How to install and manage plugins

There are different methods for installing plugins. You learned how to install some plugins in Chapter 4, Data Sources for Grafana. In this chapter, you will learn the general procedures.

First, let’s see how to install a plugin on your own server.

Installing a Grafana plugin on your server

There are two methods for installing a plugin in a Grafana instance: the Grafana CLI and manual installation.

Installing a plugin with the Grafana CLI

The easiest method for installing a plugin is using the Grafana CLI. With this tool, you can install, upgrade, and remove plugins.

Let’s see all the available commands.

This command installs the latest version of a plugin:

$ grafana-cli plugins install <the-plugin-id>

This command specifies the version to install:

$ grafana-cli plugins install <the-plugin-id> <version>

This one lists the plugins available for installing:

$ grafana-cli plugins list...