Using Grafana as an External Read Platform
Mirox provisions a ready-to-use Grafana for your data and connects it for you, so you can open a full charting workspace for any plant in one click — no separate Grafana login, install, or data-source setup. This guide walks you through reaching Grafana and reading your data; for what the embedding does behind the scenes, see Graph Visualization.
When to Use Grafana
Use Grafana when you want to explore the raw measurements behind the headline numbers — power curves, energy counters, weather inputs, and component-level signals — at whatever time range and resolution you choose.
- For computed performance roll-ups (production, losses, availability, specific yield), use the in-platform KPI views instead — Grafana plots the raw series, not pre-aggregated KPIs.
- To pull data out as CSV or JSON for spreadsheets and reports, use the Metric Export.
- To define a calculated figure of your own, create a metric of your organization. It is written in the query language the raw series in Grafana are read with.
Reads the Raw Metrics
The provisioned Grafana runs on the same raw collected metrics the platform records from your plants — high-frequency, multi-dimensional series — not the metrics of the collection, which the reports and the Metric Export read with a defined reading. That is exactly why it is the right tool for inspecting a signal in detail.
Names are not labels
The series carry component identities (inverter_id, gak_id, string_number), never the names given in Mirox — renaming a component in Mirox therefore changes nothing in Grafana, neither historically nor for new data. The current names reach a legend through the info series (powerplant_inverter_info …); the pattern is in Showing current component names.
Where Grafana Is Provisioned
Grafana is provisioned per portfolio. When you create a portfolio, its dashboards are set up automatically and become reachable straight away — you do not wait for a background sync, and you do not configure a data source.
Each plant you have access to is reachable through its portfolio's dashboard, scoped to that plant. You only ever see charts for the plants your role grants you; visibility follows the same permission rules as the rest of the platform.
That includes an organization's two-factor requirement. If the organization that owns a plant requires two-factor authentication (2FA) and your account has no second factor, its dashboards are not available to you. After you enable 2FA, Grafana follows within about an hour. See Organization Security Policy.
Available in Production
The Grafana link is active in the production environment. If you are working in a non-production environment, the link is shown but disabled.
Opening Grafana for a Plant
Grafana opens from the plant's navigation, scoped to the plant you have selected.
- Open the plant you want to chart.
Open in Mirox: service.mirox.io/#/monitor/solar/0/production - In the Site section of the sidebar, click Grafana.
- Grafana opens in a new browser tab, already signed in through your Mirox session and already showing the plant's overview dashboard.
No Second Login
Your Mirox session carries through to Grafana — there is no separate username, password, server URL, or token to enter before you can chart a plant.
Grafana Follows Your Mirox Sign-In
Grafana has no sign-in of its own. It is open for as long as your Mirox sign-in is, and it closes with it:
- When you sign out of Mirox, or your sign-in ends, an open dashboard stops loading data. Its panels show errors until you sign in to Mirox again and reopen the dashboard.
- How long a sign-in lasts is set by your organization. If your organization has set a 2FA re-check interval, an account with 2FA (authenticator app or passkey) is additionally asked to sign in again at that interval. See Organization Security Policy.
Wall Displays
A dashboard on a wall display that runs under a personal account is signed out when that account's sign-in ends. Someone then has to sign in on the display again. The Grafana that Mirox provides has no separate display account or token, so plan for this when you set up a screen that should run unattended.
Reading Your Data
The dashboard opens on the plant's overview view and gives you the standard Grafana toolkit applied to your plant metrics:
- Pick a time range — choose any window, then zoom and pan to the moment of interest.
- Adjust the resolution — view fine-grained raw samples for a power curve or coarser aggregates for long-term trends.
- Read exact values — hover or click a series to read the value at a point in time.
- Compare signals — plot metrics with different units (for example power against irradiance) together.
The dashboard arrives pre-scoped to the plant you opened it for, so production and the key signals for that installation are already in view.
Build Your Own Dashboards — Never Edit the Provided One
Portfolio Overview - <portfolio> is managed by Mirox and is replaced whenever a new template version is rolled out — any panel you add or query you change on it is lost. To customize, save a copy (Edit → Save as copy) or create a new dashboard in the portfolio's Grafana organization; copies and your own dashboards are never touched. How Grafana is structured per portfolio, who can edit, and how the platform's series have to be read to give correct numbers is covered in Building Your Own Grafana Dashboards. The purpose-built dashboards themselves are described in Graph Visualization.
Distinction From Related Surfaces
It is easy to confuse the places metric data shows up in Mirox. Each serves a different need:
| Surface | What it shows | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Provisioned Grafana | Raw and aggregated time-series in interactive charts, pre-connected to your plants | Investigating a signal in detail inside Mirox, with nothing to set up |
| Metrics | Figures your organization defines on the 15-minute series | Key figures of your own, in reports and exports |
| Metric Export | The metrics of the collection as CSV or JSON, at steps from 1 minute to a year | Pulling data out for spreadsheets, reports, or external tools |
Related Documentation
- Building Your Own Grafana Dashboards — portfolio structure, editor rights, the copy-don't-edit rule and how to read the series correctly
- Graph Visualization — how the embedded Grafana surface works and which dashboards are provided
- Metric Export — export any metric as a time series
- Metrics — define calculated figures of your own
- Organization Security Policy — how long a sign-in lasts and when 2FA is required
- Account Security FAQ — why you were signed out and why plants can be missing