How to Keep your Grafana Windows Service Running 24/7 with Service Protector

Grafana is a popular open-source observability platform with AI capabilities. It can be installed as a Windows Service, to start automatically whenever your computer boots:

But that's just the start. To achieve 100% uptime, add a watchdog that constantly monitors Grafana and quickly jumps in if something goes wrong. That's what Service Protector does.

To monitor & protect the Grafana Windows Service with Service Protector:

1. Download and install Service Protector, if necessary.

2. Start Service Protector.

3. Select Protector > Add to open the Add Protector window:

   

4. On the General tab, in the Service to protect field, select the Grafana Windows Service:

   

5. Next, let's set up a web server health check. With that in place, Service Protector will restart Grafana if errors out.

   1. Switch to the Monitor tab. Check the Whenever it fails a periodic sanity check box and click the Set button:

      

   2. In the Add Sanity Check window, select the Check that a web server is responding properly option and click Next to proceed:

      

   3. Enter the URL that Service Protector should monitor.

      We kept it simple by providing the Grafana root page (http://localhost:3000):

      

      Click Next to continue.

   4. Specify how often Service Protector should fetch the URL. The default of every 5 minutes should be fine but you can check more often if you like.

      After you're done, click Next to move on:

      

   5. And finally, confirm your settings:

      

      If everything looks good, click Add to record your new sanity check and return to the Monitor tab.

6. Click the Save button to record your settings. In a few seconds, a new entry will appear in the Service Protector window.

   The green shield means that Service Protector is already actively monitoring Grafana to detect failures:

   

7. That's it! Next time your computer boots, Grafana will start automatically and Service Protector will babysit the service to promptly restart it if it terminates for any reason.

   We encourage you to edit your Grafana entry in Service Protector and browse through the many other settings that may be appropriate for your environment.

   For example, send an email when the service fails, schedule a regular restart to cure memory leaks, and much more.

Trouble protecting the Grafana Windows Service?

• From Service Protector, select Protector > Report Activity > Today to bring up an HTML report detailing the interaction between Service Protector and Grafana.

• Browse the Service Protector FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions and troubleshooting tips.

• Contact us and we will be happy to help!