json structured logging output for grafana-operator

[ak185158]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Currently, it appears the logging output of grafana-operator is semi-structured, but does not appear to conform to any standardized log format structure, lending to the need to configure a custom parser when processing logs. Grafana provides such a configuration option via logs.console/format, but I could not locate a similar configuration option within grafana-operator.

(If applicable)If your feature request solves a bug please provide a link to the community issue

Describe the solution you'd like

Providing the ability to enable a fully structured and standards compliant log output such that logs can be processed without the need for special consideration specific to a particular container.

https://betterstack.com/community/guides/logging/log-formatting/

Describe alternatives you've considered
Poked around the project and did not see any options to enable structured json output logging.

Additional context

grafana-operator log output

2024-08-30T00:17:02Z	INFO	GrafanaDashboardReconciler	found matching Grafana instances for dashboard	{"controller": "grafanadashboard", "controllerGroup": "grafana.integreatly.org", "controllerKind": "GrafanaDashboard", "GrafanaDashboard": {"name":"cluster-and-node-status-dashboard","namespace":"grafana"}, "namespace": "grafana", "name": "cluster-and-node-status-dashboard", "reconcileID": "f1f1cead-a925-4eac-86f1-5b191b4e2cbb", "count": 1}
2024-08-30T00:17:02Z	INFO	GrafanaDashboardReconciler	found matching Grafana instances for dashboard	{"controller": "grafanadashboard", "controllerGroup": "grafana.integreatly.org", "controllerKind": "GrafanaDashboard", "GrafanaDashboard": {"name":"cluster-and-node-status-dashboard","namespace":"grafana"}, "namespace": "grafana", "name": "cluster-and-node-status-dashboard", "reconcileID": "de408fac-460d-4efa-b178-5d487673f4d4", "count": 1}
2024-08-30T00:17:03Z	INFO	GrafanaDashboardReconciler	found matching Grafana instances for dashboard	{"controller": "grafanadashboard", "controllerGroup": "grafana.integreatly.org", "controllerKind": "GrafanaDashboard", "GrafanaDashboard": {"name":"ctlfish-metrics-dashboard","namespace":"grafana"}, "namespace": "grafana", "name": "ctlfish-metrics-dashboard", "reconcileID": "b7686243-6f39-4e54-9c6a-504d1da7f4ea", "count": 1}

grafana log output configured for json formatting

{"duration":"23.60596ms","handler":"/api/v1/ngalert/admin_config","level":"info","logger":"context","method":"GET","msg":"Request Completed","orgId":1,"path":"/api/v1/ngalert/admin_config","referer":"https://dev1.edge-preprod.dev/grafana/alerting/admin","remote_addr":"104.129.205.128","size":59,"status":404,"status_source":"server","t":"2024-08-29T23:23:38.475133067Z","time_ms":23,"uname":"edge-grafana-admin","userId":1}
{"duration":"118.512241ms","level":"info","logger":"cleanup","msg":"Completed cleanup jobs","t":"2024-08-29T23:31:18.660370958Z"}
{"duration":"77.53366ms","level":"info","logger":"plugins.update.checker","msg":"Update check succeeded","t":"2024-08-29T23:31:18.778848751Z"}
{"duration":"73.213704ms","level":"info","logger":"cleanup","msg":"Completed cleanup jobs","t":"2024-08-29T23:41:18.614352634Z"}
{"duration":"95.26784ms","level":"info","logger":"plugins.update.checker","msg":"Update check succeeded","t":"2024-08-29T23:41:18.796069251Z"}

Existing solutions
https://github.com/grafana/grafana/blob/main/pkg/infra/log/log.go

[theSuess]

You can use the -zap-encoder command line argument to instruct the operator to log as JSON.

If you need this to be part of the helm chart, we're happy to review any PR regarding this topic

[ak185158]

Thanks, I believe that will work for us. Might be worth mentioning in the docs in case anyone else has a similar question w/ regards to the log output formatting. Much obliged!