How to Manage Grafana Access Groups for Team Control

Grafana Access Groups: A Smarter Way to Manage Dashboard Permissions

Managing team access in Grafana can be tricky—especially as your organization grows. That’s where Grafana access groups (also known as Limited Access Groups in Hosted Graphite) come in. They allow you to define groups of dashboards and restrict which team members can access them.

If you’re using Hosted Graphite with Grafana dashboards, this feature helps you organize teams, maintain data privacy, and simplify access control—all while giving users just the permissions they need.

What Are Grafana Access Groups?

Grafana access groups let you limit which dashboards specific users or teams can view or edit.
By default, every team member in your Hosted Graphite account can see all dashboards. Once you enable Limited Access Groups, however, each user can only view dashboards assigned to their group.

This is especially useful for large teams, MSPs, or companies that manage multiple clients or projects within the same Hosted Graphite environment.

Pro Tip: Limited Access Groups aren’t enabled by default. Contact the Hosted Graphite team to activate them for your account.

How to Manage Users and Access Groups

Step 1: Open the User Management Page

Go to Access → Teams to see all users and their assigned Limited Access Groups.
To assign a group to a user:

1. Click the drop-down next to their name.

2. Select the desired access group.

3. Hit Save Changes to apply updates.

Removing a group is as simple as clicking the “x” beside its name.

Step 2: Create or Edit Grafana Access Groups

Head to the Group Management Page by selecting Manage Limited Access Groups.

Here, you’ll find all existing groups along with options to:

• Edit group details

• Delete a group

• Create a new one

When creating a new access group, choose a name and select the dashboards you want that group to control. You can update this list later anytime.

Once created, return to User Management to assign the group to specific team members.

Access Rules by Role

Different user roles behave differently when Limited Access Groups are active:

Team Managers / Account Owners

• Always have access to all dashboards.

• Can create and manage access groups.

• Cannot be restricted by group settings.

Read-Only Users

• Can be assigned to one or more groups.

• See only dashboards within their assigned groups.

• Cannot create or save dashboards.

Read/Write Users

• Can also be assigned to one or more groups.

• See and edit dashboards within those groups.

• When they create a new dashboard, everyone in the same group automatically gains access.

⚙️ Even with a direct access key, users cannot open dashboards outside their assigned groups. To share externally, use Grafana’s snapshot-sharing feature instead.

Why Use Grafana Access Groups?

Implementing Grafana access groups improves both security and usability:

• Enhanced Security: Restrict access to sensitive dashboards.

• Better Team Organization: Separate dashboards by department, client, or project.

• Simplified Management: Quickly assign or remove access without editing each dashboard manually.

• Role-Based Control: Combine with Grafana roles for a granular access model.

FAQs

Q1: What are Grafana access groups?
Grafana access groups (Limited Access Groups in Hosted Graphite) let admins control which dashboards specific users can access.

Q2: How do I enable Limited Access Groups in Hosted Graphite?
This feature is not enabled by default. Contact Hosted Graphite support to turn it on for your account.

Q3: Can I assign multiple access groups to a user?
Yes. Read-only and read/write users can belong to multiple access groups.

Q4: What’s the difference between read-only and read/write users?
Read-only users can view dashboards; read/write users can also edit and create dashboards within their assigned groups.

Q5: Do managers have restricted access?
No. Team Managers and Account Owners always have full access to all dashboards.

Final Thoughts

Grafana access groups bring much-needed control to multi-user environments. By setting up Limited Access Groups in Hosted Graphite, you ensure that every team member only sees what they need—nothing more, nothing less.

This improves security, reduces clutter, and keeps your data workflows organized.

Need this feature enabled? Contact Hosted Graphite support to get started.