How to Display in Dropdown "instance_name" but query "instance"

[ronald_sp]

Hello,
I’m using Node Exporter Full | Grafana Labs
Once Node-Exporter is added its all working and fetching correctly.

This is my prometheus scrape example .

Now my problem is in Grafana Dropdown I can select based on instance, but I would really like to show me “instance_name” and actually query the instance.
This is my current code.

 {
          "current": {},
          "datasource": {
            "type": "prometheus",
            "uid": "${datasource}"
          },
          "definition": "label_values(node_uname_info{job=\"$job\"}, instance)",
          "hide": 0,
          "includeAll": false,
          "label": "Hostttttt",
          "multi": false,
          "name": "node",
          "options": [],
          "query": {
            "query": "label_values(node_uname_info{job=\"$job\"}, instance)",
            "refId": "Prometheus-node-Variable-Query"
          },
          "refresh": 1,
          "regex": "",
          "skipUrlSync": false,
          "sort": 1,
          "tagValuesQuery": "",
          "tagsQuery": "",
          "type": "query",
          "useTags": false
        },

Please note I have tried changeing definition and query with instance_name , but then not a single panel will work as they all expect instance and not instance_name.

Is there a way to show “Instance_name” but actually query “instance”

[ronald_sp]

Could this be a limitation of grafana, I looked some similar issues on stack overflow but couldn’t find an answer.

[knopf]

It’s not necessarily a limitation, although I agree it could be much more intuitive or easy to set up. The dashboard variable that queries “instance” is called “node”, but often labeled “Host”, as can be seen in your screenshot. Easy eh

In an older community dashboard, I found the following workaround: you create a query-type variable for the board that works just like “node”, except it returns the nodename, not the IP. This variable’s value is then used as an additional selection label in the query of “node”, which is left unaltered otherwise. That way, it becomes a dependency for “node”, so that you can select by hostname and see your board change accordingly.

Here is the old board for reference, it seems abandoned and may not work in modern Grafanas. Node Exporter Dashboard EN 20201010-StarsL.cn | Grafana Labs This board was hugely popular at the time, and for good reason, I think. Whoever developed it at the time did a great job, even though a lot is hardcoded.