Configure the OpenTSDB data source
This document explains how to configure the OpenTSDB data source in Grafana.
Before you begin
Before configuring the OpenTSDB data source, ensure you have:
- Grafana permissions: Organization administrator role to add data sources.
- OpenTSDB instance: A running OpenTSDB server (version 2.1 or later recommended).
- Network access: The Grafana server can reach the OpenTSDB HTTP API endpoint (default port 4242).
- Metrics in OpenTSDB: For autocomplete to work, metrics must exist in your OpenTSDB database.
Add the data source
To add and configure the OpenTSDB data source:
- Click Connections in the left-side menu.
- Click Add new connection.
- Type
OpenTSDBin the search bar. - Select OpenTSDB.
- Click Add new data source in the upper right.
- Configure the data source settings as described in the following sections.
Configuration options
The following table describes the available configuration options:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The data source name. This is how you refer to the data source in panels and queries. |
| Default | Toggle to make this the default data source for new panels. |
| URL | The HTTP protocol, IP address, and port of your OpenTSDB server. The default port is 4242. Example: http://localhost:4242. |
| Allowed cookies | Cookies to forward to the data source. Use this when your OpenTSDB server requires specific cookies for authentication. |
| Timeout | HTTP request timeout in seconds. Increase this value for slow networks or complex queries. |
Auth settings
Configure authentication if your OpenTSDB server requires it:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Basic auth | Enable to authenticate with a username and password. When enabled, enter the username and password in the fields that appear. |
| With Credentials | Enable to send cookies or auth headers with cross-site requests. Use this when OpenTSDB is on a different domain and requires credentials. |
| TLS Client Authentication | Enable to use client certificates for authentication. Requires configuring client certificate and key. |
| Skip TLS Verify | Enable to skip verification of the OpenTSDB server’s TLS certificate. Only use this in development environments. |
| Forward OAuth Identity | Enable to forward the user’s OAuth token to the data source. Useful when OpenTSDB is behind an OAuth-protected proxy. |
| Custom HTTP Headers | Add custom headers to all requests sent to OpenTSDB. Useful for API keys or custom authentication schemes. |
OpenTSDB settings
Configure these settings based on your OpenTSDB server version and configuration:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Version | Select your OpenTSDB version. This affects available query features. Refer to the following section for version-specific features. |
| Resolution | The resolution of your metric data. Select second for second-precision timestamps or millisecond for millisecond-precision timestamps. |
| Lookup limit | Maximum number of results returned by suggest and lookup API calls. Default is 1000. Increase this if you have many metrics or tag values. |
Version-specific features
The version setting enables different query features in Grafana:
| Version | Available features |
|---|---|
| <=2.1 | Basic queries with tags. Uses legacy tag-based filtering. |
| ==2.2 | Adds filter support (literal_or, wildcard, regexp, and more). Filters replace tags for more flexible queries. |
| ==2.3 | Adds explicit tags support for rate calculations and additional filter types. |
| ==2.4 | Adds fill policy support for downsampling (none, null, zero, nan). Enables arrays=true for alerting compatibility. |
Select the version that matches your OpenTSDB server. If you’re unsure, check your OpenTSDB version with the /api/version endpoint.
Verify the connection
Click Save & test to verify that Grafana can connect to your OpenTSDB server. A successful test confirms that the URL is correct and the server is responding.
If the test fails, refer to Troubleshooting for common issues and solutions.
Provision the data source
You can define and configure the data source in YAML files as part of the Grafana provisioning system. For more information about provisioning, and for available configuration options, refer to Provisioning Grafana.
YAML example
The following example provisions an OpenTSDB data source:
apiVersion: 1
datasources:
- name: OpenTSDB
type: opentsdb
access: proxy
url: http://localhost:4242
jsonData:
# OpenTSDB version: 1 = <=2.1, 2 = 2.2, 3 = 2.3, 4 = 2.4
tsdbVersion: 3
# Resolution: 1 = second, 2 = millisecond
tsdbResolution: 1
# Maximum results for suggest/lookup API calls
lookupLimit: 1000YAML example with basic authentication
The following example provisions an OpenTSDB data source with basic authentication:
apiVersion: 1
datasources:
- name: OpenTSDB
type: opentsdb
access: proxy
url: http://localhost:4242
basicAuth: true
basicAuthUser: <USERNAME>
jsonData:
tsdbVersion: 3
tsdbResolution: 1
lookupLimit: 1000
secureJsonData:
basicAuthPassword: <PASSWORD>YAML example with custom headers
The following example provisions an OpenTSDB data source with custom HTTP headers:
apiVersion: 1
datasources:
- name: OpenTSDB
type: opentsdb
access: proxy
url: http://localhost:4242
jsonData:
tsdbVersion: 3
tsdbResolution: 1
lookupLimit: 1000
httpHeaderName1: X-Custom-Header
secureJsonData:
httpHeaderValue1: <HEADER_VALUE>The following table describes the available fields:
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
basicAuth | boolean | Enable basic authentication. |
basicAuthUser | string | Username for basic authentication. |
jsonData.tsdbVersion | number | OpenTSDB version: 1 (<=2.1), 2 (2.2), 3 (2.3), 4 (2.4). |
jsonData.tsdbResolution | number | Timestamp resolution: 1 (second), 2 (millisecond). |
jsonData.lookupLimit | number | Maximum results for suggest and lookup API calls. Default: 1000. |
jsonData.httpHeaderName1 | string | Name of a custom HTTP header. Use incrementing numbers for multiple headers. |
secureJsonData.basicAuthPassword | string | Password for basic authentication. |
secureJsonData.httpHeaderValue1 | string | Value for the custom HTTP header. |
Provision with Terraform
You can provision the OpenTSDB data source using Terraform with the Grafana Terraform provider.
For more information about provisioning resources with Terraform, refer to the Grafana as code using Terraform documentation.
Terraform example
The following example provisions an OpenTSDB data source:
terraform {
required_providers {
grafana = {
source = "grafana/grafana"
version = ">= 2.0.0"
}
}
}
provider "grafana" {
url = "<YOUR_GRAFANA_URL>"
auth = "<YOUR_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN>"
}
resource "grafana_data_source" "opentsdb" {
type = "opentsdb"
name = "OpenTSDB"
url = "http://localhost:4242"
json_data_encoded = jsonencode({
# OpenTSDB version: 1 = <=2.1, 2 = 2.2, 3 = 2.3, 4 = 2.4
tsdbVersion = 3
# Resolution: 1 = second, 2 = millisecond
tsdbResolution = 1
# Maximum results for suggest/lookup API calls
lookupLimit = 1000
})
}Terraform example with basic authentication
The following example provisions an OpenTSDB data source with basic authentication:
resource "grafana_data_source" "opentsdb_auth" {
type = "opentsdb"
name = "OpenTSDB"
url = "http://localhost:4242"
basic_auth_enabled = true
basic_auth_username = "<USERNAME>"
json_data_encoded = jsonencode({
tsdbVersion = 3
tsdbResolution = 1
lookupLimit = 1000
})
secure_json_data_encoded = jsonencode({
basicAuthPassword = "<PASSWORD>"
})
}Replace the following placeholders:
<YOUR_GRAFANA_URL>: Your Grafana instance URL (for example,https://your-org.grafana.netfor Grafana Cloud)<YOUR_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN>: A service account token with data source permissions<USERNAME>: The username for basic authentication<PASSWORD>: The password for basic authentication
Next steps
Now that you’ve configured OpenTSDB, you can:
- Query OpenTSDB data to build dashboards and visualizations
- Use template variables to create dynamic, reusable dashboards
- Add annotations to overlay events on your graphs
- Set up alerting to get notified when metrics cross thresholds
- Troubleshoot issues if you encounter problems
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