Overview
Migrating dashboards from Kibana to SigNoz requires manual recreation due to fundamental differences in data storage (Elasticsearch vs ClickHouse) and query languages (KQL/Lucene vs ClickHouse SQL/PromQL).
This guide helps you translate your Kibana visualizations to SigNoz dashboards.
Prerequisites
- A SigNoz account (SigNoz Cloud or Self-Hosted).
- Access to your existing Kibana dashboards (for reference).
Migration Strategies
Using Dashboard Templates
SigNoz provides pre-built dashboard templates that match common use cases:
Find Template Browse the SigNoz Dashboard Templates repository to find a matching dashboard (e.g., Host Metrics, Kubernetes, Nginx, Redis).
Import Dashboard
- Navigate to Dashboards in SigNoz.
- Click + New Dashboard.
- Click Import JSON.
- Paste the JSON content or upload the file.
Creating Custom Dashboards
For custom Kibana dashboards, you'll need to recreate them in SigNoz.
- Identify Data Source: Determine if the panel visualizes logs, metrics, or traces.
- Translate Query: Convert the KQL/Lucene query to SigNoz Query Builder or ClickHouse SQL.
- Select Visualization: Choose the matching panel type in SigNoz.
Query Translation Guide
Use this table to translate common KQL/Lucene patterns to SigNoz queries.
| Query Task | Kibana (KQL/Lucene) | SigNoz (Query Builder/ClickHouse SQL) |
|---|---|---|
| Filter by field | status:200 | Builder: Filter status = 200SQL: attributes_string['status'] = '200' |
| Text search | message:"error" | Builder: Search bar "error" SQL: body ILIKE '%error%' |
| Boolean logic | env:prod AND level:error | Builder: Add multiple filters SQL: attributes_string['env']='prod' AND attributes_string['level']='error' |
| Existence check | _exists_:user_id | Builder: Filter user_id ExistsSQL: mapContains(attributes_string, 'user_id') |
| Range query | bytes:>1024 | Builder: Filter bytes > 1024SQL: attributes_int['bytes'] > 1024 |
| Aggregation | Count by status | Builder: Aggregate Count, Group By status |
| Percentiles | P99 latency | Builder: Aggregate P99, Select latency metric |
Feature Comparison
Panel Types
SigNoz supports most common panel types found in Kibana:
| Panel Type | Kibana | SigNoz | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time Series | ✓ | ✓ | Standard line/area charts |
| Bar Chart | ✓ | ✓ | Vertical/horizontal/stacked |
| Pie Chart | ✓ | ✓ | Proportional data |
| Table | ✓ | ✓ | Tabular data display |
| Metric/Stat | ✓ | ✓ | Single value display |
| Logs | ✓ | ✓ | List panel for raw logs |
| Traces | ✓ | ✓ | Dedicated APM views |
| Heat Map | ✓ | - | Use Time Series or Bar Charts |
| Tag Cloud | ✓ | - | Use Table or Bar Chart |
Infrastructure as Code (Terraform)
You can manage your dashboards as code using the SigNoz Terraform Provider. This allows you to version control your dashboards, similar to managing Kibana objects.
Validate
To confirm that your dashboards are migrated correctly:
- Navigate to Dashboards in SigNoz.
- Open your newly created dashboard.
- Verify that all panels are populating with data.
- Check that variables are working as expected.
Troubleshooting
Empty Charts
If your charts are empty:
- Check Data: Verify the metrics/logs are actually being received (use Explore view).
- Check Time Range: Ensure the dashboard time range covers existing data.
- Verify Filters: Check if filters are too restrictive or using incorrect attribute names.
Query Errors
If you see query errors:
- Syntax: Check ClickHouse SQL syntax if using custom queries.
- Attribute Types: Ensure you're accessing attributes correctly (e.g.,
attributes_stringvsattributes_int).
