Streamlined connection to Grafana, improved alert details, simplified scheduler, and more in Business Intelligence 2.4.0

We are excited to announce the public preview release of the Business Intelligence platform 2.4.0. It includes the following updates:

• Possibility to connect a Business Engine to Grafana instance via Business Studio.
• Improved the alert event details for better troubleshooting.
• Added high availability (HA) state in the Business Engine overview.
• Simplified schedule entry for creating alert rules.
• Added Grafana data frames review in the Business Studio.
• Enhanced user prompts to improve configuration clarity.
• Updated Business Engine API documentation.

Connect a Business Engine to Grafana instance via Business Studio

Previously, the connection between the Business Engine and the Grafana instance had to be made manually, updating the GRAFANA_TOKEN environment variable in the configuration file.

Starting from this release, the Business Studio allows you to establish that connection in the comfort of a user-friendly interface.

To accomplish that, follow the steps:

1. Open Business Engine -> Environment page.
2. Scroll to the Grafana section.
3. Click the Edit button.
4. Provide Grafana instance URL.
5. Provide Service account token.

Connect a Business Engine to Grafana instance via Business Studio.

With this user action, the grafana_token column of the environments table is updated. That means if multiple business engines are connected to the same Grafana instance (HA scenario), then with updating the settings only for one business engine, all others are automatically updated since they all point to the same database field.

High Availability

If multiple Business Engines are connected to the same Grafana instance, then updating ONLY one Business Engine is required. The rest of the connected business engines will be updated automatically.

Improved the alert event details

terminology

An alert event is an alternative term for an alert record. Technically, it is a record in a database about the alert event.

All alert rules

1. Open a Business Engine of your interest.
2. Open the Overview page.
3. Review the Alert history of all alert records generated for the selected Business Engine.

Review all alert rules events in one listing.

One alert rule

1. Open a Business Engine of your interest.
2. Open the Alert rules page.
3. Click on the alert rule of interest.
4. Review the Alert history of the selected alert rule.

Review one alert rule event history.

You can click on any alert record to review details. If the latest alert state (New state) is Alerting, the Alert evaluations section shows the values that triggered the alert action.

You can always review the payload by clicking on the View as code button.

Alert evaluations show the values that triggered the alert action. You can review the complete payload by clicking on the View as code button.

In the case of any other alert state (New state), the alert rule payload is displayed right away.

Review the alert action payload in the Alert evaluation section for all other states but Alerting.

High availability (HA) state in the Business Engine overview

High availability can be:

• Disabled. If a Business Engine is the only one in the cluster.
• Enabled. If there are multiple (more than one) Business Engines in the cluster.

High availability state for a Business Engine.

Simplified schedule entry for creating alert rules

In addition to a Cron expression, for simplicity, you can choose one of the easy-to-use templates and then adjust if needed.

Simplified schedule entry for an alert rules creation.

Review Grafana data frames in the Business Studio

To make the interaction between the Business Engine and Grafana more transparent, the Business Studio displays the Grafana data frames participating in the alert rule evaluation.

To review the Grafana data frame in the Business Studio:

1. Open the alert rule of interest.
2. Optionally, on the Alert settings page confirm the alert rule is assigned to the dashboard(2.1) and panel(2.2) of interest.
3. Open the Data preview page.
4. Optionally, verify the dashboard variable (data frame filter) is set up to the necessary value.
5. Review the Grafana data frame in the Business Studio.
6. Optionally, review the same data frame in Grafana. Open the panel in the Edit mode and switch to the Table view.

• Verify the dashboard variable (data frame filter) is set up to the necessary value.
• Review the data frame in Grafana.

Data preview page to review Grafana data frames in the Business Studio.

A Grafana data frame can be reviewed as a code by clicking on the View as code button.

Enchanced user prompts to improve configuration clarity.

This is done throughout the Business Studio UI to eliminate ambiguity and uncertainty about the parameters' meaning.

Updated Business Engine API documentation.

We maintain the ease of the 3rd party Business Engine integration by timely updating the OpenAPI specification.

Business Studio Downloads

Security risks

MacOS and Windows installers are signed and notarized with encryption. End to end build process are fully automated using GitHub workflows to avoid any security risks.

• MacOS:
  • Apple Disk Image for arm64 (Apple Mx processor)
  • Apple Disk Image for x86 (Intel)
  • ZIP file for arm64 (Apple Mx processor)
  • ZIP file for x86 (Intel)
• Linux:
  • RPM for arm64
  • RPM for x64
  • Debian for arm64
  • Debian for x86
• Windows
  • Executable

Release Notes

Breaking Changes in Engine API

Updated data routes from /grafana to /grafana-data.

Business Studio 2.4.0

• Added Engine environment management to update Grafana connection details.
• Added alert event details to review conditions and view as a code to troubleshoot issues.
• Added verification process for backend query operations in panels.
• Added high availability state in engines overview.
• Added enhanced scheduler for alerts to streamline the setting of alert rules.
• Added alert data preview for reviewing data frames in Grafana.
• Updated user interface messages and forms to include more context and specifics.

Business Engine 2.4.0

• Added API to update Grafana configuration in real-time.
• Added API to get alert event details.
• Added API to get high availability state.
• Added API to get alert data preview.
• Updated alert event structure for consistency.

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