diff --git a/benchmark/Grafana-dashboard.json b/benchmark/Grafana-dashboard.json
index 718216cf7..195df7b24 100644
--- a/benchmark/Grafana-dashboard.json
+++ b/benchmark/Grafana-dashboard.json
@@ -1,35 +1,4 @@
 {
-  "__inputs": [
-    {
-      "name": "DS_PROMETHEUS",
-      "label": "prometheus",
-      "description": "",
-      "type": "datasource",
-      "pluginId": "prometheus",
-      "pluginName": "Prometheus"
-    }
-  ],
-  "__elements": {},
-  "__requires": [
-    {
-      "type": "grafana",
-      "id": "grafana",
-      "name": "Grafana",
-      "version": "11.5.1"
-    },
-    {
-      "type": "datasource",
-      "id": "prometheus",
-      "name": "Prometheus",
-      "version": "1.0.0"
-    },
-    {
-      "type": "panel",
-      "id": "timeseries",
-      "name": "Time series",
-      "version": ""
-    }
-  ],
   "annotations": {
     "list": [
       {
@@ -68,7 +37,7 @@
     {
       "datasource": {
         "type": "prometheus",
-        "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+        "uid": "${datasource}"
       },
       "fieldConfig": {
         "defaults": {
@@ -154,7 +123,7 @@
         {
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus",
-            "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+            "uid": "${datasource}"
           },
           "disableTextWrap": false,
           "editorMode": "builder",
@@ -174,7 +143,7 @@
     {
       "datasource": {
         "type": "prometheus",
-        "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+        "uid": "${datasource}"
       },
       "fieldConfig": {
         "defaults": {
@@ -261,7 +230,7 @@
         {
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus",
-            "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+            "uid": "${datasource}"
           },
           "disableTextWrap": false,
           "editorMode": "code",
@@ -277,7 +246,7 @@
         {
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus",
-            "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+            "uid": "${datasource}"
           },
           "editorMode": "code",
           "expr": "100 * sum(increase(firewood_cache_freelist{type=\"hit\"}[$__rate_interval])) by (name) / sum(increase(firewood_cache_freelist[$__rate_interval])) by (name)",
@@ -307,7 +276,7 @@
     {
       "datasource": {
         "type": "prometheus",
-        "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+        "uid": "${datasource}"
       },
       "fieldConfig": {
         "defaults": {
@@ -394,7 +363,7 @@
           "refId": "A",
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus",
-            "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+            "uid": "${datasource}"
           }
         }
       ],
@@ -404,7 +373,7 @@
     {
       "datasource": {
         "type": "prometheus",
-        "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+        "uid": "${datasource}"
       },
       "fieldConfig": {
         "defaults": {
@@ -491,7 +460,7 @@
         {
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus",
-            "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+            "uid": "${datasource}"
           },
           "editorMode": "code",
           "expr": "irate(firewood_remove[$__rate_interval])",
@@ -504,7 +473,7 @@
         {
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus",
-            "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+            "uid": "${datasource}"
           },
           "editorMode": "code",
           "expr": "sum(irate(firewood_insert{merkle!=\"update\"}[$__rate_interval]))",
@@ -517,7 +486,7 @@
         {
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus",
-            "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+            "uid": "${datasource}"
           },
           "editorMode": "code",
           "expr": "irate(firewood_insert{merkle=\"update\"}[$__rate_interval])",
@@ -547,7 +516,7 @@
     {
       "datasource": {
         "type": "prometheus",
-        "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+        "uid": "${datasource}"
       },
       "fieldConfig": {
         "defaults": {
@@ -629,7 +598,7 @@
         {
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus",
-            "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+            "uid": "${datasource}"
           },
           "disableTextWrap": false,
           "editorMode": "code",
@@ -649,7 +618,7 @@
     {
       "datasource": {
         "type": "prometheus",
-        "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+        "uid": "${datasource}"
       },
       "fieldConfig": {
         "defaults": {
@@ -732,7 +701,7 @@
         {
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus",
-            "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+            "uid": "${datasource}"
           },
           "editorMode": "code",
           "expr": "node_memory_Dirty_bytes",
@@ -748,7 +717,7 @@
     {
       "datasource": {
         "type": "prometheus",
-        "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+        "uid": "${datasource}"
       },
       "fieldConfig": {
         "defaults": {
@@ -839,7 +808,7 @@
           "refId": "A",
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus",
-            "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+            "uid": "${datasource}"
           }
         }
       ],
@@ -849,7 +818,7 @@
     {
       "datasource": {
         "type": "prometheus",
-        "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+        "uid": "${datasource}"
       },
       "fieldConfig": {
         "defaults": {
@@ -946,7 +915,7 @@
           "refId": "A",
           "datasource": {
             "type": "prometheus",
-            "uid": "${DS_PROMETHEUS}"
+            "uid": "${datasource}"
           }
         }
       ],
@@ -958,7 +927,18 @@
   "schemaVersion": 40,
   "tags": [],
   "templating": {
-    "list": []
+    "list": [
+      {
+        "includeAll": false,
+        "label": "Data Source",
+        "name": "datasource",
+        "options": [],
+        "query": "prometheus",
+        "refresh": 1,
+        "regex": "",
+        "type": "datasource"
+      }
+    ]
   },
   "time": {
     "from": "now-1h",
diff --git a/benchmark/setup-scripts/install-grafana.sh b/benchmark/setup-scripts/install-grafana.sh
index 36e05c81e..829fd22d2 100644
--- a/benchmark/setup-scripts/install-grafana.sh
+++ b/benchmark/setup-scripts/install-grafana.sh
@@ -46,6 +46,46 @@ if ! grep -q '^http_port = 80$' /etc/grafana/grafana.ini; then
   perl -pi -e 's/^;?http_port = .*/http_port = 80/' /etc/grafana/grafana.ini
 fi
 
+# configure username and password
+# TODO(amin): auto-generate some password for more security
+# TODO(amin): another possible option here is enabling google oauth, and this could give access
+# to anyone within our org emails
+sed -i -E "s|^;?\s*admin_user\s*=.*|admin_user = admin|" /etc/grafana/grafana.ini
+sed -i -E "s|^;?\s*admin_password\s*=.*|admin_password = firewoodisfast|" /etc/grafana/grafana.ini
+
+# provision data source and dashboards
+cat > /etc/grafana/provisioning/datasources/prometheus.yml <<EOF
+apiVersion: 1
+datasources:
+ - name: Prometheus
+    type: prometheus
+    access: proxy
+    orgId: 1
+    url: http://localhost:9090
+    isDefault: true
+    editable: true
+EOF
+
+cat > /etc/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/dashboards.yaml <<EOF
+apiVersion: 1
+providers:
+  - name: 'files'
+    orgId: 1
+    folder: 'Provisioned'
+    type: file
+    disableDeletion: false
+    editable: true
+    options:
+      path: /var/lib/grafana/dashboards
+      foldersFromFilesStructure: true
+EOF
+
+# add firewood's dashboard and also node exporter full
+mkdir -p /var/lib/grafana/dashboards
+# TODO(amin): replace this with script dir
+wget -O /var/lib/grafana/dashboards/firewood.json https://github.com/ava-labs/firewood/raw/refs/heads/main/benchmark/Grafana-dashboard.json
+wget -O /var/lib/grafana/dashboards/node_exporter_full.json https://grafana.com/api/dashboards/1860/revisions/latest/download
+
 # configure prometheus to scrape firewood
 if ! grep -q '^  - job_name: firewood$' /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml; then
   cat >> /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml <<!