Learn how to display Grafana Cloud dashboards on digital signage in Appspace. This article is for Communicators and IT Administrators who publish Grafana Cloud cards to devices. After you finish, you can authenticate a Grafana Cloud Passport, create a Grafana Cloud card for a private dashboard, and add that card to a Signage Channel.
For: Communicators — Grafana Cloud Cards
Note: Who this article is for: Communicators and IT Administrators. Creating a Grafana Cloud Passport from Integrations requires the Account Owner or Publisher role.
What’s in this article:
Prerequisites
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A Grafana Cloud account. Grafana On-Prem is not supported.
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A Grafana Cloud service account with at least the Viewer role, and a service account token for that account.
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Account Owner or Publisher role to create a Grafana Cloud Passport from Integrations > Passports.
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Account Owner, Publisher, Editor, or Author (Content Producer) role to create or edit cards in the Library.
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A compatible device. Refer to the Data & Charts table in the Supported Appspace Cards article.
Important: Confirm the Grafana Cloud row in Supported Appspace Cards against the 1.0.0 device matrix before Gainsight publish. Do not list unverified device caveats.
Authenticate a Grafana Cloud Passport
Follow these instructions to connect Grafana Cloud with Appspace using a service account token.
Note: Grafana Cloud uses a service account token. The passport form does not offer Application permissions or Delegated permissions.
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Log in to the Appspace console.
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Click the Appspace menu, and click Integrations.
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Click the Passports tab, and click +ADD.
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Select Grafana Cloud from the Create a Passport list.
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Enter the Grafana Cloud Stack URL (for example,
https://your-stack.grafana.net) and the service account token.
The form displays Viewer-role-minimum guidance. Create the Grafana service account with at least the Viewer role before you connect.
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Click Connect.
Appspace validates the token against Grafana Cloud. If the service account does not have permission to access the stack, the console displays: This Grafana service account token does not have permission to access this stack. Give it at least Viewer role and try again.
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In Account Settings, review the passport name, account ID, and Refresh Status.
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In the Permissions tab, grant Can Manage or Can View to users or user groups who need this passport, if required.
Note: You can create more than one Grafana Cloud Passport, one per Grafana Cloud stack. To replace a token on an existing passport, remove the passport and connect again with a valid token. There is no separate token-update action.
You may also create this passport later from a Grafana Cloud card by selecting the option to set up a new passport.
Create and Configure a Grafana Cloud Card
Follow these instructions to display a private Grafana Cloud dashboard on digital signage. Public Grafana dashboards, public snapshot URLs, and public share page URLs are not supported in this release.
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Log in to the Appspace console.
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Use one of the following methods to start creating the card:
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Click + Quick Action from the Appspace menu bar, and select Create Card.
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Click Library from the Appspace menu, and open the library or folder where you want to create the card. Click +CREATE, and select Card.
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Create and add the card directly to an existing Signage Channel. Refer to Create a Fullscreen Signage Channel or Create a Multizone Signage Channel.
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Under Data, locate and select the Grafana Cloud card template.
Important: Confirm against the console that the Grafana Cloud template is listed under Data. If you cannot locate the template, use Search, Order by, or Filter.
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Enter the Title of the content. This field is required and is also used as the file name.
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Select an existing Grafana Cloud Passport, or set up a new passport.
The connected passport becomes available for the card without restarting the card workflow.
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Search for and select the dashboard the service account can access, or paste a private dashboard URL (for example, a
/d/{uid}URL), then confirm the selection.
The card displays the dashboard as an image. Appspace refreshes that image every 30 minutes using the time range and variables saved on the Grafana dashboard. There is no Appspace control to override time range or template variables. If you paste a public Grafana URL, Appspace displays an error and does not accept the dashboard.
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In the Article tab, optionally include an Article or Caption and a Referral Link for mobile and collaboration apps.
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In the Schedule tab, add the card to a Signage Channel or leave it unassigned. When the content is assigned to a channel, configure scheduling and display properties. For Fullscreen Signage Channels, refer to Create a Fullscreen Signage Channel. For Multizone Signage Channels, refer to Schedule and Source Content in a Media Zone.
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In the Settings tab, review the Name, Content Category, Tags, Library Location, Auto Delete Content from Library, and Thumbnail.
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Click SAVE.
Edit a Grafana Cloud Card
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Log in to the Appspace console.
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Click Library from the Appspace menu, and open the library or folder that contains the card.
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Select the Grafana Cloud card, then edit or review the available tabs:
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Edit, Article, and Settings: update the dashboard, passport, or content details the same way you configured the card.
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Preview: preview how the content displays on a device.
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Channels: add the card to a Signage Channel or leave it unassigned.
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Analytics: view individual content analytics when available.
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Click SAVE.
Technical Limitations
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Grafana Cloud is supported. Grafana On-Prem is not supported in this release.
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The Grafana Cloud card displays a rendered image of a private dashboard, not an interactive Grafana session. The image refreshes every 30 minutes.
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Time range and template variables follow the saved Grafana dashboard defaults. Appspace does not provide controls to change them.
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Public Grafana dashboards, public snapshot URLs, and public share page URLs are not supported. Pasting a public Grafana URL returns an error.
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Design Grafana dashboards for the signage canvas. The card does not provide Appspace styling controls for Grafana charts.
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Create Grafana dashboards with a service account that has at least the Viewer role.