Skip to main content
Version: 0.9.0

Logs and Traces with Grafana

In this tutorial, we will set up a Grafana Dashboard showing Quickwit traces using Docker Compose.

You only need a few minutes to get Grafana working with Quickwit and build meaningful dashboards.

Create a Docker Compose recipe​

First, create a docker-compose.yml file. This file will define the services needed to run Quickwit with OpenTelemetry and Grafana with the Quickwit Datasource plugin.

Below is the complete Docker Compose configuration:

services:
  quickwit:
    image: quickwit/quickwit:0.9.0
    environment:
      QW_ENABLE_OPENTELEMETRY_OTLP_EXPORTER: "true"
      OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT: "http://localhost:7281"
    ports:
      - 7280:7280
    command: ["run"]

  grafana:
    image: grafana/grafana-oss:13.0.2
    container_name: grafana
    ports:
      - "${MAP_HOST_GRAFANA:-127.0.0.1}:3000:3000"
    environment:
      GF_PLUGINS_PREINSTALL_SYNC: quickwit-quickwit-datasource@@https://github.com/quickwit-oss/quickwit-datasource/releases/download/v0.4.6/quickwit-quickwit-datasource-0.4.6.zip

The default Grafana port is 3000. If this port is already taken, you can modify the port mapping, for example, changing 3000:3000 to 3100:3000 or any other available port.

Save and run the recipe:

$ docker compose up

You should be able to access Quickwit's UI on http://localhost:7280/ and Grafana's UI on http://localhost:3000/.

caution

This local self-observability setup sends Quickwit's telemetry back into the same Quickwit instance and can generate data rapidly. Stop the services with docker compose down when you finish the tutorial.

Setting up the datasource​

In Grafana, sign in with the default credentials (admin / admin) and choose a new password. Then head to Data sources. If the plugin is installed correctly, you should be able to find Quickwit in the list.

We're going to set up a new Quickwit data source looking at Quickwit's own OpenTelemetry traces, let's configure the datasource with the following parameters:

  • URL : http://quickwit:7280/api/v1 This uses the docker service name as the host
  • Index ID : otel-traces-v0_9

Save and test, you should obtain a confirmation that the datasource is correctly set up.

Quickwit Plugin configuration success

You can also set up a new Quickwit data source looking at Quickwit's own OpenTelemetry logs (or your own logs index), let's configure the datasource with the following parameters:

  • URL : http://quickwit:7280/api/v1 This uses the docker service name as the host
  • Index ID : otel-logs-v0_9

Creating a dashboard​

You can then create a new dashboard and add a visualization : you should be able to choose the traces quickwit datasource here.

Quickwit sends itself its own traces, so you should already have data to display. Let's configure some panels !

  • a Table counting span_name values
    • Panel type : Table
    • Query: empty
    • Metric : Count
    • Group by : Terms : span_name : order by Count
  • a Bar Chart showing the amount of tantivy searches per hour :
    • Panel type: Time Series
    • Query : "span_name:tantivy_search"
    • Metric: Count
    • Group by : Date Histogram : span_start_timestamp_nanos : Interval 1h
  • a Bar Chart showing the amount of ERROR logs per hour for the last 6 hours :
    • Panel type: Bar Chart
    • Query: "service_name:quickwit AND severity_text:ERROR"
    • Metric: Count
    • Group by : Date Histogram : timestamp_nanos : Interval 1h
  • another query on the same Bar Chart for WARN logs

The result​

Here's what your first dashboard can look like :

Quickwit Panel in Grafana Dashboard

Clean up​

Stop and remove the tutorial containers:

docker compose down