Start Splunk Observability Cloud free edition from Splunk Cloud Platform

Review the eligibility, role, and capability requirements before you request a Splunk Observability Cloud free edition from Splunk Cloud Platform.

You can start a Splunk Observability Cloud free edition directly from an eligible Splunk Cloud Platform environment. The self-service free edition lets you use your existing Splunk Cloud Platform data to explore observability use cases without manually creating and configuring a separate organization.

After you request the free edition, Splunk Cloud Platform provisions a Splunk Observability Cloud trial organization. You can then discover available log data, select an observability use case, and follow the guided instructions to configure data collection. Before you begin, review the requirements and permissions.

Prerequisites

Before you request a free edition, make sure that you meet the following requirements:

  • Your Splunk Cloud Platform environment is eligible for the self-service Splunk Observability Cloud free edition.
  • Your Splunk Cloud Platform environment doesn't already have an active Splunk Observability Cloud organization or subscription associated with it.
  • You have the sc_admin role in Splunk Cloud Platform.

Only users with the sc_admin role can initiate free edition provisioning from the Splunk Observability Cloud app.

Splunk Observability Cloud permissions

After your trial organization is provisioned, role-based access control determines which actions you can perform in Splunk Observability Cloud.

The following capabilities control access to the Freemium integration:

Capability Permission
CREATE_FREEMIUM_INTEGRATION Create a Freemium integration.
READ_FREEMIUM_INTEGRATION View a Freemium integration.
UPDATE_FREEMIUM_INTEGRATION Update a Freemium integration.
DELETE_FREEMIUM_INTEGRATION Delete a Freemium integration.

The predefined administrator role includes these capabilities. If you use a custom role, make sure that the role contains the capabilities required for the actions that you want to perform.

For more information, see Manage roles in Splunk Observability Cloud and Custom roles in Splunk Observability Cloud.

Request a Splunk Observability Cloud free edition

Use the Splunk Observability Cloud app to request a free edition from Splunk Cloud Platform.

Before you begin, review Splunk Observability Cloud free edition requirements and permissions. You must have the sc_admin role in Splunk Cloud Platform.

Note: If you don't have the sc_admin role, you cannot initiate free edition provisioning. Follow the instructions in the app to contact a Splunk Cloud Platform administrator who can request the free edition. After the free edition is provisioned, the actions that you can perform in Splunk Observability Cloud depend on the roles and capabilities assigned to you.
  1. Log in to Splunk Cloud Platform with an account that has the sc_admin role.
  2. Open the Splunk Observability Cloud app.
  3. Follow the prompts to request a Splunk Observability Cloud free edition.
  4. Provide the requested information.
  5. Select the option to start provisioning the free edition.

After you submit the request, the app displays the provisioning status:

  • Received: Your provisioning request has been received.
  • Provisioning: Your Splunk Observability Cloud trial organization is being prepared.
  • Ready: Your trial organization is ready to use.

When the status changes to Ready, follow the instructions in the app to continue to Splunk Observability Cloud. You might be prompted to verify your account or email address before accessing your trial organization.

After the trial is provisioned, your assigned Splunk Observability Cloud roles and capabilities determine which actions you can perform.

Discover available log data

After you activate your free edition, use Log Discovery to identify supported log data in your connected Splunk Cloud Platform environment.

Use Log Discovery to:

  • View available Splunk Cloud Platform indexes.
  • Identify log data that contains supported OpenTelemetry fields.
  • Identify supported observability use cases based on the available data.

The available use cases depend on the telemetry and configuration in your Splunk Cloud Platform environment.

Set up Kubernetes monitoring

Use the guided onboarding experience in your Splunk Observability Cloud trial to configure Kubernetes monitoring.

Before you begin, make sure that:

  • You have access to the Kubernetes cluster that you want to monitor.
  • Your Splunk Observability Cloud role has the capabilities required to configure the Freemium integration.
  • The required Kubernetes log data is available in your Splunk Cloud Platform environment.
  1. Verify that the required log data is available.
  2. Select Kubernetes as the use case.
  3. Select the Splunk Cloud Platform indexes that contain your Kubernetes data.
  4. Configure the integration.
  5. Follow the generated deployment instructions to configure the Splunk Distribution of the OpenTelemetry Collector for your Kubernetes environment.

After telemetry becomes available, use Splunk Observability Cloud to explore and monitor your Kubernetes environment.