Apache Pulsar joins Kafka in Splunk Data Stream Processor

Splunk crafted out its celebration streaming abilities with a new update, launched Wednesday, to its Data Stream Processor to convey in a lot more info for analysis on the Splunk system.

The DSP engineering is a foundational part of the information stability and celebration management vendor’s Data-to-Every thing method. The new release, DSP 1.1, incorporates a series of improvements together with superior integration to ingest info from Microsoft Place of work 365.

Pulsar vs . Kafka

The DSP update also positive aspects from Splunk’s October 2019 acquisition of streaming info seller Streamlio, a chief of the open up resource Apache Pulsar streaming info job. Pulsar is typically noticed as a rival to Apache Kafka, although the Splunk Data Stream Processor now integrates both equally technologies to help its celebration streaming abilities.

 “Although Kafka undoubtedly has the edge in excess of Pulsar in conditions of market existence and user traction, proponents argue that Pulsar’s decoupled architecture offers it with overall performance advantages in excess of Kafka, when it also offers sound information queueing and multi-tenancy operation,” reported Matt Aslett, research director at S&P World wide Marketplace Intelligence. “Like Kafka, Pulsar has also been expanding at a speedy tempo over and above very simple messaging.”

Although Kafka undoubtedly has the edge in excess of Pulsar in conditions of market existence and user traction, proponents argue that Pulsar’s decoupled architecture offers it with overall performance advantages in excess of Kafka, when it also offers sound information queueing and multi-tenancy operation.
Matt AslettResearch director, S&P World wide Marketplace Intelligence

Splunk is quite new to the stream processing specialized niche, but it has ambitions to push considerable enterprise from Data Stream Processor, over and above very simple integration and enterprise-extensive info shipping and delivery, with bigger emphasis on offering automated steps, Aslett mentioned.

Pulsar celebration streaming boosts Splunk DSP

Splunk has been busy integrating Apache Pulsar as a foundational ingredient for celebration stream processing and info collections, reported Josh Klahr, vice president of product or service management at Splunk.

“There are certain use cases the place Pulsar functions incredibly effectively when in comparison in opposition to Kafka,” he reported. “What Pulsar offers is slightly a lot more resilience for stateful positions.”

For instance, Klahr reported Pulsar is effectively-suited for a user executing a substantial-scale info lookup and executing enrichment on the stream. He argued that Pulsar is also typically superior than Kafka when there are latency challenges with a info relationship that could fall intermittently. With info interruptions, Pulsar can deal with latency by storing info on a node right until a relationship gets stable.

“Pulsar can make confident that there is a certain shipping and delivery of all the messages across the community,” Klahr reported.

Splunk DSP 1. experienced already integrated guidance for Kafka as an celebration streaming info engineering. With DSP 1.1, customers will now get the positive aspects of both equally Kafka and Pulsar, devoid of getting to decide on one particular or the other solely.

Screenshot of Splunk Data Stream Processor update
Screenshot of Splunk Data Stream Processor update

“The determination about what comes about in the again conclude is sort of abstracted absent when customers are building info pipelines,” Klahr reported. “You can find not a specific option that the user requires to make about how the processing is carried out.”

Splunk Data Stream Processor 1.1 updates

Beyond the Apache Pulsar integration, Klahr spelled out that Splunk’s goal for the new DSP release is to make info a lot more available.

A single of the info resources that is now a lot more available in DSP 1.1 is Microsoft Place of work 365. Splunk has experienced other methods of getting info from Microsoft Place of work 365, together with employing an agent as an endpoint info collector, Klahr mentioned. On the other hand, that method did not make it possible for for info manipulation, enrichment or alerting on the info coming from Place of work 365 as an celebration stream.

The sort of info that Splunk customers tend to pull from Place of work 365 incorporates audit logs for Active Directory, support standing information as effectively as info from the management API that can be handy for stability visibility.

“Now, with DSP 1.1, we’re offering a a lot more modern way to get that info from Place of work 365,” Klahr reported.