Installing the RMF for z/OS plugin on Grafana

You must install the IBM® RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin to analyze and visualize RMF Monitor III metrics and reports.

Before you begin

You must have completed the following tasks:

Installed RMF for z/OS 3.1 DDS and the functionality level must be 3650 or higher.
Installed Grafana 9.5.1 or later.

You must be familiar working with Grafana.

Procedure

To enable the RMF unsigned plugin to be loaded in Grafana you must perform one of the following options:
- Set the environment variable GF_PLUGINS_ALLOW_LOADING_UNSIGNED_PLUGINS to ibm-rmf,ibm-rmf-datasource,ibm-rmf-report.
- Set the value of allow_loading_unsigned_plugins to ibm-rmf,ibm-rmf-datasource,ibm-rmf-report in the [plugins] section of the defaults.ini file.

Choose any one of the methods described in the following table to install the RMF for z/OS plugin based on your requirements:

Methods	Step #
Installing the RMF for z/OS plugin in the Grafana stand-alone application.	Perform steps 3 and 4.
Installing the RMF for z/OS plugin along with Grafana within the Docker environment.	Perform steps 5 and 6.

Run the following command to install the plugin by using Grafana CLI:
```
grafana cli --pluginUrl https://github.com/IBM/RMF/releases/download/ibm-rmf-grafana/v<version>/ibm-rmf-grafana-<version>.zip plugins install ibm-rmf
```
Remember: You must replace the value of <version> for the pluginURL option to version number of the plugin to be installed.
Restart the Grafana server, and then go to step 7.
Run the following command to create a volume for storing the Grafana state:
```
docker volume create rmf-grafana-data
```
Run the following command to create and run a container:
```
docker run --name rmf-grafana --hostname rmf-grafana --detach --restart unless-stopped --volume rmf-grafana-data:/var/lib/grafana --publish 3000:3000 --env "GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS=https://github.com/IBM/RMF/releases/download/ibm-rmf-grafana/v<version>/ibm-rmf-grafana-<version>.zip;ibm-rmf" --env "GF_PLUGINS_ALLOW_LOADING_UNSIGNED_PLUGINS=ibm-rmf,ibm-rmf-datasource,ibm-rmf-report" <image>
```
Remember: You must replace the values of the following options in the command:
- <version> for the env option to the version number of the plugin to be installed.
- <image> to the version of the Grafana image to be used.
Note: zCX/zLinux images are available at Container Images for IBM Z and LinuxONE. Similarly, images of other required platforms are available at Docker Hub.
To enable the RMF for z/OS plugin on the Grafana UI, you must perform the following sub-steps:
1. Enter the URL of Grafana in your web browser.
2. Enter the username and password of Grafana on the sign-in page.
3. Go to Administration > Plugins.
  
  Note: The navigation of the user interface can differ based on the Grafana version that is currently installed.
4. Enter RMF in the Search bar on the Plugins page.
5. Click IBM RMF in the search results.
6. Click Enable.
  
  Note: After you install the IBM RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin, when you open IBM RMF on the Plugins page of Grafana UI, an Invalid plugin signature warning message is displayed.
Optional: Verify the signature of the IBM RMF Grafana plugin, which is signed with the GPG key, by performing the following sub-steps:
1. Download the PUBLIC_KEY.asc (GPG public key) file.
  The location of the file is as follows:
  https://github.com/IBM/RMF/blob/main/grafana/rmf-app/PUBLIC_KEY.asc
2. Follow the instructions in the Importing a public key section of the GPG user guide.
3. Download the IBM RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin (ibm-rmf-grafana-x.y.z.zip) and signature file (ibm-rmf-grafana-x.y.z.zip.asc) from https://github.com/IBM/RMF/releases.
4. Run the following command to verify the signature:
```
gpg --verify ibm-rmf-grafana-x.y.z.zip.asc ibm-rmf-grafana-x.y.z.zip
```
  Where x.y.z is the version number of the IBM RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin.
  
  For more information, refer to the GPG user guide.

Results

You have installed the IBM RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin. You can find the IBM RMF plugin listed under the Apps section.

What to do next

You can add an RMF data source to fetch data from Distributed Data Servers (DDS). See Creating RMF data sources.