Configure the Parca data source

This document explains how to configure the Parca data source in Grafana.

You can configure the data source using the Grafana UI, a YAML provisioning file, or Terraform. If you make any changes in the UI, select Save & test to preserve those changes.

Before you begin

Before configuring the data source, ensure you have:

• Grafana permissions: Organization administrator role.
• Parca instance: A running Parca instance (v0.19 or later) accessible from your Grafana server.

If you're provisioning the data source, you also need administrative rights on the server hosting your Grafana instance.

Add the data source

To add the Parca data source:

1. Click Connections in the left-side menu.
2. Click Add new connection.
3. Type Parca in the search bar.
4. Select Parca.
5. Click Add new data source.

Configure settings

The Settings tab contains the following configuration sections.

Basic settings

Connection

Authentication

Use this section to select an authentication method to access the data source. The available methods are:

TLS settings

Configure TLS for secure communication with your Parca instance.

{{< admonition type="note" >}} Use Transport Layer Security (TLS) for an additional layer of security when working with Parca. {{< /admonition >}}

Custom HTTP headers

Add custom HTTP headers to requests sent to the Parca instance. Click Add header to add a new row with Header (name) and Value (secret) fields.

Custom headers are useful for passing authentication tokens or routing information required by proxies between Grafana and Parca.

Additional settings

Click the down arrow to expand the Additional settings section. These settings are optional.

Advanced HTTP settings

Secure SOCKS proxy

{{< admonition type="note" >}} This section is only visible when the Grafana server has the secure SOCKS proxy feature enabled. {{< /admonition >}}

Verify the connection

Click Save & test to verify that Grafana can connect to your Parca instance. The health check queries the available profile types from the Parca server. A successful connection displays the message

Data source is working.

If the test fails, verify that the URL is correct and that your Parca instance is running and accessible from the Grafana server. For more help, refer to Troubleshoot Parca data source issues.

Provision the data source

You can define the data source in YAML files as part of the Grafana provisioning system. For more information, refer to Provisioning Grafana.

YAML provisioning example

apiVersion: 1

datasources:
  - name: Parca
    type: parca
    url: http://localhost:7070

To provision with basic authentication:

apiVersion: 1

datasources:
  - name: Parca
    type: parca
    url: http://localhost:7070
    basicAuth: true
    basicAuthUser: <USERNAME>
    secureJsonData:
      basicAuthPassword: <PASSWORD>

Replace the following:

• <USERNAME>: Your Parca username.
• <PASSWORD>: Your Parca password.

Terraform example

To provision the data source with Terraform, use the grafana_data_source resource:

resource "grafana_data_source" "parca" {
  type = "parca"
  name = "Parca"
  url  = "http://localhost:7070"
}

To provision with basic authentication:

resource "grafana_data_source" "parca" {
  type                = "parca"
  name                = "Parca"
  url                 = "http://localhost:7070"
  basic_auth_enabled  = true
  basic_auth_username = "<USERNAME>"

  secure_json_data_encoded = jsonencode({
    basicAuthPassword = "<PASSWORD>"
  })
}

Replace the following:

• <USERNAME>: Your Parca username.
• <PASSWORD>: Your Parca password.

Next steps

• Query profiling data with the Parca query editor