Merge pull request #39 from CircleCI-Public/ONPREM-1864/edit-dashboards

Add docs on adding and modifying dashboards

Author: christian-stephen

README.md

@@ -90,11 +90,13 @@ Secure Grafana by configuring credentials:
 ```yaml
 grafana:
   credentials:
+    # Directly set these for quick setups
     adminUser: "admin"
     adminPassword: "<your-secure-password-here>"
+
+    # For production, use a Kubernetes secret to manage credentials securely
     existingSecretName: "<your-secret-here>"
 ```
-> **_NOTE:_** Consider using Kubernetes secrets for dynamic credential management.
 
 #### Expose Grafana Externally
 
@@ -118,7 +120,25 @@ grafana:
     enabled: true
     storageClass: <your-custom-storage-class>
 ```
-> **_NOTE:_** Use a custom storage class with a 'Retain' policy to secure data integrity.
+> **_NOTE:_** Use a custom storage class with a 'Retain' policy to allow for data retention even after uninstalling the chart.
+
+### 8. Modifying or Adding Grafana Dashboards
+
+The default dashboards are located in the `dashboards` directory of the reference chart. To add new dashboards or modify existing ones, follow these steps.
+
+Dashboards are provisioned directly from CRDs, which means any manual edits will be lost upon a refresh. As such, the workflow outlined below is recommended for making changes:
+
+1. Create a copy of the dashboard by selecting **Edit** in the upper right corner, then **Save dashboard** -> **Save as copy**. After saving, navigate to the copy.
+2. Make your edits to the copy and exit edit mode.
+3. Select **Export** in the upper right corner and then **Export as JSON**. **Ensure that `Export the dashboard to use in another instance` is toggled on.**
+4. Download the file and replace the `./dashboards/server-slis.json` file with the updated copy. Ensure to update the title and UID of the updated dashboard to match the original:
+   ```json
+   {
+     "title": "Server SLIs",
+     "uid": "beg3u6ond4ydcb"
+   }
+   ```
+5. Commit the result and open a PR for the On-Prem team to review.
 
 ## Values
 

README.md.gotmpl

@@ -84,11 +84,13 @@ Secure Grafana by configuring credentials:
 ```yaml
 grafana:
   credentials:
+    # Directly set these for quick setups
     adminUser: "admin"
     adminPassword: "<your-secure-password-here>"
+
+    # For production, use a Kubernetes secret to manage credentials securely
     existingSecretName: "<your-secret-here>"
 ```
-> **_NOTE:_** Consider using Kubernetes secrets for dynamic credential management.
 
 #### Expose Grafana Externally
 
@@ -112,7 +114,25 @@ grafana:
     enabled: true
     storageClass: <your-custom-storage-class>
 ```
-> **_NOTE:_** Use a custom storage class with a 'Retain' policy to secure data integrity.
+> **_NOTE:_** Use a custom storage class with a 'Retain' policy to allow for data retention even after uninstalling the chart.
+
+### 8. Modifying or Adding Grafana Dashboards
+
+The default dashboards are located in the `dashboards` directory of the reference chart. To add new dashboards or modify existing ones, follow these steps.
+
+Dashboards are provisioned directly from CRDs, which means any manual edits will be lost upon a refresh. As such, the workflow outlined below is recommended for making changes:
+
+1. Create a copy of the dashboard by selecting **Edit** in the upper right corner, then **Save dashboard** -> **Save as copy**. After saving, navigate to the copy.
+2. Make your edits to the copy and exit edit mode.
+3. Select **Export** in the upper right corner and then **Export as JSON**. **Ensure that `Export the dashboard to use in another instance` is toggled on.**
+4. Download the file and replace the `./dashboards/server-slis.json` file with the updated copy. Ensure to update the title and UID of the updated dashboard to match the original:
+   ```json
+   {
+     "title": "Server SLIs",
+     "uid": "beg3u6ond4ydcb"
+   }
+   ```
+5. Commit the result and open a PR for the On-Prem team to review.
 
 {{ template "chart.valuesSection" . }}