Updating settings to allow Grafana email alerts

[jeffkruczynski]

Sorry for what's probably a basic question, but I'm hoping to update my current install to be able to send Grafana's email alerts.
It looks like I can uncomment the smtp items in grafana.env and add the right values. However, I'm wondering:

• Is this the right place? Grafana's alert setup references grafana.ini, which I don't see in /docker/Powerwall-Dashboard, which is why I'm assuming setting this in grafana.env is the right place.
• If so, once I've updated grafana.env, what's the best way to refresh to load the new settings? Do I need to stop / restart the container? (and if so, which one? grafana? pypowerwall?) Or, do I need to rebuild (reinstall)?
  Just trying to do this with minimal damage :-).
  Thank you!

[jasonacox]

Hi @jeffkruczynski !

Is this the right place? Grafana's alert setup references grafana.ini, which I don't see in /docker/Powerwall-Dashboard, which is why I'm assuming setting this in grafana.env is the right place.

Yes, that is correct. The powerwall.yml compose file sets grafana.env as the environmental variable file for the container.

# Uncomment and configure for mail relay for alert notifications
GF_SMTP_ENABLED=true
GF_SMTP_HOST=smtp-mail.outlook.com:587
GF_SMTP_USER=user@outlook.com
GF_SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS=user@outlook.com
GF_SMTP_PASSWORD=generatedapppassword

If so, once I've updated grafana.env, what's the best way to refresh to load the new settings?

You will need to stop, remove and rebuild the container:

docker stop grafana
docker rm grafana
./compose-dash.sh up -d

[jeffkruczynski]

Got it, thanks! And: will doing that remove all my historical data? It doesn't look like that'd touch influxdb, but just want to confirm.

[jasonacox]

Correct. Your data is in influxdb so it isn't impacted by this change. Also, as long as you don't remove the grafana directory, it will retain all the settings of Grafana, including the dashboard.

Also, forgot that compose would monitor the state of grafana.env so you don't need to stop or remove the container, compose will do that for you. So, just edit the grafana.env file and run:

./compose-dash.sh up -d

Should see:

Running Docker Compose...
pypowerwall is up-to-date
influxdb is up-to-date
telegraf is up-to-date
Recreating grafana ... 
Recreating grafana ... done

[jeffkruczynski]

Well...that all ran fine, but I ended up with some permissions errors when it restarted, and the container gets stuck at restarting — see below.
I see the thread here about this but for the life of me can't find any notes that I had to adjust this the first time around. So, I'll try to figure this out...

grafana
date stream content
2023-05-05T05:17:35.333180433Z stderr mkdir: cannot create directory '/var/lib/grafana/plugins': Permission denied

2023-05-05T05:17:35.333325623Z stdout "You may have issues with file permissions, more information here: http://docs.grafana.org/installation/docker/#migrate-to-v51-or-later
"
2023-05-05T05:17:35.331700861Z stdout GF_PATHS_DATA='/var/lib/grafana' is not writable.

2023-05-05T05:17:15.703133882Z stderr mkdir: cannot create directory '/var/lib/grafana/plugins': Permission denied

2023-05-05T05:17:15.701752111Z stdout "You may have issues with file permissions, more information here: http://docs.grafana.org/installation/docker/#migrate-to-v51-or-later
"
2023-05-05T05:17:15.700651394Z stdout GF_PATHS_DATA='/var/lib/grafana' is not writable.

2023-05-05T05:17:05.089600823Z stderr mkdir: cannot create directory '/var/lib/grafana/plugins': Permission denied

2023-05-05T05:17:05.088750335Z stdout "You may have issues with file permissions, more information here: http://docs.grafana.org/installation/docker/#migrate-to-v51-or-later
"
2023-05-05T05:17:05.087533692Z stdout GF_PATHS_DATA='/var/lib/grafana' is not writable.

2023-05-05T05:16:55.770492889Z stderr mkdir: cannot create directory '/var/lib/grafana/plugins': Permission denied

2023-05-05T05:16:55.770215497Z stdout "You may have issues with file permissions, more information here: http://docs.grafana.org/installation/docker/#migrate-to-v51-or-later
"
2023-05-05T05:16:55.768161891Z stdout GF_PATHS_DATA='/var/lib/grafana' is not writable.

2023-05-05T05:16:49.999884957Z stderr mkdir: cannot create directory '/var/lib/grafana/plugins': Permission denied

2023-05-05T05:16:49.997437420Z stdout "You may have issues with file permissions, more information here: http://docs.grafana.org/installation/docker/#migrate-to-v51-or-later
"
2023-05-05T05:16:49.996481043Z stdout GF_PATHS_DATA='/var/lib/grafana' is not writable.

2023-05-05T05:16:42.512642276Z stderr mkdir: cannot create directory '/var/lib/grafana/plugins': Permission denied

2023-05-05T05:16:42.512194481Z stdout "You may have issues with file permissions, more information here: http://docs.grafana.org/installation/docker/#migrate-to-v51-or-later
"
2023-05-05T05:16:42.510547306Z stdout GF_PATHS_DATA='/var/lib/grafana' is not writable.

2023-05-05T05:16:38.421719075Z stderr mkdir: cannot create directory '/var/lib/grafana/plugins': Permission denied

2023-05-05T05:16:38.420111301Z stdout "You may have issues with file permissions, more information here: http://docs.grafana.org/installation/docker/#migrate-to-v51-or-later
"
2023-05-05T05:16:38.419000072Z stdout GF_PATHS_DATA='/var/lib/grafana' is not writable.

2023-05-05T05:16:33.059521746Z stderr mkdir: cannot create directory '/var/lib/grafana/plugins': Permission denied

2023-05-05T05:16:33.059089202Z stdout "You may have issues with file permissions, more information here: http://docs.grafana.org/installation/docker/#migrate-to-v51-or-later
"
2023-05-05T05:16:33.051024868Z stdout GF_PATHS_DATA='/var/lib/grafana' is not writable.

2023-05-05T05:16:24.620870061Z stderr mkdir: cannot create directory '/var/lib/grafana/plugins': Permission denied

2023-05-05T05:16:24.219117976Z stdout "You may have issues with file permissions, more information here: http://docs.grafana.org/installation/docker/#migrate-to-v51-or-later
"
2023-05-05T05:16:24.218073573Z stdout GF_PATHS_DATA='/var/lib/grafana' is not writable.

[jeffkruczynski]

All set — found my notes and resolved the permissions issue per issue #22.
Thanks for the guidance!
Jeff