How Can I Create a GCP Monitoring Dashboard?

Introduction

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) provides robust monitoring capabilities through its Cloud Monitoring service. A monitoring dashboard in GCP allows you to visualize and track the performance of your cloud resources by displaying metrics in a customizable layout. This guide will walk you through the process of creating a GCP monitoring dashboard using Pulumi, a tool that allows you to define your cloud infrastructure using code.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a GCP Monitoring Dashboard

To create a monitoring dashboard in GCP, you need to define a google_monitoring_dashboard resource. This resource will enable you to configure various widgets to display the metrics you are interested in monitoring. Let’s go through the steps involved in setting up a dashboard with Pulumi:

1. Import Required Libraries: Begin by importing the necessary Pulumi and GCP libraries in your TypeScript file.

2. Define the Dashboard Resource: Create a new gcp.monitoring.Dashboard resource. This resource requires a JSON configuration that specifies the layout and widgets for your dashboard.

3. Configure Widgets: Within the dashboard JSON, define the widgets you want to include. In this example, we will create two widgets:

   • CPU Usage Widget: This widget displays CPU utilization metrics for your instances.
   • Disk Read Ops Widget: This widget shows the number of disk read operations.

4. Set Widget Properties: For each widget, configure properties such as the title, data sets, and chart options. Use time series queries to specify the metrics and aggregation methods.

5. Export the Dashboard Name: Finally, export the dashboard ID for verification purposes.

Below is the complete code example:

import * as pulumi from "@pulumi/pulumi";
import * as gcp from "@pulumi/gcp";

// Define a GCP Monitoring Dashboard resource
const exampleDashboard = new gcp.monitoring.Dashboard("example_dashboard", {dashboardJson: `  {
    "displayName": "Sample Dashboard",
    "gridLayout": {
      "columns": 3,
      "widgets": [
        {
          "title": "CPU Usage",
          "xyChart": {
            "dataSets": [
              {
                "timeSeriesQuery": {
                  "timeSeriesFilter": {
                    "filter": "metric.type=\"compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization\"",
                    "aggregation": {
                      "alignmentPeriod": "120s",
                      "perSeriesAligner": "ALIGN_MEAN"
                    }
                  }
                }
              }
            ],
            "timeshiftDuration": "0s",
            "yAxis": {
              "label": "CPU Usage (%)",
              "scale": "LINEAR"
            }
          }
        },
        {
          "title": "Disk Read Ops",
          "xyChart": {
            "dataSets": [
              {
                "timeSeriesQuery": {
                  "timeSeriesFilter": {
                    "filter": "metric.type=\"compute.googleapis.com/instance/disk/read_ops_count\"",
                    "aggregation": {
                      "alignmentPeriod": "120s",
                      "perSeriesAligner": "ALIGN_RATE"
                    }
                  }
                }
              }
            ],
            "timeshiftDuration": "0s",
            "yAxis": {
              "label": "Read Operations",
              "scale": "LINEAR"
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
`});
export const dashboardName = exampleDashboard.id;

Key Points

• Pulumi and GCP Libraries: Utilize these libraries to define and manage your cloud infrastructure programmatically.
• Dashboard Layout: Customize your dashboard layout using the JSON configuration to arrange widgets in a grid format.
• Widget Configuration: Specify metrics, queries, and display options for each widget to visualize your data effectively.
• Verification: Export the dashboard ID to confirm successful creation and for future reference.

Conclusion

Creating a GCP monitoring dashboard using Pulumi allows you to programmatically manage and customize the visualization of your cloud metrics. By defining a google_monitoring_dashboard resource and configuring widgets, you can effectively monitor the performance of your GCP resources. This approach not only streamlines the dashboard setup but also integrates seamlessly with your infrastructure as code practices.