Grafana Cloud’s Cloud Provider Observability offers prebuilt dashboards and drill-downs for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud out of the box. But you may already have trusted dashboards, want a workflow-specific view, or need to change instance-level panels. The good news: you can now customize all of that within the app. This guide answers common questions about connecting existing dashboards, using AI to generate new ones, and editing instance drill-down views—so your monitoring aligns perfectly with your team’s needs.
1. What customization options are available for cloud service dashboards?
You have three main ways to tailor service views. First, you can attach an existing dashboard as a quick link and even set it as the default view for that service. Second, you can create a new dashboard using Grafana’s AI features, then add it exactly like a custom dashboard and optionally make it default. Third, you can edit the panels and queries that appear in the instance drill-down view—this is the view shown when you dive into a single resource from Cloud Provider Observability, Database Observability, the entity graph, and other entry points. Together, these options let you keep the out-of-the-box views where they work well, plug in your own dashboards where you want a different “front door,” and ensure consistent per-instance details across all observability surfaces.
2. How do I set a custom dashboard as the default view for a cloud service?
Navigate to the Services tab in Grafana and click Configure for the cloud service you want to edit (e.g., Amazon RDS, GCP Cloud SQL, or Azure Virtual Machines). On the configuration page, look for the section titled “Customize your quick links and add new ones to your custom dashboards.” Under “Select a dashboard,” choose the custom dashboard you’ve already created or linked. Then mark it as the default dashboard for that service. Once saved, whenever any user opens that service from the services tab, entity graph, or other entry points, they will see your designated default view instead of the built-in one. You can still keep the preconfigured dashboard as an optional quick link, ensuring users have access to both the original and your custom version.
3. Can I create dashboards using AI and integrate them into the service views?
Yes, absolutely. Grafana’s AI capabilities allow you to generate dashboards with the correct variables and query methodology for cloud services. After you create an AI-generated dashboard, you can add it to the service’s configuration page just like any other custom dashboard. On the configure page, under “Customize your quick links and add new ones to your custom dashboards,” select the AI-generated dashboard from the dropdown. You can optionally set it as the default view, which will make it the primary dashboard users see when accessing that service. This means AI-generated dashboards fit seamlessly into the same workflows and debugging paths as manually created ones—offering a fast way to produce relevant, tailored views without starting from scratch.
4. How do I customize the instance drill-down panels that appear across observability surfaces?
Instance drill-down panels are the specific charts and metrics shown when you click into a single resource (like an EC2 instance or a Cloud SQL database). To customize them, go to the Configure page for the relevant service. Look for the section “Customize the panels that appear in the instance view.” Here you can edit the existing panels—changing queries, visualization types, or layout—or add new ones. Any changes you make are saved per service and will render everywhere the instance-level view is used: in Cloud Provider Observability, Database Observability, the entity graph, and other contexts. This ensures a consistent, team-tailored experience no matter how you navigate to the resource. The configuration is completely flexible, so you can focus on the metrics that matter most to your team’s debugging and monitoring needs.
5. Where do I go to configure customizations for a specific cloud service?
All customization for a given cloud service (like Amazon RDS, GCP Cloud SQL, or Azure Virtual Machines) lives on that service’s Configure page. To access it, open Grafana and navigate to the Cloud Provider Observability section. On the Services tab, you’ll see a list of available services. Click the Configure button next to the service you want to edit. The configuration page is divided into clear sections: preconfigured dashboard, custom dashboards (with default selection), and instance drill-down panel customization. Any changes you make here are automatically saved and reused wherever that service is referenced—services tab, entity graph, Database Observability, and more. This centralized location means you only need to modify settings once, and they take effect across the entire Grafana experience.
6. Can I connect my existing internal dashboards to replace the default views?
Yes, if you already have a dashboard that fits a specific cloud service—such as your team’s internal RDS or Lambda view—you can attach it as a quick link and optionally make it the default view. On the service’s configure page, find the “Customize your quick links and add new ones to your custom dashboards” section. Under “Select a dashboard,” choose the dashboard you’ve already built. Once selected, you can mark it as the default, which means users will see your custom dashboard when they first open that service instead of the built-in one. The original preconfigured dashboard remains available as another quick link, so team members can still access it if needed. This empowers you to blend your existing monitoring investments with Grafana’s out-of-the-box cloud observability capabilities.
7. How are my customizations saved and reused across Grafana?
All configuration changes you make on a service’s configure page are saved per service and persist across sessions. They are automatically applied everywhere that service is displayed in Grafana. For example, if you customize the default dashboard for Amazon RDS, that custom dashboard will be shown when users open Amazon RDS from the Services tab, from the Entity Graph, or from Database Observability. Similarly, the instance drill-down panels you configure will render consistently whether you navigate to an instance via Cloud Provider Observability, the entity graph, or any other entry point. This unified approach ensures that your team always sees the same tailored views, reducing confusion and making troubleshooting more efficient. You only need to set it once—no duplicate work required.
8. What happens to the preconfigured out-of-the-box views when I add custom dashboards?
The preconfigured built-in dashboards are never removed. They remain available as quick links on the service’s configuration page and can be accessed by users at any time. When you add a custom dashboard and optionally set it as the default, users will first see your custom view, but they can easily switch to the original by clicking the preconfigured dashboard link. This preserves the value of the out-of-the-box dashboards—they contain carefully designed metrics and layouts—while giving you the flexibility to use your own views as the primary entry point. Essentially, you’re layering your customizations on top of the default experience rather than replacing it, so you never lose access to the original content that Grafana provides for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.