Creating and managing a Grafana Cloud stack using Terraform

Learn how to add a data source, a dashboard, and a folder to a Grafana Cloud stack using Terraform.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you should have the following available:

A Grafana Cloud account, as shown in Get started
Terraform installed on your machine

Note
All of the following Terraform configuration files should be saved in the same directory.

Create a Cloud stack

Create a Terraform configuration file.

This Terraform configuration will create a Grafana Cloud stack and a second token needed for your Grafana instance.

Create a file named cloud-stack.tf and add the following:

terraform {
  required_providers {
    grafana = {
      source  = "grafana/grafana"
      version = ">= 2.9.0"
    }
  }
}
// Step 1: Create a stack
provider "grafana" {
  alias = "cloud"
  cloud_access_policy_token = "<cloud-access-token>"
}


resource "grafana_cloud_stack" "my_stack" {
  provider = grafana.cloud

  name        = "<stack-name>"
  slug        = "<stack-name>"
  region_slug = "<region>" # Example "us","eu" etc
}

// Step 2: Create a service account and key for the stack
resource "grafana_cloud_stack_service_account" "cloud_sa" {
  provider   = grafana.cloud
  stack_slug = grafana_cloud_stack.my_stack.slug

  name        = "<service-account-name>"
  role        = "Admin"
  is_disabled = false
}

resource "grafana_cloud_stack_service_account_token" "cloud_sa" {
  provider   = grafana.cloud
  stack_slug = grafana_cloud_stack.my_stack.slug

  name               = "terraform serviceaccount key"
  service_account_id = grafana_cloud_stack_service_account.cloud_sa.id
}

// Step 3: Create resources within the stack
provider "grafana" {
  alias = "my_stack"

  url  = grafana_cloud_stack.my_stack.url
  auth = grafana_cloud_stack_service_account_token.cloud_sa.key
}
resource "grafana_folder" "my_folder" {
  provider = grafana.my_stack

  title = "Test Folder"
}

Replace the following field values:
- <cloud-access-token> with your Grafana Cloud Access Policy Token. To create a new one, refer Grafana Cloud Access Policies Add all stacks to the realms list. The scopes needed for the example are:
  - dashboards:read
  - orgs:read
  - stack-dashboards:read
  - stacks:read
  - dashboards:write
  - orgs:write
  - stack-dashboards:write
  - stacks:write
  - stack-service-accounts:write
  - dashboards:delete
  - stack-dashboards:delete
  - stacks:delete
- <stack-name> with the name of your stack.
- <region> with the region in which you want to create the stack. For example us, eu.
- <service-account-name> with a name for the serviceaccount that will be created to use for operations within the stack/instance.

The first provider block, grafana.cloud, uses the Cloud Access Policy Token from the Cloud Portal and is referenced as a parameter when creating the Cloud stack and the token in the Grafana instance to provide the necessary authentication.

The second provider block, grafana.my_stack is referenced as a parameter when creating resources inside the Grafana instance.

Add a data source

This guide uses the InfluxDB data source. The required arguments for grafana_data_source (Resource) vary depending on the type of data source you select.

Create a file named datasource.tf and add the following:

resource "grafana_data_source" "<data-source-name>" {
  provider = grafana.my_stack

  type          = "influxdb"
  name          = "<data-source-name>"
  url           = "<data-source-url>"
  username      = "<username>"
  password      = "<password>"
  database_name = "<db-name>"
}

Replace the following field values:
- <data-source-name> with the name of the data source to be added in Grafana.
- <data-source-url> with URL of your data source.
- <username> with the username for authenticating with your data source.
- <password> with password for authenticating with your data source.
- <db-name> with name of your database.

Add a folder

This Terraform configuration creates a folder in your Grafana instance using grafana_folder (Resource).

Create a file named folder.tf and add the following:

resource "grafana_folder" "<folder-name>" {
  provider = grafana.my_stack

  title = "<folder-name>"
}

Replace the following field value:
- <folder-name> with a name for the folder.

Add a dashboard to the folder

This Terraform configuration creates a dashboard inside the folder created above in your Grafana instance using grafana_dashboard (Resource).

Create a file named dashboard.tf and add the following:

# Using a JSON file
resource "grafana_dashboard" "dashboard" {
  provider = grafana.my_stack

  config_json = file("<file-name>.json")
  folder = grafana_folder.<folder-name>.id
}

Replace the following field value:
- <file-name> with the name of the JSON file that has the source code for the dashboard.
The dashboard is represented by its JSON source code and referenced in the config_json parameter.

Apply the Terraform configuration

In a terminal, run the following commands from the directory where all of the configuration files are located.

Initialize a working directory containing Terraform configuration files.
shell
```
terraform init
```
Preview the changes that Terraform will make.
shell
```
terraform plan
```
Apply the configuration files.
shell
```
terraform apply
```

Validation

Once you apply the changes in the Terraform configurations, you should be able to verify the following:

The new Grafana stack is created and visible in the Cloud Portal
A service account key token is added in your Grafana instance. In the following image, the service account key token named “terraform serviceaccount key” was added by the grafana_cloud_stack_service_account_token (Resource).
A new data source (InfluxDB in this example) is visible in the grafana instance.
A new folder in Grafana. In the following image, a folder named “Demos” was added by the grafana_folder (Resource).
A new dashboard in the Grafana instance. In the following image a dashboard named “InfluxDB Cloud Demos” was created inside the “Demos” folder.