Install Grafana on AWS at Low Cost

Installing Grafana on AWS at minimal cost (i.e., "rent-to-cost" or budget-conscious deployment) can be done using a lightweight EC2 instance and leveraging free or open-source configurations. Here's a step-by-step guide:

How to Install Grafana on AWS at Low Cost

Requirements

• AWS Account

• Basic knowledge of EC2 and Linux commands

• SSH client or AWS Cloud Shell

Step 1: Launch a Low-Cost EC2 Instance

• Log in to the AWS Management Console.

• Go to EC2 → Launch Instance.

• Choose the Amazon Linux 2 AMI or Ubuntu Server (20.04 or later).

• Select an Instance Type:

  • Use t2.micro or t3.micro (eligible for Free Tier) or spot instances for extra savings.

• Configure storage (8–10 GB is usually enough).

• Add a security group with inbound rules:

  • SSH (port 22) — your IP

  • HTTP (port 80)

  • Grafana (port 3000)

• Launch the instance and download the key pair.

  
  

  

  
  

Step 2: Connect and Install Grafana

1. SSH into your instance:

   bash

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   ssh -i your-key.pem ec2-user@your-ec2-public-ip

2. Update packages:

   bash

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   sudo yum update -y # For Amazon Linux

3. Install Grafana:

   bash

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   sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/grafana.repo<<EOF [grafana] name=grafana baseurl=https://packages.grafana.com/oss/rpm repo_gpgcheck=1 enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=https://packages.grafana.com/gpg.key EOF sudo yum install grafana -y

   For Ubuntu:

   bash

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   sudo apt-get install -y software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository "deb https://packages.grafana.com/oss/deb stable main" wget -q -O - https://packages.grafana.com/gpg.key | sudo apt-key add - sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install grafana -y

   
   

   

   
   
   
   
   
   

Step 3: Start and Enable Grafana

bash

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sudo systemctl daemon-reexec sudo systemctl start grafana-server sudo systemctl enable grafana-server

Step 4: Access Grafana Web UI

1. Open a browser and go to:

   cpp

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   http://<EC2-Public-IP>:3000

2. Login with default credentials:

   • Username: admin

   • Password: admin (you’ll be prompted to change it)

   
   
   
   

Tips to Keep Costs Low

• Free Tier: Use t2.micro if eligible.

• Spot Instances: For non-critical use, they’re up to 90% cheaper.

• Stop Instance when not in use.

• Use Grafana OSS (Open Source Edition): No license cost.

• Monitor usage via AWS Budgets.

Optional: Add Prometheus or CloudWatch as Data Source

• Prometheus can be installed similarly and used to monitor local services.

• AWS CloudWatch can be added directly via the CloudWatch data source plugin.