ClickHouse datasource plugin provides a support for ClickHouse as a backend database.

Install from grafana.net

OR

Copy files to your Grafana plugin directory. Restart Grafana, check datasources list at http://your.grafana.instance/datasources/new, choose ClickHouse option.

• Access to CH via HTTP
• Query setup
• Raw SQL editor
• SQL syntax highlighting
• Macros support
• Additional functions
• Templates
• Table view
• SingleStat view

Page configuration is standard

There is a small feature - ClickHouse treats HTTP Basic Authentication credentials as a database user and will try to run queries using its name.

Query setup interface:

First row FROM contains two options: database and table. Table values depends on selected database. Second row contains selectors for time filtering:

• Column:Date (EventDate) - is mandatory for MergeTree tables
• Column:DateTime (DateTime) or Column:TimeStamp (UInt32).

Plugin will try to detect date columns automatically

Column:DateTime or Column:TimeStamp are required for time-based macros and functions, because all analytics is based on these values

Button Go to Query is just a toggler to Raw SQL Editor

Raw Editor allows custom SQL queries to be written:

Raw Editor is represented by textarea because sometimes we need to display large queries. Also, it helps to save query formatting in order to understand its structure. Under the textarea you can find a raw query (all macros and functions have already been replaced) which will be sent directly to ClickHouse.

Plugin supports the following marcos:

• $timeCol - replaced with Date:Col value from Query Builder
• $dateTimeCol - replaced with Column:DateTime or Column:TimeStamp value from Query Builder
• $from - replaced with timestamp/1000 value of selected "Time Range:From"
• $to - replaced with timestamp/1000 value of selected "Time Range:To"
• $interval - replaced with selected "Group by time interval" value (as a number of seconds)
• $timeFilter - replaced with currently selected "Time Range". Require Column:Date and Column:DateTime or Column:TimeStamp to be selected
• $timeSeries - replaced with special ClickHouse construction to convert results as time-series data. Use it as "SELECT $timeSeries...". Require Column:DateTime or Column:TimeStamp to be selected

A description of macros is available from an interface by clicking on the info-button

Functions are just templates of SQL queries and you can check the final query at Raw SQL Editor mode. If some additional complexity is needed - just copy raw sql into textarea and make according changes. Remember that macros are still available to use.

There are some limits in function use because of poor query analysis:

• Column:Date and Column:DateTime or Column:TimeStamp must be set in Query Builder
• Query must begins from function name
• Only one function can be used per query

Plugin supports the following functions:

Example usage:

$rate(countIf(Type = 200) * 60 AS good, countIf(Type != 200) * 60 AS bad) FROM requests

Query will be transformed into:

SELECT 
    t, 
    good / runningDifference(t / 1000) AS goodRate, 
    bad / runningDifference(t / 1000) AS badRate
FROM 
(
    SELECT 
        (intDiv(toUInt32(EventTime), 60) * 60) * 1000 AS t, 
        countIf(Type = 200) * 60 AS good, 
        countIf(Type != 200) * 60 AS bad
    FROM requests 
    WHERE ((EventDate >= toDate(1482796747)) AND (EventDate <= toDate(1482853383))) AND ((EventTime >= toDateTime(1482796747)) AND (EventTime <= toDateTime(1482853383)))
    GROUP BY t
    ORDER BY t ASC
) 

Example usage:

$columns(OSName, count(*) c) FROM requests

Query will be transformed into:

SELECT 
    t, 
    groupArray((OSName, c)) AS groupArr
FROM 
(
    SELECT 
        (intDiv(toUInt32(EventTime), 60) * 60) * 1000 AS t, 
        OSName, 
        count(*) AS c
    FROM requests 
    ANY INNER JOIN oses USING (OS)
    WHERE ((EventDate >= toDate(1482796627)) AND (EventDate <= toDate(1482853383))) AND ((EventTime >= toDateTime(1482796627)) AND (EventTime <= toDateTime(1482853383)))
    GROUP BY 
        t, 
        OSName
    ORDER BY 
        t ASC, 
        OSName ASC
) 
GROUP BY t
ORDER BY t ASC

This will help to build the next graph:

Example usage:

$rateColumns(OS, count(*) c) FROM requests

Query will be transformed into:

SELECT 
    t, 
    arrayMap(lambda(tuple(a), (a.1, a.2 / runningDifference(t / 1000))), groupArr)
FROM 
(
    SELECT 
        t, 
        groupArray((OS, c)) AS groupArr
    FROM 
    (
        SELECT 
            (intDiv(toUInt32(EventTime), 60) * 60) * 1000 AS t, 
            OS, 
            count(*) AS c
        FROM requests 
        WHERE ((EventDate >= toDate(1482796867)) AND (EventDate <= toDate(1482853383))) AND ((EventTime >= toDateTime(1482796867)) AND (EventTime <= toDateTime(1482853383)))
        GROUP BY 
            t, 
            OS
        ORDER BY 
            t ASC, 
            OS ASC
    ) 
    GROUP BY t
    ORDER BY t ASC
) 

Remember that piechart plugin is not welcome for using in grafana - see https://grafana.com/blog/2015/12/04/friends-dont-let-friends-abuse-pie-charts

To create "Top 5" diagram we will need two queries: one for 'Top 5' rows and one for 'Other' row.

Top5:

SELECT
    1, /* fake timestamp value */
    groupArray((UserName,  Reqs))
FROM
(
    SELECT
        UserName,
        sum(Reqs) AS Reqs
    FROM requests
    GROUP BY UserName
    ORDER BY Reqs desc
    LIMIT 5
)

Other:

SELECT
    1, /* fake timestamp value */
    tuple(tuple('Other',  sum(Reqs)))
FROM
(
    SELECT
        UserName,
        sum(Reqs) AS Reqs
    FROM requests
    GROUP BY UserName
    ORDER BY Reqs desc
    LIMIT 5,10000000000000 /* select some ridiculous number after first 5 */
)

There are no any tricks in displaying time-series data. But to display some summary we will need to fake timestamp data:

SELECT
    rand() Time, /* fake timestamp value */
    UserName,
    sum(Reqs) as Reqs
FROM requests
GROUP BY
    UserName
ORDER BY 
    Reqs

Better to hide Time column at Options tab while editing panel

To make vertical histogram from graph panel we will need to edit some settings:

• Display -> Draw Modes -> Bars
• Axes -> X-Axis -> Mode -> Series

And use next query:

$columns(
    Size,
    sum(Items) Items)
FROM some_table

// It is also possible to use query without macros

Since we developed this plugin only for internal needs we don't have some of Grafana's features:

• Alerts (this feature requires additional changes at backend and can't be solved by js-plugin)
• Annotations
• Labels

We know that code quality needs a tons of improvements and unit-tests. We will continue working on this. If you have any idea for an improvement or found a bug do not hesitate to open an issue or submit a pull request. We will appreciate any help from the community which will make working with such amazing products as ClickHouse and Grafana more convenient.

Plugin creation was inspired by great grafana-sqldb-datasource

MIT License, please see LICENSE for details.