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Grafana Loki

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Grafana Loki (or Loki) is a horizontally scalable, multi-tenant log aggregation system that is extremely easy to operate. Loki does not index the contents of the logs, but rather a set of labels for each log stream. Nobl9 users can leverage Loki to query and build metrics on top of their logs.

Grafana Loki parameters and supported features in Nobl9
General support:
Release channel: Stable, Beta
Connection method: Agent
Replay and SLI Analyzer: Not supported
Event logs: Not supported
Query checker: Not supported
Query parameters retrieval: Supported
Timestamp cache persistence: Not supported
Query parameters:
Query interval: 1 min
Query delay: 1 min
Jitter: 15 sec
Timeout: 30 sec
Agent details and minimum required versions for supported features:
Environment variable: GRAFANA_LOKI_QUERY_DELAY
Plugin name: n9grafana_loki
Query parameters retrieval: 0.73.2
Custom HTTP headers: 0.88.0-beta

Authentication​

Loki does not provide an authentication layer. Authentication is up to the customer. Users are expected to run an authenticating reverse proxy in front of their services, such as NGINX using basic auth or an OAuth2 proxy.

Nobl9 collects only the URL for the Loki integration definition and calls the GET /loki/api/v1/query_range URL. For details, refer to HTTP API Grafana Loki | Grafana Loki documentation.

Basic authentication​

Since Loki does not provide an authentication layer, the authentication method is up to the users. Normally, Loki's users are expected to run an authenticating reverse proxy in front of their services, such as NGINX using basic_auth proxy.

If that's the method you use, the Nobl9 agent version equal to or higher than 0.40.0, allows you to send an additional Authorization request header with the basic_auth. Refer to the section below for more details.

Adding Grafana Loki as a data source​

To ensure data transmission between Nobl9 and Grafana Loki, it may be necessary to list Nobl9 IP addresses as trusted.

💻ip allowlist
IP addresses to include in your allowlist for secure access:

If you're using app.nobl9.com instance:
  • 18.159.114.21
  • 18.158.132.186
  • 3.64.154.26
If you're using us1.nobl9.com instance:
  • 34.121.54.120
  • 34.123.193.191
  • 34.134.71.10
  • 35.192.105.150
  • 35.225.248.37
  • 35.226.78.175
  • 104.198.44.161

You can add the Grafana Loki data source using the agent connection method.

Nobl9 Web​

Follow the instructions below to configure your Grafana Loki agent:

  1. Navigate to Integrations > Sources.
  2. Click .
  3. Click the required Source button.
  4. Choose Agent.
  1. Select one of the following Release Channels:
    • The stable channel is fully tested by the Nobl9 team. It represents the final product; however, this channel does not contain all the new features of a beta release. Use it to avoid crashes and other limitations.
    • The beta channel is under active development. Here, you can check out new features and improvements without the risk of affecting any viable SLOs. Remember that features in this channel can change.

  2. Add the URL (mandatory).
    The url is an entry point to Grafana Loki. It depends on the configuration of your Loki instance, for more details, refer to the Configuration | Grafana Loki documentation section of Grafana Loki technical documentation.

  1. Select a Project.
    Specifying a project is helpful when multiple users are spread across multiple teams or projects. When the Project field is left blank, Nobl9 uses the default project.
  2. Enter a Display Name.
    You can enter a user-friendly name with spaces in this field.
  3. Enter a Name.
    The name is mandatory and can only contain lowercase, alphanumeric characters, and dashes (for example, my-project-1). Nobl9 duplicates the display name here, transforming it into the supported format, but you can edit the result.
  4. Enter a Description.
    Here you can add details such as who is responsible for the integration (team/owner) and the purpose of creating it.
  5. Specify the Query delay to set a customized delay for queries when pulling the data from the data source.
    • The default value in Grafana Loki integration for Query delay is 1 minute.
    info
    Changing the Query delay may affect your SLI data. For more details, check the Query delay documentation.
  6. Click Add Data Source.

sloctl​

The YAML for setting up an agent connection to Grafana Loki looks like this:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Agent
metadata:
  # String, mandatory. The name identifier of the data source. Allowed characters: a-z, 0-9, and dashes
  name: grafana-loki-data-source
  # String, optional. A user-friendly name of your data source
  displayName: Grafana Loki data source
  # String, optional. A user-friendly name of your data source
  project: my-project
spec:
  # String, optional. A user-friendly description of your data source
  description: Sample Grafana Loki data source (agent connection)
  # String, mandatory. One of: stable || beta
  releaseChannel: stable
  # Mandatory. Source-specific properties
  grafanaLoki:
    url: http://grafana-loki.url
  queryDelay:
    # Numeric, mandatory. Integer 0–1440 minutes (24 hours)
    value: 2
    # String, one of Second || Minute
    unit: Minute
FieldTypeDescription
queryDelay.unit
mandatory
enumSpecifies the unit for the query delay. Possible values: Second | Minute.
• Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
queryDelay.value
mandatory
numericSpecifies the value for the query delay.
• Must be a number less than 1440 minutes (24 hours).
• Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
releaseChannel
mandatory
enumSpecifies the release channel. Accepted values: beta | stable.
Source-specific fields
grafanaLoki.url
mandatory
stringan entry point to Grafana Loki. The `url` depends on the configuration of your Loki instance. See Configuration | Grafana Loki documentation.
warning

You can deploy only one agent in one YAML file by using the sloctl apply command.

Agent deployment​

When you add the data source, Nobl9 automatically generates a Kubernetes configuration and a Docker command line for you to use to deploy the agent. Both of these are available in the web UI, under the Agent Configuration section. Be sure to swap in your credentials.

If you use Kubernetes, you can apply the supplied YAML config file to a Kubernetes cluster to deploy the agent. It will look something like this:

# DISCLAIMER: This deployment description contains only the fields necessary for the purpose of this demo.
# It is not a ready-to-apply k8s deployment description, and the client_id and client_secret are only exemplary values.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: my-grafana-loki-agent-data-source
  namespace: my-namespace
type: Opaque
stringData:
  client_id: "unique_client_id"
  client_secret: "unique_client_secret"
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: my-grafana-loki-agent-data-source
  namespace: my-namespace
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      nobl9-agent-name: "grafana-loki"
      nobl9-agent-project: "my-project"
      nobl9-agent-organization: "my-organization"
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        nobl9-agent-name: "grafana-loki"
        nobl9-agent-project: "my-project"
        nobl9-agent-organization: "my-organization"
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: agent-container
          image: nobl9/agent:0.82.2
          resources:
            requests:
              memory: "350Mi"
              cpu: "0.1"
          env:
            - name: N9_CLIENT_ID
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: client_id
                  name: my-grafana-loki-agent-data-source
            - name: N9_CLIENT_SECRET
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: client_secret
                  name: my-grafana-loki-agent-data-source
            # The N9_METRICS_PORT is a variable specifying the port to which the /metrics and /health endpoints are exposed.
            # The 9090 is the default value and can be changed.
            # If you don’t want the metrics to be exposed, comment out or delete the N9_METRICS_PORT variable.
            - name: N9_METRICS_PORT
              value: "9090"

Basic authentication​

To activate basic_auth for the agent, you need to pass optional environmental variables to an agent:

  • AUTH_METHOD: basic_auth - is a fixed value, but it must be passed to let know agent that basic_auth will be used.

  • USERNAME: REDACTED - username for basic_auth.

  • PASSWORD: REDACTED - password for basic_auth.

If you use Kubernetes, the supplied YAML config file to a Kubernetes cluster to deploy the agent using basic_auth method. It will look something like this:

# DISCLAIMER: This deployment description contains only the fields necessary for the purpose of this demo.
# It is not a ready-to-apply k8s deployment description, and the client_id and client_secret are only exemplary values.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: my-grafana-loki-agent-data-source
  namespace: my-namespace
type: Opaque
stringData:
  client_id: "REDACTED"
  client_secret: "REDACTED"
  basic_auth_username: "REDACTED"
  basic_auth_password: "REDACTED"
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: my-grafana-loki-agent-data-source
  namespace: my-namespace
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      nobl9-agent-name: "grafana-loki"
      nobl9-agent-project: "my-project"
      nobl9-agent-organization: "my-organization"
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        nobl9-agent-name: "grafana-loki"
        nobl9-agent-project: "my-project"
        nobl9-agent-organization: "my-organization"
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: agent-container
          image: nobl9/agent:0.82.2
          resources:
            requests:
              memory: "350Mi"
              cpu: "0.1"
          env:
            - name: N9_CLIENT_ID
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: client_id
                  name: my-grafana-loki-agent-data-source
            - name: N9_CLIENT_SECRET
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: client_secret
                  name: my-grafana-loki-agent-data-source
            - name: AUTH_METHOD
              value: "basic_auth"
            - name: USERNAME
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: basic_auth_username
                  name: my-grafana-loki-agent-data-source-basic-auth
            - name: PASSWORD
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: basic_auth_password
                  name: my-grafana-loki-agent-data-source-basic-auth
            # The N9_METRICS_PORT is a variable specifying the port to which the /metrics and /health endpoints are exposed.
            # The 9090 is the default value and can be changed.
            # If you don’t want the metrics to be exposed, comment out or delete the N9_METRICS_PORT variable.
            - name: N9_METRICS_PORT
              value: "9090"

Creating SLOs with Grafana Loki​

Nobl9 Web​

Follow the instructions below to create your SLOs with Grafana Loki in the UI:

  1. Navigate to Service Level Objectives.

  2. Click .

  3. In step 1 of the SLO wizard, select the Service the SLO will be associated with.

  4. In step 2, select Grafana Loki as the data source for your SLO.

  5. Specify the Metric. You can choose either a Threshold Metric, where a single time series is evaluated against a threshold or a Ratio Metric, which allows you to enter two time series to compare (for example, a count of good requests and total requests).

  6. Choose the Data Count Method for your ratio metric:

  • Non-incremental: counts incoming metric values one-by-one. So the resulting SLO graph is pike-shaped.
  • Incremental: counts the incoming metric values incrementally, adding every next value to previous values. It results in a constantly increasing SLO graph.
  1. Enter a Query, or Good Query and Total Query for the metric you selected.
    Refer to the Query Examples section below for more details.
SLI values for good and total
When choosing the query for the ratio SLI (countMetrics), keep in mind that the values ​​resulting from that query for both good and total:
  • Must be positive.
  • While we recommend using integers, fractions are also acceptable.
    • If using fractions, we recommend them to be larger than 1e-4 = 0.0001.
  • Shouldn't be larger than 1e+20.
  1. In step 3, define a Time Window for the SLO.

  • Rolling time windows are better for tracking the recent user experience of a service.

  • Calendar-aligned windows are best suited for SLOs that are intended to map to business metrics measured on a calendar-aligned basis, such as every calendar month or every quarter.

  1. In step 4, specify the Error Budget Calculation Method and your Objective(s).
  • Occurrences method counts good attempts against the count of total attempts.
  • Time Slicesmethod measures how many good minutes were achieved (when a system operates within defined boundaries) during a time window.
  • You can define up to 12 objectives for an SLO. For more information, check the Composite SLOs Guide.

See the use case example and the SLO calculations guide for more information on the error budget calculation methods.

  1. In step 5, add the Display name, Name, and other settings for your SLO:
  • Create a composite SLO
  • Set notification on data, if this option is available for your data source.
    When activated, Nobl9 notifies you if your SLO hasn't received data or received incomplete data for more than 15 minutes.
  • Add alert policies, labels, and links, if required.
    You can add up to 20 links per SLO.
  1. Click Create SLO.

sloctl​

Here’s an example of Grafana Loki using a rawMetric (threshold metric):

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  name: my-threshold-slo
  project: my-project
spec:
  description: ""
  service: my-service
  indicator:
    metricSource:
      name: my-grafana-loki-agent-data-source
  timeWindows:
    - unit: Day
      count: 1
      isRolling: true
  budgetingMethod: Occurrences
  objectives:
    - displayName: My objective 1
      name: my-objective-1
      op: lte
      rawMetric:
        query:
          grafanaLoki:
            logql: sum(sum_over_time({topic="my-topic", consumergroup="my-consumergroup", cluster="my-cluster"} |= "kafka_consumergroup_lag" | logfmt | kafka_consumergroup_lag!="" | line_format "{{.kafka_consumergroup_lag}}" | unwrap kafka_consumergroup_lag [1m]))
      value: 5
      target: 0.50
    - displayName: My objective 2
      name: my-objective-2
      op: lte
      rawMetric:
        query:
          grafanaLoki:
            logql: sum(sum_over_time({topic="my-topic", consumergroup="my-consumergroup", cluster="my-cluster"} |= "kafka_consumergroup_lag" | logfmt | kafka_consumergroup_lag!="" | line_format "{{.kafka_consumergroup_lag}}" | unwrap kafka_consumergroup_lag [1m]))
      value: 10
      target: 0.75

Metrics for Grafana Loki have one mandatory field:

Query examples​

  • Ratio metric for Grafana Loki:
    Good Query:
    count(count_over_time(({app="nobl9", component="ingest", container="ingest container"} | json | line_format "{{.log}}" | json | http_useragent != "ELB-HealthChecker/2.0" | http_status_code >= 200 and http_status_code < 300)[1m]))
    Total Query:
    count(count_over_time(({app="nobl9", component="ingest", container="ingest-container"} | json | line_format "{{.log}}" | json | http_useragent != "ELB-HealthChecker/2.0" | http_status_code > 0)[1m]))

Querying the Grafana Loki server​

Nobl9 calls Loki API every minute to retrieve the log data from the previous minute. Nobl9 aggregates the total number of points to 4 per minute.

caution

Users should refrain from adding duration and Nobl9 will append [1m] to the query.

For a more in-depth look, consult additional resources:
Grafana HTTP APIGrafana Loki documentationIntroduction to PromQLGrafana documentationAgent metricsAgentCreating SLOs via TerraformTerraformCreating agents via TerraformTerraform
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