DOC-1381: Add Load Factor dashboard monitoring page (26.2) by Feediver1 · Pull Request #1815 · redpanda-data/docs

Feediver1 · 2026-07-21T14:40:58Z

Description

Documents the 26.2 "Redpanda - Load Factor" Grafana dashboard (ENG-540): a new Self-Managed monitoring page covering the load-factor concept (live utilization vs. estimated instance capacity), the metric families behind it, import and panel-reading guidance, and limitations.

Resolves DOC-1381.

Key content decisions (all source-verified; see the delta review on DOC-1381)

Leads with the internal-metrics prerequisite: the dashboard queries vectorized_* series exclusively (112 refs, zero redpanda_* in the JSON) — the public-metrics variant was an unshipped stretch goal (Stephan Dollberg, ENG-540 2026-06-29). Customers scraping only /public_metrics can't use it without adding internal-endpoint scraping.
enable_host_metrics facts (default true, restart required, tunable) verified at the v26.2.1-rc3 tag; instance_metrics.cc confirmed present in the release.
No hand-edits to generated reference partials: instance_*/host_metrics_info/io_queue_config_* reference entries arrive via the 26.2 metrics regen (avoiding the regen-clobber problem).
No single load_factor metric exists — stated explicitly with a NOTE, since the feature title suggests otherwise.

⚠️ Verify before merge (DRAFT-VERIFY comments in source)

Dashboard distribution — the import procedure assumes users take single-load-factor.json from the redpanda repo. @travis-downs pinged on DOC-1381 (2026-07-21); adjust if it ships via a published bundle or Console instead.
Load-factor computation semantics — the concept description is derived from the dashboard structure and ENG-540; the panels are SDK-generated composites, so the exact formula needs SME confirmation.

Cloud

Self-Managed only by verified scope (ENG-908 Cloud UI indicator unbuilt; cloudv2 has zero load-factor surface). The Cloud twin is DOC-2315. This page is not single-sourced, so no env gating is needed.

Preview pages

Monitor Cluster Load with the Load Factor Dashboard (new — verified rendering in this preview, including the internal-metrics prerequisite and nav entry)

Checks

New feature
Content gap
Support Follow-up
Small fix (typos, links, copyedits, etc)

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

New how-to for the 26.2 "Redpanda - Load Factor" Grafana dashboard (ENG-540): what load factor is (live utilization vs estimated instance capacity), the internal-metrics-endpoint prerequisite (the dashboard queries vectorized_* series only; the public-metrics variant was an unshipped stretch goal), the instance-capacity and host-OS metric families behind it, import + panel-reading guidance, and limitations (nominal vendor capacity figures; unrecognized instance types emit no capacity gauges). Facts verified against v26.2.1-rc3 (enable_host_metrics default/restart/ visibility, instance_metrics.cc presence) and the dashboard JSON on dev (112 vectorized_ refs, 0 redpanda_; panel inventory). DRAFT-VERIFY markers cover the two facts pending engineering: dashboard distribution (Travis Downs pinged on DOC-1381) and the exact load-factor computation semantics. Metrics reference entries for instance_*/host_metrics_info/ io_queue_config_* arrive via the 26.2 metrics regen, not hand-edits. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

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coderabbitai · 2026-07-21T14:41:07Z

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✨ Finishing Touches

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Commit unit tests in branch DOC-1381-load-factor-dashboard

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…rted guide Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

travisdowns

A few source-verification fixes from cross-checking against the dashboard spec and the shipped single-load-factor.json. Three inline suggestions below: two scoping the instance-type-capacity claim (it only applies to disk and network), and one correcting the network metric attribution.

travisdowns

One more: the I/O scheduler subfactor is a per-resource panel section but isn't called out anywhere on the page. Adding it to this enumeration closes the gap (connections is already here).

Co-authored-by: Travis Downs <travis.downs@gmail.com>

Feediver1 · 2026-07-24T20:39:33Z

// DRAFT-VERIFY (DOC-1381): Dashboard distribution is unconfirmed with engineering
// (Travis Downs pinged 2026-07-21): repo import vs published bundle vs Console.
// The import procedure below assumes users take the JSON from the redpanda repo.
// Also confirm the exact load-factor computation semantics before publishing;
// the description below is concept-level, derived from the dashboard structure
// and ENG-540.

^^ Will go in post-GA when available.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Feediver1 requested a review from a team as a code owner July 21, 2026 14:40

Feediver1 requested a review from travisdowns July 21, 2026 14:51

Link the Grafana prerequisite to the Grafana + Prometheus getting-sta…

f5f0689

…rted guide Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

travisdowns reviewed Jul 23, 2026

View reviewed changes