Part 2 - OpenTelemetry: No Strings (agents) Attached

Hello again, fellow Observers! As promised, following up on my previous article with the highly anticipated Part 2 :) In this post, I will share some thoughts on what it means to have OTel-native observability with Splunk and how it enables engineering organizations to recognize the full breadth of OpenTelemetry without requiring the use of a proprietary agent.??

Before diving in, here is a brief summary of Part 1: OpenTelemetry has evolved into a foundational component for modern observability, where it democratizes data collection, drives standardization, facilitates portability, and helps organizations avoid vendor lock-in. While most observability vendors provide great functionality for OTel, practically all of them still require the use of their proprietary agent in order for customers to experience enterprise-grade functionality, automation, correlation, and out-of-the-box capabilities - using OTel without these vendors’ proprietary agent will result in a loss of capabilities and a more manual configuration process. Start embracing OTel today, prepare to shift away from running proprietary agents in tandem as your observability vendor matures their support & integration capabilities.?

OpenTelemetry-Native

So, what does Splunk mean when we say “we’re OTel-native!”? In short, Splunk Observability Cloud delivers 100% of its functionality without requiring the use of a proprietary agent (plus a ton of other benefits that optimize the experience). We have consistently been the #1 contributor to the OTel project and continue to employ a number of the initiative’s founding members!?

We’re able to achieve this largely through the Splunk Distribution of OpenTelemetry paired with a cloud-native backend architecture that was designed for collecting & processing data from OTel. Simply put, The Splunk OpenTelemetry Distribution is a comprehensive, pre-configured toolkit built on top of the OTel standard, designed to collect and send observability data to Splunk Observability Cloud. This distribution simplifies instrumentation by packaging and configuring OpenTelemetry components, making it easier for developers and operators to monitor applications and infrastructure with minimal setup.

Here are the benefits of using Splunk Observability alongside the Splunk Distribution of OTel:

• No Proprietary Agent: See above and below :)
• Native, production-ready support for OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) – no gimmicks.?
• Complete auto-instrumentation capabilities – metrics, traces, logs, and even your weekend plans if you’re into that kind of thing.
• Seamless correlation across the board – we tie metrics, traces, logs, and events together like a detective working a 90s crime thriller (e.g. automatic injection of trace metadata into application logs)
• Extensive pre-built receivers – so you’re not spending your nights writing configs from scratch.
• Built-in aggregation – because why would you want to manually roll up metrics?
• Comprehensive tagging support – filter and analyze data like a pro (bonus when paired with our unlimited cardinality)?
• Simplified configuration & documentation: Pre-configured settings to optimize setup, along with frequently updated docs and pre-packaged data visualizations
• Additional custom features: automatic collection of application & JVM metrics, AlwaysOn profiling, enhanced HTTP server instrumentation, and plenty of others
• Compatibility with the Splunk Platform: For current Splunk Enterprise or Cloud Platform users, the Splunk Distribution can be deployed as an add-on, leveraging existing deployment tools and processes
• Out-of-the-Box Dashboards & Full Feature Set - No compromise!?No separate dashboards.

Let’s Get Real

Here’s the kicker: whether you’re an engineer trying to convince the higher-ups that observability is important (spoiler alert: it is) or a decision-maker looking to optimize your tech stack, you don’t need the extra complexity of proprietary agents to get full functionality. Splunk says, “Why add more moving parts when you can have it all in one solution, without vendor lock-in?”

No proprietary agent means fewer headaches, fewer resources consumed, easier migration across vendors down the road and a clearer path to understanding your system’s performance in real time.

In Conclusion

While OpenTelemetry provides a strong foundation for observability, the level of integration and functionality will vary significantly across vendors. Splunk Observability stands out by offering full functionality without requiring a proprietary agent, so that customers get the full benefit of OTel without compromise. Other major vendors, even leaders in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, require their agents for enterprise-grade observability features.?

Organizations should carefully consider their observability needs and evaluate the trade-offs between using pure OpenTelemetry setups and incorporating vendor-specific agents. The decision will depend on factors such as required features, existing infrastructure, and the desire for vendor independence versus platform-specific capabilities. As OpenTelemetry continues to evolve, the community is hopeful to see more vendors enhancing their support for agent-less setups, potentially narrowing these functionality gaps in the future.