Install Grafana and configure the TimescaleDB data source

Install and configure Grafana

In this section, you install Grafana on a SUSE Arm64 virtual machine, access its web interface, and connect it to TimescaleDB. Grafana acts as the visualization layer that queries TimescaleDB and displays time-series data in dashboards.

This setup enables real-time monitoring and analytics of sensor data stored in TimescaleDB.

    

        
        
Python Sensor Ingest Script
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TimescaleDB (PostgreSQL)
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Grafana Dashboard

    

Install Grafana on SUSE

Grafana is available via RPM packages and works natively on Arm64.

    

        
        
cd $HOME
sudo zypper addrepo https://rpm.grafana.com grafana
sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper install -y grafana

    

Enable and start Grafana

    

        
        
sudo systemctl start grafana-server
sudo systemctl enable grafana-server

    

Verify the service is running:

    

        
        
sudo systemctl status grafana-server

    

The output is similar to:

    

        
        ● grafana-server.service - Grafana instance
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/grafana-server.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2026-02-17 08:57:45 UTC; 1h 31min ago

        
    

Access the Grafana web UI

Open your browser and navigate to:

    

        
        
http://<VM-PUBLIC-IP>:3000

    

Default login credentials

You will be prompted to change the password on first login. Provide and save off a new password. Re-login if needed using the new password:

Grafana login page

You will be presented with the main dashboard for Grafana:

Grafana main dashboard

Add TimescaleDB as a data source

Step 1: Open data sources

From the Grafana sidebar, navigate to Connections → Data sources → Add data source.

Step 2: Choose PostgreSQL

Select PostgreSQL (TimescaleDB is PostgreSQL-compatible).

Add PostgreSQL data source

Step 3: Configure connection settings

Fill the form exactly as below:

PostgreSQL data source settings

Scroll down and select Save & Test.

You should see “Database connection OK.”

Grafana PostgreSQL data source save and test

What you’ve accomplished and what’s next

In this section, you:

• Installed Grafana on SUSE Arm64 and started the service
• Accessed the Grafana web UI and updated the default password
• Connected Grafana to TimescaleDB as a PostgreSQL data source

In the next section, you’ll create a live dashboard to visualize real-time sensor temperature data.