Alert rules, variables support, and formatted annotation labels in Business Satellite 1.2.0

We are happy to announce the release of the Business Satellite Data Source 1.2.0. This release includes the following updates:

• Added formatted Annotation labels for Alerts.
• Added Alert Rules and Alert UID field to Alert Annotations.
• Added Variables support.
• Updated Scoped Variables for Annotations.

Alert labels

We added formatted Alert labels in the labels field, which can be parsed using Extract field transformation to sort, filter, and display by values.

Business Satellite Data Source used to display Alerting History.

Alert Rules and UID

Based on the alert rules Annotations will return the Alert name and UID fields. Alert UID can be used for data links to quickly direct to the rules configuration.

Alert Name and UID displayed for each Alert annotation.

Annotations

Annotations might seem different from the Alerts, but under the hood, they are very similar. With a little help from the Business Satellite data source, you can easily work with both.

This is an introductory video for anyone interested in Grafana Alerts and Annotations.

Annotations, Alerts, and Annotation queries in Grafana explained.

How to and Demo

In this tutorial, we look at the concept from a data flow point of view and provide step-by-step instructions which you can follow and learn as you go.

Annotations and Alerts tutorial for Grafana with Timescale.

Variables support

We added initial Variables support to the data source. You can select Alert Rules, Data Sources, and Annotations by UID or text fields.

Business Satellite Data Source can be used for Dashboard Variables.

Calendar

The Business Satellite Data Source can be used together with Business Calendar panel to visualize alerts that happened in a week or month.

Alerts for this week displayed using Calendar panel.

Getting Started

The Business Satellite data source can be installed from the Grafana Catalog or utilizing the Grafana command line tool.

Install Business Suite plugins in Cloud, OSS, Enterprise. Getting started with the Business Suite.

For the latter, please use the following command.

grafana cli plugins install volkovlabs-grapi-datasource

Tutorial

Daria starts with Grafana widgets, explaining its limitations and how with the Business Satellite data source you can have flexible visualizations of anything stored in the Grafana central repository (settings, metadata, alerts, and annotations). She touches upon Grafana's transformations to show little data transformation tricks.

Towards the end, she demonstrates how the Business Satellite data source supports the regex pattern conditions to let you work with the cherry-picked data elements you need.

Easy access to Grafana backend using Business Satellite data source.

Release Notes

Features / Enhancements

• Add formatted Annotation labels for Alerts (#19)
• Update Annotation Limit to 100 by default (#19)
• Add Alert Rules and UID for Alerts Annotations (#20)
• Update Scoped Variables for Annotations (#21)
• Add Variable Support (#25)
• Update provisioning for testing Alerts (#26, #28)
• Add Annotations Tutorial (#29)

We're Always Happy to Hear From You!

We value your feedback and are eager to connect with our community and partners. Whether you have a question, an idea, or an issue to report, here’s how you can reach out:

• Community Members: Have a question, want to suggest a new feature, or found a bug? We’d love to hear from you! Please create a GitHub issue to start the conversation.
• Enterprise Partners: Need assistance or have an urgent request? Open a Zendesk ticket for a prompt and dedicated response from our team.
• Join the Conversation: Stay updated and share your thoughts! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and leave your comments—we can’t wait to hear what you think.

Your input helps us improve, so don’t hesitate to get in touch!