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 10.0 or later.

You must be familiar working with Grafana.

Procedure

Set the value of allow_loading_unsigned_plugins to ibm-rmf-app,ibm-rmf-datasource,ibm-rmf-panel in the [plugins] section of your custom configuration file.

The default configurations for a Grafana installation are in the defaults.ini file.

The default location of the configuration file is as follows:

Operating systems	Default path to the configuration file
Windows®	WORKING_DIR/conf/defaults.ini
Linux®	/etc/grafana/grafana.ini
macOS®	/usr/local/etc/grafana/grafana.ini

For more information on the configuration file location, see Grafana documentation.

Note:

You can use the GF_PLUGINS_ALLOW_LOADING_UNSIGNED_PLUGINS environment variable to override allow_loading_unsigned_plugins.

Important:

When upgrading to v2.0.0 or later, the allow_loading_unsigned_plugins Grafana option must be updated with amended plugin names. Set the value to ibm-rmf-app,ibm-rmf-datasource.

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-app,ibm-rmf-datasource,ibm-rmf-panel" <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:
  If the Invalid plugin signature warning is displayed, the warning does not have any impact on the users.
Optional: To install the sample dashboards, perform the following sub-steps:
1. Go to IBM RMF App by selecting the Go to IBM RMF App option on the plugin configuration or the More Apps option from the sidebar menu.
2. On the IBM RMF App page, follow the instructions provided to manage the sample dashboard deployment.
  
  Note:
  Clicking Install creates a folder with a reserved UID and the sample dashboards are added to the folder. Neither the folder nor dashboards are owned by the plugin and can be managed by users.
  
  Important:
  After the installation is complete, you may need to reload the page to see the folders under the Dashboards section.

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.