An Azure service used to deploy Grafana dashboards for analytics and monitoring solutions.
Hello Sam O'Reilly
The Azure DevOps data source plugin is a Grafana Enterprise plugin it is not a free/core plugin. You must first enable Grafana Enterprise on your Azure Managed Grafana instance before it will appear in the Plugin management list.
Step 1 – Enable Grafana Enterprise on your AMG instance
Grafana Enterprise on AMG is offered as an Azure Marketplace add-on subscription. Once enabled, Enterprise plugins (including Azure DevOps) become installable via the AMG Plugin management blade.
Step 2 – Install the Azure DevOps plugin from the Azure portal
In AMG, plugin installation is not done from the Grafana UI or Azure CLI, it must be done from the Azure portal:
- Open your AMG instance in the Azure portal (
arm-a5cwajgch8ebeebv). - In the left menu, select Plugin management.
- Locate Azure DevOps (plugin ID:
grafana-azuredevops-datasource) in the list. - Check the box next to it and click Save.
- Confirm with Yes. Wait for the success message.
Reference: How to manage plugins in Azure Managed Grafana – Microsoft Learn
Step 3 – Configure the Azure DevOps data source
Once installed, log in to your Grafana instance (https://arm-a5cwajgch8ebeebv.eus.grafana.azure.com/) and:
- Go to Connections → Data sources → Add data source → Azure DevOps.
- Provide:
- Organization URL:
https://dev.azure.com/<your-org>- Personal Access Token (PAT) with read scopes for the pipelines you want to monitor (e.g.,
Build (Read),Release (Read),Code (Read),Work Items (Read),Project and Team (Read)).
- Personal Access Token (PAT) with read scopes for the pipelines you want to monitor (e.g.,
- Organization URL:
- Click Save & test.
Reference: Azure DevOps data source – Grafana docs
Step 4 – Use the pre-built dashboards for CI/CD monitoring
The plugin ships with two pre-built dashboards you can import:
| Dashboard | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Project overview | Summary of projects, repositories, builds, and pipelines |
| Repository overview | Repository details incl. pull request activity |
Import via: Connections → Data sources → your Azure DevOps DS → Dashboards tab → Import.
Supported CI/CD APIs used by the plugin include Pipelines – List, Pipelines Runs – List, Build Definitions – List, Builds – List, Release Definitions – List, Releases – List, Release Deployments – List.
Step 5 (Optional) – Add deployment annotations via Azure DevOps Service Hooks
To overlay pipeline/release deployment events onto your Grafana dashboards:
- Go to Azure DevOps project → Project settings → Service hooks.
- Create subscription → Grafana.
- Choose event Release deployment completed and set optional filters (release pipeline, stage, status).
- Provide your Grafana URL and a Grafana API token.
- Test → Finish.
Reference: Create a service hook for Grafana – Azure DevOps – Microsoft Learn
Known limitations to be aware of:
- Alerting is not supported by the Azure DevOps data source plugin.
- Template variables do not support multi-select — single selection only.
- Third-party/Enterprise plugins have their own release cadence and security posture — Microsoft recommends evaluating them for compliance before installing.
Official Microsoft/Grafana references:
- Manage plugins in Azure Managed Grafana
- Enable Grafana Enterprise on AMG
- Azure DevOps data source plugin docs (Grafana)
- Grafana service hook for Azure DevOps deployments
Thanks,
Suchitra.