This topic describes the differences between Alibaba Cloud Grafana Service and open source Grafana.

ItemAlibaba Cloud Grafana ServiceOpen source Grafana
Environment configurationAlibaba Cloud Grafana Service provides out-of-the-box capabilities. You do not need to create the runtime environment, install Grafana, and deploy Grafana. You must perform the following operations:
  • Purchase servers, and configure the network environment and service collaboration policies.
  • Download the Grafana image, create the runtime environment, and install and deploy Grafana.
  • Prepare the public IP address and perform Internet Content Provider (ICP) filing.

For example, you must purchase an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance, deploy the self-managed Grafana service, and connect the ECS instance to Grafana over a virtual private cloud (VPC). You must install the 64-bit CentOS 7.3 and ensure that the hardware specifications are 1 vCPU, 2 GB memory or above, and the remaining disk space is greater than or equal to 10 GB.

Operations and maintenanceYou can perform operations and maintenance (O&M) in the Grafana console.
  • You must run commands to query and install plug-ins.
  • You must run commands to modify configuration parameters. When the modification is complete, you must restart the Grafana service to allow the configurations to take effect.
  • When you forget the password that is used to connect to databases, you must modify the database connection information to reset the password.
  • You must manually migrate data.
Installation of custom plug-ins
  • Alibaba Cloud Grafana Service is integrated with various Alibaba Cloud services. No manual installation is required.
  • You can easily install plug-ins of reports, graphs, and data sources in the Grafana console.
You must run commands to install plug-ins. After the installation is complete, you must restart the Grafana service.
Integration with Alibaba Cloud servicesAlibaba Cloud Grafana Service provides built-in plug-ins of Prometheus Service in Application Real-Time Monitoring Service (ARMS), Log Service, and CloudMonitor. Alibaba Cloud Grafana Service is also integrated with the alerting dashboards of ARMS. You can import dashboard templates of ARMS Prometheus Service with a few clicks in the Grafana console. More monitoring dashboards will be available in the future. Not supported
SLAAlibaba Cloud Grafana Service supports service level agreement (SLA) guarantee and provides the following benefits:
  • Multiple replicas
  • Dedicated high-performance databases
  • Dedicated bandwidths
  • Independent domain
Not supported
Data security
  • Vulnerabilities are automatically fixed.
  • You can configure a whitelist for network access control.
  • You can use dedicated databases to isolate your data.
  • You must manually fix vulnerabilities.
  • You cannot perform network access control.
Data migration
  • You can easily migrate data from self-managed Grafana services to Alibaba Cloud Grafana Service.
  • You can easily migrate data from Prometheus instances of Shared Edition to Alibaba Cloud Grafana Service.
You must manually import data sources and dashboards.
Enterprise-grade features
  • Alibaba Cloud Grafana Service automatically generates dashboards that contain reports and audit results.
  • Alibaba Cloud Grafana Service supports user invitation and unified logon for different Alibaba Cloud accounts.
  • You can configure custom domain names and resolve the URLs of Grafana workspaces into a specific domain name.
  • You can back up, restore, and migrate data.
Not supported
InstanceAlibaba Cloud Grafana Service supports dedicated instances. You must manually configure instance specifications to isolate resources.
Access to data sources in VPCsSupported You must manually configure access to data sources in VPCs.

You must add the address of the ECS instance in the VPC to the whitelist of your Grafana service.

Internet accessAlibaba Cloud Grafana Service enables Internet access without the need for manual configuration. Independent public IP addresses are also supported. You must manually configure Internet access.

You must specify a public IP address for the ECS instance, add a security group rule, and open port 3000. You can use the specified public IP address and a generated URL to access Internet after you complete the preceding configurations.

Access portalAlibaba Cloud Grafana Service provides separate portals.

You can use the portals to access various Grafana environments based on your business requirements. For example, you can access the staging environment and production environment by using different portals.

Supported
Parameter managementAfter you modify parameters, Alibaba Cloud Grafana Service automatically restarts to allow the modifications to take effect. After you modify parameters, you must restart your Grafana service to allow the modifications to take effect.
Logon accountAlibaba Cloud Grafana Service supports single sign-on (SSO). You do not need to create a separate Grafana account. You must create a separate Grafana account to log on to your Grafana service.
Version updateAlibaba Cloud Grafana Service automatically updates to the latest official version. You must update your Grafana service to the latest official version.