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Scrape downpipes backup-health metrics into Splunk Observability

Splunk Observability Cloud reads downpipes’ backup-health metrics through the Prometheus /metrics scrape. Its OTLP metrics endpoint accepts protobuf payloads only, so the JSON body this engine’s OTLP push sends does not reach it. Point the Splunk Distribution of the OpenTelemetry Collector at the scrape endpoint instead, using its prometheus receiver.

This page is Splunk Observability Cloud, which watches backup-health metrics. It is a different product from the Splunk SIEM covered on the Splunk audit-forwarding page, which forwards the audit trail. Set up whichever one you actually run.

What you need

  • A running Splunk Distribution of the OpenTelemetry Collector, with your Splunk Observability realm and access token set for its output.
  • Owner access to the downpipes console to mint a read-only metrics token.

Set it up

  1. In the console, open Integrations, choose this vendor’s tile, and mint a read-only token in the metrics scrape scope there. Copy the secret once; note the metrics URL shown next to it, which is your console origin plus /metrics.
  2. In your Collector configuration, add a prometheus receiver whose scrape target is the metrics URL, with the minted token as a bearer credential in the scrape config.
  3. Wire that receiver into the metrics pipeline that already exports to Splunk Observability through the signalfx exporter, then restart the Collector.
  4. In Splunk Observability, confirm the downpipe_* metrics arrive and build a detector on downpipe_backup_last_success_timestamp_seconds against each downpipe’s cadence budget.
  5. If you do not already export metrics via the signalfx exporter, set that up first in your Collector distribution’s own documentation; this page only covers pointing an existing pipeline at the downpipes /metrics scrape.
  6. If Cloudflare Access fronts your console hostname, an unattended scrape is turned away at the edge before the engine ever sees the bearer, whatever credential it carries. Carve a path-scoped Access exemption over /metrics before pointing the Collector’s prometheus receiver at it. The full remedy is on the /metrics endpoint.

Good to know

  • Splunk Observability’s OTLP metrics endpoint accepts protobuf only, so the direct OTLP push (which this engine sends as JSON) does not reach it. The Collector’s prometheus receiver scraping /metrics is the route that works; the per-vendor OTLP table is on OTLP metrics push.
  • Do not confuse this with the Splunk SIEM page. This one watches backup-health metrics from Splunk Observability, whereas that one forwards the hash-chained audit trail to Splunk Enterprise or Cloud. Full scrape mechanics are on the /metrics endpoint.

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