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Integration with Grafana

Grafana has long been one of the most popular tools for real-time monitoring and data visualization, helping organizations track metrics and analyze trends through a single, user-friendly interface. For self-hosted Timeplus Enterprise or Timeplus Proton, you can try the Grafana plugin for Timeplus. The source code is at https://github.com/timeplus-io/proton-grafana-source. This plugin was designed to leverage Grafana’s new Grafana Live capability, allowing users to keep their SQL query results up-to-date without the need to refresh their dashboards. Check out here for sample setup.

Key Use Cases for Timeplus Grafana Plugin​

Our Timeplus Grafana Plugin provides a flexible, powerful way to enhance your dashboards with real-time insights. Here are a few ways our users are already benefiting:

  • Real-Time Operational Monitoring: Track key metrics with high-frequency data, such as system load, application performance, or network traffic, to identify and resolve issues as they arise.
  • Customer Experience Insights: Monitor live customer interactions, such as usage patterns, in-app behavior, or user activity across different regions, to improve responsiveness and overall service quality.
  • Advanced Analytics on Streaming Data: Combine metrics from Grafana with Timeplus’s streaming SQL capabilities to perform complex analytics—filtering, aggregating, and transforming data in real time for deeper insights into business operations.

Sample dashboard

How to Get Started with Timeplus Grafana Plugin​

Getting started with the latest version of the Timeplus Grafana Plugin is straightforward.

Step 1: Set Up Grafana​

First, ensure that you have Grafana OSS or Grafana Enterprise installed.

• For Mac users, you can install Grafana by running: brew install grafana

• For Linux users, you can use the following commands, adjusting the download URL to match the latest version if necessary: sudo yum install -y https://dl.grafana.com/enterprise/release/grafana-enterprise-11.3.0-1.x86_64.rpm For additional installation instructions, please refer to the Grafana download page.

Step 2: Install the Timeplus Plugin​

Next, download and install the Timeplus plugin in your Grafana deployment. For example, if you’re on Linux:

cd /var/lib/grafana
mkdir plugins
cd plugins
wget d.timeplus.com/grafana/timeplus-proton-datasource-2.0.0.zip
unzip timeplus-proton-datasource-2.0.0.zip

After installing the plugin, restart Grafana to enable it: sudo /bin/systemctl restart grafana-server.service

Step 3: Configure the Plugin in Grafana​

  1. Login to Grafana’s web UI and navigate to Connections -> Data Sources.
  2. Locate the Timeplus Data Source by scrolling or searching for “Timeplus.”
  3. Configure the Connection Parameters:
  • For Timeplus Enterprise, create an admin account when you start Timeplus for the first time and use those credentials here.
  • For Timeplus Proton, use the default username with no password.
  1. Save and Test the Connection by clicking the Save & Test button to confirm the plugin is connected successfully.

Step 4: Create a Dashboard and Visualize Data​

  1. Follow the “Build a Dashboard” link to start a new dashboard, and add a visualization.
  2. Select the Timeplus data source you configured earlier.

Now, you can enter SQL queries to retrieve and visualize data from Timeplus directly in Grafana.

Step 5: Example - Monitoring Real-Time Bitcoin Price​

To showcase the power of real-time streaming with Grafana and Timeplus, let’s set up a feed for live Bitcoin pricing:

  1. In Timeplus Enterprise, open the Data Collection Wizard and choose WebSocket as the data source. If you haven’t tried Timeplus, please download the package at https://www.timeplus.com/product .

  2. Use the following WebSocket settings:

    • WebSocket URL: wss://ws-feed.exchange.coinbase.com

    • Open Message: {"type":"subscribe","channels":[{"name":"ticker","product_ids":["BTC-USD","ETC-USD","DAI-USD"]}]}

    • Read as: Text (not JSON)

  3. In the wizard, name the stream (e.g., coinbase), and follow the remaining default settings.

  4. Run the following SQL to retrieve raw data: SELECT * FROM coinbase You should see the live data in the raw string column. Now, let’s parse the JSON documents as multiple columns in a view.

  5. Create a View to parse the JSON data for easier analysis:

CREATE VIEW coinbase_parsed AS
SELECT _tp_time, raw:product_id AS product_id, cast(raw:price, 'float32') AS price, cast(raw:volume_24h, 'float64') AS volume_24h
FROM coinbase
  1. Return to the Grafana UI and run the following SQL query on the new view:
select _tp_time, price from coinbase_parsed where product_id='BTC-USD'

Grafana will now load the parsed data from Timeplus and display it as a line chart. To get a closer look at recent trends, adjust the time period from the default six hours to the last 1 minute.

With this setup, you can now use Grafana to monitor live prices and transaction data in the cryptocurrency market. Additionally, you can expand this dashboard by adding SQL-based alerts or logic to detect potential trading signals in real time.

Last updated on by Jove Zhong