The Grafana 10.3 release introduces a range of enhancements for visualization, instance management, alerting, and log analysis. These upgrades include improved tooltips and zoom functionality for data navigation, alongside features for tracking metric changes and visualizing system health. Additionally, enhancements in alerting organization and log analysis are also available.
The first notable improvement is the addition of enhanced tooltips for data visualization. These tooltips feature colour indicators for easy data differentiation, uniform time display across panels, and support for longer labels, providing users with more detailed information and a consistent experience across all Grafana panels.
Another enhancement is the introduction of pan and zoom functionality within the Canvas panel. This feature allows users to navigate through data as reported more effectively, which is particularly beneficial for those working with large-scale or highly detailed canvas visualizations.
Users can now track metric changes over time in stat panels, which, according to the Grafana team, enables an easier understanding of metric growth. Integration of colour indicators for percentage change offers a quick way to identify trends in data. Note that this feature is generally available in all editions of Grafana.
Furthermore, enum values can be plotted in time series and state timeline visualizations, enabling users to visualize system and service health effectively. This feature utilizes the convert field transformation to display enum values, enhancing visualization capabilities.
The release also introduces improved management capabilities for Grafana instances, including enhanced control over anonymous access. Users can now monitor anonymous devices connected to their instance and limit the number of anonymous devices for better security and resource management, with a note that this feature is generally available in Grafana open source and Grafana Enterprise
Furthermore, the release offers the ability to query across multi-stack data sources, simplifying the querying process for users managing metrics or logs across multiple tenants in Grafana Cloud.
Another significant improvement is the enhanced reporting experience, allowing users to share complete table data in PDF reports. Two new options are introduced: embedding all table data as a PDF appendix and generating a separate PDF for table data.
In terms of alerting, the release includes improvements in alerting contact points organization and visibility, simplifying the alert management experience. The UI now displays notification policies linked to each contact point for improved understanding of alert configurations.
Regarding the Log analysis, the introduction of a new popover menu in Grafana brings improvements for search. According to the original announcement, this feature simplifies searches and adjusts queries by automatically offering options to copy text and add filters. As stated, it is compatible with various log data sources, such as Grafana Loki and Elasticsearch, while providing improved efficiency in single and mixed data source modes.
In addition to the release of Grafana 10.3, users could find it helpful to explore the official YouTube channel, which published a playlist of 16 videos showcasing all the new features available in this version. These videos provide detailed demonstrations and explanations of each feature, offering users a comprehensive overview of the enhancements introduced in Grafana 10.3.
Lastly, to address a technical issue within the Grafana release package management process, Grafana 10.3.0 and Grafana 10.3.1 are being simultaneously released. Grafana 10.3.1 contains no breaking or functional changes compared to 10.3.0. Users can explore the documentation for Grafana 10.3.0.