bug: The recommended external.alert.source for Grafana does not work

[tropnikovvl]

Chart name and version
chart: victoria-metrics-k8s-stack
version: latest

Describe the bug
The documentation recommends adding these flags

./bin/vmalert \
    -external.url=http://<grafana-addr> \  # the hostname and port for Grafana 
    -external.alert.source='explore?left={"datasource":"VictoriaMetrics","queries":[{"expr":{{ .Expr|jsonEscape|queryEscape }},"refId":"A"}],"range":{"from":"{{ .ActiveAt.UnixMilli }}","to":"now"}}'

When I try to add them to the chart I get an error

Error: template: victoria-metrics-k8s-stack/templates/victoria-metrics-operator/vmalert/vmalert.yaml:17:9: executing "victoria-metrics-k8s-stack/templates/victoria-metrics-operator/vmalert/vmalert.yaml" at <include "vm.alert.spec" $ctx>: error calling include: template: victoria-metrics-k8s-stack/templates/_helpers.tpl:131:6: executing "vm.alert.spec" at <tpl (deepCopy (omit $Values.vmalert.spec "notifiers") | mergeOverwrite $vmAlertRemotes | mergeOverwrite $vmAlertTemplates | mergeOverwrite $spec | toYaml) .>: error calling tpl: cannot parse template "configMaps: []\ndatasource:\n url: http://vmsingle-release-name-victoria-metrics-k8s-stack.default.svc.cluster.local.:8429\nevaluationInterval: 20s\nexternalLabels: {}\nextraArgs:\n external.alert.source: explore?left={"datasource":"VictoriaMetrics","queries":[{"expr":"{{.Expr|jsonEscape|queryEscape}}","refId":"A"}],"range":{"from":"{{.ActiveAt.UnixMilli}}","to":"now"}}\n external.url: https://grafana.fofo.ro\n http.pathPrefix: /\n remoteWrite.disablePathAppend: "true"\nimage:\n tag: v1.111.0\nlicense: {}\nnotifiers:\n- url: http://vmalertmanager-release-name-victoria-metrics-k8s-stack-0.vmalertmanager-release-name-victoria-metrics-k8s-stack.default.svc.cluster.local.:9093\nport: "8080"\nremoteRead:\n url: http://vmsingle-release-name-victoria-metrics-k8s-stack.default.svc.cluster.local.:8429\nremoteWrite:\n url: http://vmsingle-release-name-victoria-metrics-k8s-stack.default.svc.cluster.local.:8429/api/v1/write\nselectAllByDefault: true": template: gotpl:7: function "jsonEscape" not defined

Custom values

external:
  grafana:
    host: grafana.fofo.ro

vmalert:
  enabled: true
  spec:
    extraArgs:
      external.url: https://grafana.fofo.ro
      external.alert.source: 'explore?left={"datasource":"VictoriaMetrics","queries":[{"expr":"{{.Expr|jsonEscape|queryEscape}}","refId":"A"}],"range":{"from":"{{.ActiveAt.UnixMilli}}","to":"now"}}'

[tiny-pangolin]

I ran into something similar recently with docker compose, does removing the ' at the beginning and end of the external.alert.source value work for you?

[tropnikovvl]

@tiny-pangolin unfortunately no

[AndrewChubatiuk]

looks like you need to escape template as first helm renders it and then it's rendered by vmalert

[tropnikovvl]

How can I do it?

[AndrewChubatiuk]

suppose it should be something like this

vmalert:
  spec:
    extraArgs:
      external.alert.source: 'explore?left={"datasource":"VictoriaMetrics","queries":[{"expr":"{{"{{"}}.Expr|jsonEscape|queryEscape{{"}}"}}","refId":"A"}],"range":{"from":"{{"{{"}}.ActiveAt.UnixMilli{{"}}"}}","to":"now"}}'

[tropnikovvl]

@AndrewChubatiuk thank you,
Maybe it makes sense to add this parameter by default in the chart, provided that an external Grafana is specified?
With the ability to override the datasource name

[tropnikovvl]

Hi @AndrewChubatiuk ,

I put the corrected line above, helm is deployed without problems, but the query button in the notification does not work

The link in the request looks like this, the notification is - AlertmanagerFailedToSendAlerts

https://grafana.example.com/explore?schemaVersion=1&panes=%7B%22mfb%22%3A%7B%22datasource%22%3A%22PA58DA793C7250F1B%22%2C%22queries%22%3A%5B%7B%22refId%22%3A%22A%22%2C%22expr%22%3A%22%22%2C%22range%22%3Atrue%2C%22instant%22%3Atrue%2C%22datasource%22%3A%7B%22type%22%3A%22prometheus%22%2C%22uid%22%3A%22PA58DA793C7250F1B%22%7D%7D%5D%2C%22range%22%3A%7B%22from%22%3A%22now-1h%22%2C%22to%22%3A%22now%22%7D%7D%7D&orgId=1