Grafana

Grafana

Grafana is an open-source analytics and visualization platform used to build dashboards from metrics, logs, and time-series data. Running it as a container on RouterOS lets you visualize router and network metrics without a separate server.

Caution

Before proceeding, review the Container documentation. Understand the disclaimer and requirements to grasp risks and prerequisites.

The official grafana/grafana image supports ARM32, ARM64, and AMD64 architectures via a multi-arch manifest. Recommended minimum requirements are 256 MB RAM and 500 MB available storage for the container image and persistent data.

Prerequisites

• RouterOS v7.4 or later
• container package installed
• External storage device (USB, SATA, or NVMe recommended)
• Device mode with container support enabled

Container Mode

Enable container support in device mode and reboot:

/system/device-mode/update container=yes

After executing this command, confirm by pressing the reset button (or cold-rebooting x86 devices). The router must restart before container functionality is available.

Networking Configuration

Create a dedicated bridge and veth interface for the Grafana container:

/interface/bridge/add name=containers
/ip/address/add address=172.19.0.1/24 interface=containers
/interface/veth/add name=veth-grafana address=172.19.0.2/24 gateway=172.19.0.1
/interface/bridge/port/add bridge=containers interface=veth-grafana
/ip/firewall/nat/add chain=srcnat src-address=172.19.0.0/24 action=masquerade

If you are already running other containers, use a different subnet (e.g., 172.19.0.0/24) to avoid overlap with existing container networks.

Port Forwarding

Expose the Grafana web UI to your LAN:

/ip/firewall/nat/add chain=dstnat in-interface=ether2 protocol=tcp dst-port=3000 action=dst-nat to-addresses=172.19.0.2 to-ports=3000

If your firewall forward chain default policy is drop, add an explicit accept rule:

/ip/firewall/filter/add chain=forward dst-address=172.19.0.2 protocol=tcp dst-port=3000 action=accept place-before=0

Storage Configuration

Grafana stores its database, plugins, and configuration under /var/lib/grafana inside the container. Create the directory and register the mount:

/file/add name=disk1/grafana/data type=directory
/container/mounts/add name=grafana-data src=disk1/grafana/data dst=/var/lib/grafana

Environment Variables

Set the admin credentials and optional timezone:

/container/envs/add list=grafana-env key=GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_USER value=admin
/container/envs/add list=grafana-env key=GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD value=ChangeMeStrong!
/container/envs/add list=grafana-env key=TZ value=UTC

Variable	Description	Default
GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_USER	Initial admin username	admin
GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD	Initial admin password	admin
GF_SERVER_HTTP_PORT	HTTP port Grafana listens on	3000
GF_PATHS_DATA	Override data directory path	/var/lib/grafana
TZ	Timezone for displayed timestamps	UTC

Pulling the Image

Configure the registry and create the container:

/container/config/set registry-url=https://registry-1.docker.io tmpdir=disk1/tmp
/container/add \
    remote-image=grafana/grafana:latest \
    interface=veth-grafana \
    root-dir=disk1/grafana/root \
    mounts=grafana-data \
    envlist=grafana-env \
    logging=yes \
    start-on-boot=yes

Monitor image extraction:

/container/print

Wait until status=stopped before starting the container.

Starting the Container

/container/start 0

Verify the container is running:

/container/print

The status should change to status=running within a few seconds.

Accessing the Web UI

Open a browser and navigate to http://<router-LAN-IP>:3000. Log in with the admin credentials set in the environment variables.

On first login, Grafana prompts you to change the default password if you used the built-in default. After login, add a data source such as Prometheus and create dashboards.

Connecting to Prometheus

If you are also running Prometheus as a container on the same router, add it as a Grafana data source:

1. Navigate to Connections → Data sources → Add data source.
2. Select Prometheus.
3. Set the URL to http://172.18.0.2:9090 (the Prometheus container’s veth IP and port).
4. Click Save & test.

Resource Usage

Resource	Typical Usage (idle)
RAM	150–300 MB
CPU	< 5% at idle
Storage	~300 MB image + data directory (grows with dashboards and plugins)

Container logs are accessible via:

/log print where topics~"container"

Troubleshooting

Container fails to start

Check that the data directory exists and the mount is correctly registered:

/container/mounts/print
/file/print where name~"grafana"

Enable logging and inspect the output:

/container/set 0 logging=yes
/container/start 0
/log print

Port 3000 not accessible

Confirm the container is running and the veth interface has an address:

/container/print
/interface/veth/print

Check that the NAT and firewall forward rules are in place. If the browser shows a connection refused error, verify Grafana finished starting — it can take 10–15 seconds on first boot.

Permission errors on /var/lib/grafana

Grafana runs as UID 472 by default. If you see permission errors in the logs after mounting external storage, set the container user explicitly:

/container/set 0 user=472:472

Related Information

• Container — core container feature documentation
• VETH — virtual ethernet interface details
• Prometheus — metrics collection to pair with Grafana dashboards
• Diagnostics and Monitoring — RouterOS built-in monitoring tools