On July 4th we celebrate. We celebrate freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, removal of excessive taxation, and much, much more. But what about digital independence? Removing the tyrannical yoke of control over your observability data. Authoritarian vendors restrict access and movement; they dictate proprietary formatting and even limit what can be commingled with your data, then apply enormous tax burdens (i.e. license fees) just to store your data.

It’s time for a new revolution, á la Boston Harbor 250 years ago. Back then it was tea being restricted and regulated, now it’s your data, your Tea-lemetry data, your securi-Tea data, and your observabili-Tea data that they want to control!

Ok, ok, maybe I got a little carried away there, but the premise is valid. You collect enormous amounts of observability data from your systems, however, once it is collected and forwarded to the various systems of analysis we tend to lose control of it, paying high license fees that lock your data into proprietary systems with no easy way out. I think that last one is actually covered by #6 in the Bill of Rights, the ‘protection from unreasonable searches and seizures’, but I digress.

Your data is coming from thousands, even 10s of thousands of sources, different formats (text, binary, JSON, …), and the final destination is a half dozen or more analysis systems, all with their own agents, formats, and security restrictions, and license limits. Data independence is about agnostic search tools that can query the raw data in place and then identify and route just the data you need, the actionable data. Sending this data to your choice of analysis systems or through Cribl’s Stream pipeline for additional shaping, filtering, and enriching, then routing the output to the different systems, formatted specifically for them. Now your ITOps, SecOps, DevOps, and other teams get exactly what they need and nothing more. Oh, and by the way you can also branch off a full-fidelity copy of the raw data to the storage system of your choosing for compliance or just in case. Now that’s freedom, that’s data independence.

So check out my on-demand webinar as I walk you through data’s digital journey, from open access, with limited analysis, to restricted access with greatly improved analysis, to what’s available today. To butcher ole Ben’s quote, “Giving up data freedom for greater security analysis, get neither.” Truth is there is no single answer, but there are best practices and choices, that is what I will cover so click here to watch.

Cribl is all about choice, so wherever your data comes from, wherever it needs to go, and whatever existing systems of analysis you are using, Cribl can optimize your data handling. We provide the freedom and flexibility that allows you to make the best choices for your needs, not compromises.

And if you want to make sure you are always in the loop for the latest information on all things observability data, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, or via our Slack Community.

Cribl, the Data Engine for IT and Security, empowers organizations to transform their data strategy. Customers use Cribl’s suite of products to collect, process, route, and analyze all IT and security data, delivering the flexibility, choice, and control required to adapt to their ever-changing needs.

We offer free training, certifications, and a generous free usage plan across our products. Our community Slack features Cribl engineers, partners, and customers who can answer your questions as you get started. We also offer a hands-on Sandbox for those interested in how companies globally leverage our products for their data challenges.