Skip to main content

Dashboards - Tutorial: Expose your Dashboards instance in your private network via a reverse proxy NGINX

Stephanie R.
Updated

Learn how to expose your managed Dashboards to the internet through the configuration of an NGINX instance in reverse proxy mode.

Cloud Analytics can be deployed over a public network (internet) or private network. When using a private network, you don't have access by default to monitoring tools we provide as a service, like Cloud Analytics with Dashboards (metrics) or OpenSearch™ (logs).

 

Schema concept:

diagram_exposeDashboardsNGINX.png

NOTE: OVHcloud provides services for which you are responsible for their configuration and management. You are therefore responsible for their proper functioning.

This tutorial is designed to help you as much as possible with common tasks. If you are having difficulty performing these actions, please contact a specialized service provider. OVHcloud cannot provide you with technical support in this regard.

 

Requirements

If you need more details on the private network configuration, use this guide.

 

Instructions

Create a new instance in your vRack

This guide can help you create a new instance in your vRack.

For this tutorial, we will use an Ubuntu 22.10 image to install NGINX.

Log in to your OVHcloud Control Panel and create a new compute instance in your vRack. If you need to expose your Reverse Proxy to a public network, please select the IP Floating address option.

 

Install NGINX

Once you have access to your new instance, update your system and install NGINX:

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade
sudo apt install nginx

Check if your NGINX service is installed and running correctly:

sudo systemctl status nginx

 

Configure NGINX

Regarding the NGINX configuration, we are going to follow the official Grafana® documentation.

Create a configuration file in the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ file:

# this is required to proxy Grafana Live WebSocket connections.
map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
  default upgrade;
  '' close;
}

# this is upstream grafana. You can use dns name
upstream grafana {
  server your-grafana-12345abc-12345abc.database.cloud.ovh.us:443;
}

server {
  listen 443 ssl;
  ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/your_certificate.crt;
  ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/your_certificate.key;

  location / {
    proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
    proxy_pass https://grafana;
  }

  # Proxy Grafana Live WebSocket connections.
  location /api/live/ {
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection $connection_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
    proxy_pass https://grafana;
  }
}

Be careful, replace the hostname of the Grafana® server your-grafana-12345abc-12345abc.database.cloud.ovh.us:443 with your own.

Also, update the certificates and SSL key. If necessary, you can create them for testing purposes or in a non-productive environment using the following commands:

sudo mkdir /etc/nginx/ssl
sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/nginx/ssl/your_certificate.key -out /etc/nginx/ssl/your_certificate.crt

Finally, reload NGINX.

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Now the NGINX is configured in reverse proxy mode.

 

IP Packet forwarding

To redirect traffic from your Public IP to your Private IP, uncomment the following line in /etc/sysctl.conf to enable packet forwarding for IPv4:

net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

Then force the system to reload the kernel variables:

sudo sysctl -p

 

Connect to your managed Dashboards

Connect to your https reverse proxy server with your browser (accept the SSL certificate if needed). You now have access to your predefined or customized dashboards.

grafana_dashboardMetrics.png

 

Go further

For more information and tutorials, please see our other Managed Databases & Analytics or Platform as a Service guides. You can also explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.

OVHcloud Managed Databases and Analytics:

  • Grafana® is a registered trademark of Grafana Labs and is used with the permission of Grafana Labs. OVH SAS and its subsidiaries are not affiliated with or endorsed by Grafana Labs.
  • Kafka® is a registered trademark of The Apache Software Foundation and has been licensed for use by OVHcloud, who has no affiliation with and is not endorsed by The Apache Software Foundation.
  • MongoDB® is a registered trademark of MongoDB, Inc.
  • MySQL® is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
  • PostgreSQL® is a registered trademark of the PostgreSQL Community Association of Canada.

Related articles