/jobs API call with exec_mode set to normal. In this case API request returns job SID, and then Grafana checks job status time to time, in order to get job result. This option can be helpful for slow queries. By default this option is disabled and Grafana sets exec_mode to oneshot which allows returning search result in the same API call. See more about search/jobs API endpoint in Splunk docs.

Search polling interval

This option allow to adjust how often Amazon Managed Grafana will poll splunk for search results. Time for next poll choosing randomly from [min, max) interval. If you run a lot of heavy searches, it makes sense to increase these values. Tips: increase Min if search jobs execution takes a long time, and Max if you run a lot of parallel searches (a lot of splunk metrics on Grafana dashboard). Default is [500, 3000) milliseconds interval.

Automatic cancellation

If specified, the job automatically cancels after this many seconds of inactivity (0 means never auto-cancel). Default is 30.

Status buckets

The most status buckets to generate. 0 indicates to not generate timeline information. Default is 300.

Fields search mode

When you use visual query editor, data source attempts to get list of available fields for selected source type.

  • quick - use first available result from preview

  • full - wait for job finish and get full result.

Default earliest time

Some searches can’t use dashboard time range (such as template variable queries). This option helps to prevent search for all time, which can slow down Splunk. The syntax is an integer and a time unit [+|-]<time_integer><time_unit>. For example -1w. Time unit can be s, m, h, d, w, mon, q, y.

Variables search mode

Search mode for template variable queries. Possible values:

  • fast - Field discovery off for event searches. No event or field data for stats searches.

  • smart - Field discovery on for event searches. No event or field data for stats searches.

  • verbose - All event & field data.

Usage

Query editor

Editor modes

Query editor support two modes: raw and visual. To switch between these modes choose hamburger icon at the right side of editor and select Toggle Editor Mode.

Raw mode

Use timechart command for time series data, as shown in the following code example. 


index=os sourcetype=cpu | timechart span=1m avg(pctSystem) as system, avg(pctUser) as user, avg(pctIowait) as iowait
index=os sourcetype=ps | timechart span=1m limit=5 useother=false avg(cpu_load_percent) by process_name

Queries support template variables, as shown in the following example. 

sourcetype=cpu | timechart span=1m avg($cpu)

Keep in mind that Grafana is time series–oriented application and your search should return time series data (timestamp and value) or single value. You can read about timechart command and find more search examples in official Splunk Search Reference

Splunk Metrics and mstats

Splunk 7.x provides mstats command for analyzing metrics. To get charts working properly with mstats, it should be combined with timeseries command and prestats=t option must be set. 

Deprecated syntax:
| mstats prestats=t avg(_value) AS Value WHERE index="collectd" metric_name="disk.disk_ops.read" OR metric_name="disk.disk_ops.write" by metric_name span=1m
| timechart avg(_value) span=1m by metric_name

Actual:
| mstats prestats=t avg(disk.disk_ops.read) avg(disk.disk_ops.write) WHERE index="collectd" by metric_name span=1m
| timechart avg(disk.disk_ops.read) avg(disk.disk_ops.write) span=1m

Read more about mstats command in Splunk Search Reference.

Format as

There are two supported result format modes - Time series (default) and Table. Table mode suitable for using with Table panel when you want to display aggregated data. That works with raw events (returns all selected fields) and stats search function, which returns table-like data. Examples: 

index="os" sourcetype="vmstat" | fields host, memUsedMB
index="os" sourcetype="ps" | stats avg(PercentProcessorTime) as "CPU time", latest(process_name) as "Process", avg(UsedBytes) as "Memory" by PID

The result is similar to Statistics tab in Splunk UI.

Read more about stats function usage in Splunk Search Reference.

Visual mode

This mode provides step-by-step search creating. Note that this mode creates timechart splunk search. Just select index, source type, and metrics, and set split by fields if you want.

Metric

You can add multiple metrics to search by choosing plus button at the right side of metric row. Metric editor contains list of frequently used aggregations, but you can specify here any other function. Just choose agg segment (avg by default) and type what you need. Select interested field from the dropdown list (or enter it), and set alias if you want.

Split by and Where

If you set Split by field and use Time series mode, Where editor will be available. Choose plus and select operator, aggregation and value, for example Where avg in top 10. Note, this Where clause is a part of Split by. See more at timechart docs.

Options

To change default timechart options, choose Options at the last row.

See more about these options in timechart docs.

Choose the target letter at the left to collapse the editor and show the rendered splunk search.

Annotations

Use annotations if you want to show Splunk alerts or events on graph. Annotation can be either predefined Splunk alert or regular splunk search.

Splunk alert

Specify an alert name, or keep the field blank to get all fired alerts. Template variables are supported.

Use splunk search to get needed events, as shown in the following example. 


index=os sourcetype=iostat | where total_ops > 400
index=os sourcetype=iostat | where total_ops > $io_threshold

Template variables are supported.

The Event field as text option is suitable if you want to use field value as annotation text. The following example shows error message text from logs. 


Event field as text: _raw
Regex: WirelessRadioManagerd\[\d*\]: (.*)

Regex allows to extract a part of message.

Template variables

Template variables feature supports Splunk queries which return list of values, for example with stats command. 


index=os sourcetype="iostat" | stats values(Device)

This query returns list of Device field values from iostat source. Then you can use these device names for time series queries or annotations.

There are two possible types of variable queries can be used in Grafana. The first is a simple query (as presented earlier), which returns a list of values. The second type is a query that can create a key/value variable. The query should return two columns that are named _text and _value. The _text column value should be unique (if it is not unique then the first value is used). The options in the dropdown list will have a text and value so that you can have a friendly name as text and an ID as the value.

For example, this search returns table with columns Name (Docker container name) and Id (container id). 


source=docker_inspect | stats count latest(Name) as Name by Id | table Name, Id

To use container name as a visible value for variable and id as it’s real value, query should be modified, as in the following example. 


source=docker_inspect | stats count latest(Name) as Name by Id | table Name, Id | rename Name as "_text", Id as "_value"

Multi-value variables

It’s possible to use multi-value variables in queries. An interpolated search will be depending on variable usage context. There are a number of that contexts which plugin supports. Assume there’s a variable $container with selected values foo and bar:

  • Basic filter for search command 

    
source=docker_stats $container
=>
source=docker_stats (foo OR bar)

  • Field-value filter 

    
source=docker_stats container_name=$container
=>
source=docker_stats (container_name=foo OR container_name=bar)

  • Field-value filter with the IN operator and in() function 

    
source=docker_stats container_name IN ($container)
=>
source=docker_stats container_name IN (foo, bar)

source=docker_stats | where container_name in($container)
=>
source=docker_stats | where container_name in(foo, bar)

Multi-value variables and quotes

If variable wrapped in quotes (both double or single), its values also will be quoted, as in the following example. 


source=docker_stats container_name="$container"
=>
source=docker_stats (container_name="foo" OR container_name="bar")

source=docker_stats container_name='$container'
=>
source=docker_stats (container_name='foo' OR container_name='bar')