No /data/plugins directory - grafana 9.3.2

Grafana
1

I have grafana 9.3.2 up and running and started to look to upgrade to 11.6. While reading the doc I understand that I need to back up the configuration as well as plugins directory in data.

When I visit the pluging section in the web I have a lot of installed plugins

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but when I go to the directory , there is no plugins directory

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2

A lot of those are bolted on plugin bundled in the grafana app itself.

Also recommend you install one full version at a time

9 → 10 (test) → 11 (test)

Also why stop at 11.6?

3

Thanks, but in this plugin bundled I dont see all plugins and data sources.

So what should I backup and use for upgrade. Grafane documentation indicates

Back up plugin data : Default location for plugins in a binary or source installation: $WORKING_DIR/data/plugins

4

I always backup the following 2 folders (unless I am doing something fancy in other folders - not recommended)

conf

data

Interesting your 9.x does not have any plugins, it could you have not installed any special kinds of plugins hence no folder

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5

@yosiasz if you look at my inistial post, you can see all plugs installed, I will drop it again here

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6

yes those are all from Grafana Labs as you can see not any 3rd party plugins. as mentioned earlier

“A lot of those are bolted on plugins bundled in the grafana app itself.”

7

OK, so I don’t need to backup any upgrade and just download the version 11. How about data sources, how can I back them to be used in the new version? I have a lot of Data sources

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8

unlike plugins, datasources are saved in the grafana.db itself.

what I always do

  • download grafana for windows zip file and extract

  • copy from previous server both data and conf folder

  • in new grafana temporarily modify port in ini file (so it does not conflict with current running grafana port)

  • start the server from bin folder

  • go to browser localhost:temp_port, fully test.

    if all is good, I stop the old grafana, stop the new grafana, change port in ini of new server to what it was. start new grafana. I use a tool called nssm to install grafana as a “service”

9

Thanks, I will follow thos steps for version 13 and let you know. I use nssm as well since long time

10

Antony.

11

Also, what is strange on the windows download, ther is no zip file but tar.gz for download

Download Grafana

12

Somehow this posting got deleted between me and the list.

I was trying to say that you had previously been given the advice to upgrade
one major version at a time:

9 → 10, test it
10 → 11, test it

Since you’re not considering version 13, you should also:

11 → 12, test it
12 → 13, test it.

Antony.

13

Thanks Antony, sorry I have responded very quickly, I will do 9.3.2 > 10 > 11 > 12. But one question : is sqlite db used by 9.3.2 will be compatible with 10, 11, or 12? Why I am asking is because I understood that data sources are inside the sqlite db

14

I downloaded version 10, 11 zipped files, when I open this zipped file I dont see a data directory nor a sqlite db

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15

data directory appears only once grafana service starts

16

only one way to find out :slight_smile: test it

17

Hi, so far so good up to v12, copying the sqlite DB from V9.3.2 works fine . Now to go to V13, I really need a zip download and not tar.gz. Why V13 windows download is tar.gz?

18

Awesome! It is tar because the zip file is so big