A Beginner’s Guide Observability splunk

A Beginner’s Guide to Observability

With IT infrastructure growing more complex by the day, observing the entire architecture is far more difficult now. Developers are also taking greater ownership of knowing what’s going on for a better customer experience. To do this effectively, they need complete visibility into the architecture.

Check out this guide to observability.

Inside, you will get to explore:

What observability is and what it takes to achieve it

Examples of observability in action

What to look for in a solution to help your organization achieve observability

Take your first steps toward achieving complete observability when you download your copy now!

LAST UPDATED: September 21, 2015

Splunk Inc., a Delaware corporation with a principal place of business at 250 Brannan Street, San Francisco, California, and its affiliates and subsidiaries (collectively, “Splunk”) makes information, products, and services available on this website (the “Site”), subject to the following terms and conditions of use (“Terms”). Before using this Site, please read these Terms carefully. Throughout the Terms, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Splunk, and “you” or “your” refer to you personally (i.e., the individual who reads and agrees to be bound by these Terms), and, if you access this Site on behalf of a corporation or other legal entity, you and such corporation or other legal entity on whose behalf you access the Site.

1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS

By using the Site, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not use the Site. Splunk provides the information, products and services on the Site to you, conditioned upon your acceptance, without modification, of the Terms contained herein. Your use of the Site constitutes your agreement with such Terms.

We reserve the right to change these Terms, in whole or in part, in our own discretion at any time. You can determine when these Terms were last revised by referring to the “LAST UPDATED” legend at the top of these Terms. Such modifications shall be effective immediately upon the linking of modified Terms to the Site, and, if you possess an account through the Site for which you have provided an e-mail address (“Account”), by communicating the modifications to you either

(i) when you log in to the Site or

(ii) by sending the modifications to the e-mail address that you have provided to us.

You agree to comply with, and be bound by, any such modifications

(i) by continuing to use or access the Site after modified Terms are posted to the Site or

(ii) if you possess an Account, by not requesting to terminate your Account within seven (7) days after receiving a notice of modifications as described above.

In addition, your use of a particular Splunk service may be subject to specific guidelines or rules (“Service-specific Rules”) posted from time to time and incorporated by this reference into the Terms. If you do not accept our Terms or any Service-specific Rules, you should refrain from accessing the Site and its services. If we change any Service-specific Rules, we will post the changed version on the location where those Service-specific Rules normally appear, reference the change on the primary page for that service and include a link to the previous version of the terms or rules.

Splunk reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Site or any service (or any part thereof). Splunk shall not be liable to any user or other third party for any such modification, suspension or discontinuance except as expressly provided herein.

2. U.S.-BASED WEBSITE

The Site is controlled and operated by Splunk from the United States, and, except as expressly set forth herein, is not intended to subject Splunk to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than that of the United States. Splunk does not represent or warrant that the Site or any part thereof is appropriate or available for use in any particular jurisdiction other than the United States. In choosing to access the Site, you do so on your own initiative and at your own risk, and are responsible for complying with all local laws, rules and regulations. You are also subject to U.S. export controls and are responsible for any violations of such controls, including any U.S. embargoes or other federal rules and regulations restricting exports. Splunk may limit the Site’s availability, in whole or in part, to any person, geographic area or jurisdiction Splunk chooses, at any time and in Splunk’s sole discretion. By using the Site, you hereby certify that you are not (a) a citizen or permanent resident of any country on which the United States has embargoed goods, technology and/or services (e.g., Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, or Crimea), and (b) on any of the relevant U.S. Government Lists of prohibited or restricted persons, including but not limited to the Treasury Department's List of Specially Designated Nationals, and the Commerce Department's List of Denied Persons or Entity List, and that your use of Splunk products and services is in compliance with the applicable U.S. export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations. For further information on the export controls and sanctions laws see, https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.htm and https://www.treasury.gov/about/organizational-structure/offices/Pages/Office-of-Foreign-Assets-Control.aspx.

3. REGISTRATION

You may be required to register with Splunk in order to access certain areas of the Site. In the course of registration, you must:

(a) provide true, accurate, current and complete information on the registration form and

(b) maintain and promptly update such registration information as necessary.
If, after investigation, we have reasonable grounds to suspect that any user's information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, we may suspend or terminate that user's account and prohibit any and all current or future use of the Site (or any portion thereof) by that user. You may not use a user name (or e-mail address) that is already being used by someone else; that may be construed as impersonating another person; that belongs to another person; that violates the intellectual property or other rights of any person; that is offensive; or that Splunk rejects for any other reason in its sole discretion. Your user name and password are for your personal use only, and not for use by any other person. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any password you may use to access the Site, and agree not to lend or transfer your password or user name, or lend or otherwise transfer your use of or access to the Site, to any third party. You are fully responsible for all interactions with the Site that occur in connection with your password or user name. You agree to notify Splunk immediately of any unauthorized use of your password or user name or any other breach of security related to your account or the Site, and to ensure that you “log off”/exit from your account with the Site (if applicable) at the end of each session. Splunk is not liable for any loss or damage arising from a user's failure to comply with this Section, including any loss or damage arising from any user's failure to

(a) immediately notify Splunk of any unauthorized use of his or her password or account or any other breach of security and

(b) ensure that he or she “logs off”/exits from his or her account at the end of each session.

4. PROPRIETARY RIGHTS; LICENSE GRANTS

4.1. Software. Any software that is made available to download by or through this Site (“Software”) is the copyrighted work of Splunk, its suppliers and/or its licensors. Your rights to access, download, and use any Software made available for download from the Site will be subject to your agreement to the terms and conditions of the software license agreement identified on the site and/or in the Software (each, a “License Agreement”). You may not install any Software that is accompanied by or includes a License Agreement unless you have agreed to the applicable License Agreement. Except to the extent expressly permitted in any applicable License Agreement, or expressly authorized under applicable law overriding any of the following restrictions, you agree that you will not sell, lease, lend, convey, transmit, modify, adapt, translate, prepare derivative works from, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or attempt to derive source code from the Software. Any reproduction, redistribution or other use or exploitation of the Software not in accordance with the License Agreement and/or these Terms is expressly prohibited by law, and may result in civil and criminal penalties.

4.2. Content. Unless otherwise specifically noted, the information, content, data, text, graphics, images, videos, documents and other materials made available through the Site (“Content”) are and shall remain the property of Splunk, its licensors and/or suppliers, and are protected by copyright, trademark, patent, and/or other proprietary rights and laws. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, solely for so long as you are permitted by Splunk to access and use the Site, and provided that you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices, you may

(a) view any Content on any single computer solely for personal, informational, non-commercial purposes, and

(b) download and print the materials that Splunk specifically makes available for downloading (such as white papers or user documentation) from this Site solely for personal, informational, non-commercial purposes, provided that such Content may not be modified or altered in any way. Unless otherwise specifically permitted for any particular Content, you may not use, download, upload, copy, print, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, post, transmit, rent, lease, modify, loan, sell, distribute, or create derivative works based on, the Site or any Content, in whole or in part, without the express prior written authorization of Splunk.

4.3. Community Content. Your rights to access, use, copy and distribute any user and community-generated information or content (including other users’ Contributions, as defined below, or third-party apps or content made available on apps.splunk.com, dev.splunk.com or answers.splunk.com, collectively “Community Content”) is subject to the relevant terms and conditions or license agreement attached to such Community Content. If there are no specific terms and conditions or license agreement attached to such Community Content, the licenses and restrictions under Section 4.2 above will apply.

4.4. Proprietary Rights. Elements of the Site are protected by copyright, trade dress, trademark, unfair competition, and/or other laws and may not be copied or imitated in whole or in part. No logo, graphic, sound, or image from the Site may be copied or retransmitted unless expressly permitted in writing by Splunk. Nothing contained on the Site should be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel or otherwise, any license or right to use any of Splunk’s or its suppliers’ trade names, trademarks or service marks without Splunk’s express prior written consent. “Splunk” and other Splunk logos, trademarks, service marks, and product and service names are the intellectual property of Splunk.

5. INFORMATION SUBMITTED THROUGH THE SITE

Your submission of information through the Site is governed by Splunk’s Privacy Policy (the “Privacy Policy”) and is hereby incorporated into these Terms by this reference. By accepting these Terms you agree to our collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described in the Privacy Policy.

You represent and warrant that any information that you provide in connection with your use of the Site is and shall remain true, accurate, and complete, and that you will maintain and update such information regularly. You agree that if any information that you provide is or becomes false, inaccurate, obsolete or incomplete, Splunk may terminate your use of the Site.

Unless otherwise specifically agreed to by you and Splunk, by uploading, e-mailing, posting, publishing or otherwise transmitting information, sample data, event types, tags, comments, suggestions, content or other materials to the Site or Splunk (each a “Contribution”), you hereby acknowledge that such Contribution is non-confidential and automatically grant (or warrant that the owner of such rights has expressly granted) to Splunk a perpetual, irrevocable, world-wide, non-exclusive, sublicensable, fully paid-up and royalty-free license to use, make, have made, offer for sale, sell, copy, distribute, perform, display (whether publicly or otherwise), modify, adapt, publish and transmit such Contributions in any form, medium, or technology now known or later developed, and to grant to others rights to do any of the foregoing. In addition, you warrant that all so-called moral rights in the content have been waived. For each Contribution, you represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary for you to grant the licenses granted in this Section, and that such Contribution, and your provision thereof to and through the Site, comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations.

Splunk will not pre-screen or review Contributions, but Splunk reserves the right to refuse or delete any Contributions in its discretion. You acknowledge and agree that Splunk reserves the right (but has no obligation) to do one or more of the following in its discretion, without notice or attribution to you:

(i) monitor Contributions as well as your access to the Site;

(ii) alter, remove, or refuse to post or allow to be posted any Contribution; and/or

(iii) disclose any Contributions, and the circumstances surrounding their transmission, to any third party in order to operate the Site, in order to protect Splunk, its suppliers or licensees and their respective employees, officers, directors, shareholders, affiliates, agents, representatives, and the Site’s users and visitors; to comply with legal obligations or governmental requests; to enforce these Terms; or for any other reason or purpose.
Splunk disclaims any responsibility for the Contributions displayed on its Site. Splunk assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, mis-delivery or failure to store any Contributions or other user information or personalization settings.

Splunk does not control the Community Content posted on the Site and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Community Content. Under no circumstances will Splunk be liable in any way for any Community Content, including, but not limited to, liability for any errors or omissions in any content or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of such content. By using the Site, you may be exposed to Community Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. You must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of such content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such content.

6. PURCHASES

If you wish to purchase our products and services, for your convenience, we may provide links on the Site to a web store or e-commerce platform where you can make such purchases. Please be aware that the web store or e-commerce platform may be hosted, operated or managed by a third party, and may be governed by such third party’s website terms and conditions and privacy policy. We encourage you to read carefully those third-party terms and conditions and privacy policy prior to making any purchases. These Terms do not govern, and we are not responsible or liable for, your interaction with such third-party managed web store or e-commerce platform.

7. RULES OF CONDUCT

While using the Site you will comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. In addition, Splunk expects users of the Site to respect the rights and dignity of others. Your use of the Site is conditioned on your compliance with the rules of conduct set forth in this Section; any failure to comply may also result in termination of your access to the Site pursuant to Section 13 (Termination). You agree that you will not:

Post, transmit, or otherwise make available, through or in connection with the Site:
Anything that is or may be (a) threatening, harassing, degrading or hateful; (b) defamatory; (c) fraudulent or tortious; (d) obscene, indecent or otherwise objectionable; or (e) protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right without the express prior written consent of the owner of such right.
- Any material that would give rise to criminal or civil liability or that encourages conduct that constitutes a criminal offense.
- Any virus, worm, Trojan horse or other computer code, file, or program that is harmful or invasive or may or is intended to damage or hijack the operation of any hardware or software.
- Any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letter,” “pyramid scheme” or investment opportunity, or any other form of solicitation.
- Use the Site for any fraudulent or unlawful purpose.
- Harvest or collect personally identifiable information about other users of the Site.
- Impersonate any person or entity, including any representative of Splunk; falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity; or express or imply that Splunk endorses any statement you make.
- Interfere with or disrupt the operation of the Site or the servers or networks used to make the Site available; or violate any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of such networks.
- Restrict or inhibit any other person from using the Site (including by hacking or defacing any portion of the Site).
- Use the Site to advertise or offer to sell or buy any goods or services without Splunk’s express prior written consent.
- Reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or otherwise exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion of, use of, or access to the Site (including any content, Software and other materials available through the Site).
- Modify, adapt, create derivative works of, translate, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of the Site (including any content, Software and other materials available through the Site), except as and solely to the extent expressly authorized under applicable law overriding any of these restrictions.
- Remove any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notice from the Site or content, Software and other materials originating from the Site.
- Frame or mirror any part of the Site without Splunk’s express prior written consent.
- Create a database by systematically downloading and storing all or any Site content.
- Use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application or other manual or automatic device to retrieve, index, “scrape,” “data mine” or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Site, without Splunk’s express prior, written consent.

8. LINKS

You may find links to other websites on the Site. Those links will let you leave Splunk’s site. Splunk exercises no control whatsoever over such third-party websites and any contents or web-based resources found on those third-party sites and is not responsible or liable for the availability thereof or the content, advertising, products or other materials thereon or any updates or changes thereto. Splunk is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Splunk of any linked sites. Splunk shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss incurred or suffered by any user in connection therewith. Your access and use of those websites, including your use of any content, information, data, advertising, products, or other materials on or available through such websites, is solely at your own risk is subject to the terms and conditions of use and privacy policy(ies) applicable to such sites and resources. The Splunk Privacy Policy is applicable only when you are on the Site. Once you choose to be directed to another website, you should read that website’s privacy statement before disclosing any personal information.

9. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

YOUR USE OF THE SITE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE SITE AND ANY CONTENT, INFORMATION, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES MADE AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. SPLUNK AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS AND LICENSORS HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THIS SITE OR ANY INFORMATION, CONTENT, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES CONTAINED THEREIN, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. SPECIFICALLY, SPLUNK MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT (I) THE SITE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (II) ANY USER ACCESS TO THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE OR ERROR-FREE, (III) THE QUALITY OF ANY CONTENT, PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION OR OTHER MATERIAL OBTAINED THROUGH THE SITE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AND (IV) ANY ERRORS IN THE SOFTWARE WILL BE CORRECTED. THE SITE, THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE AND THE INFORMATION, CONTENT, SOFTWARE, DOCUMENTS, AND RELATED GRAPHICS PUBLISHED ON THIS SITE COULD INCLUDE TECHNICAL INACCURACIES, ERRORS, OR OMISSIONS. THE DISCLAIMERS OF WARRANTY AND LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY APPLY, WITHOUT LIMITATION, TO ANY DAMAGES OR INJURY CAUSED BY THE FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INTERRUPTION, DELETION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, COMPUTER VIRUS, COMMUNICATION LINE FAILURE, THEFT OR DESTRUCTION OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO, ALTERATION OF OR USE OF ANY ASSET, WHETHER ARISING OUT OF BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORTIOUS BEHAVIOUR, NEGLIGENCE OR ANY OTHER COURSE OF ACTION BY SPLUNK.

10. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

IN NO EVENT SHALL SPLUNK AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS/LICENSORS AND ITS AND THEIR OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR THIS AGREEMENT INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA, PROFITS OR OTHER INTANGIBLES, LOSS OF SECURITY OF INFORMATION YOU HAVE PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SITE (HOWEVER ARISING, INCLUDING CONTRACT, EQUITY, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION) EVEN IF ADVISED IN ADVANCE OF SUCH DAMAGES OR LOSSES. THE MAXIMUM LIABILITY OF SPLUNK AND OUR OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND LICENSORS/SUPPLIERS TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTIES IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE SHALL BE THE TOTAL AMOUNT, IF ANY, PAID BY YOU TO SPLUNK TO ACCESS AND USE THE SITE. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

11. RELEASE

In the event that you have a dispute with one or more Site users, you release Splunk (and our officers, directors, agents and employees) from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes. If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code 1542, which says: “A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor.”

12. INDEMNITY

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless Splunk, its licensors/suppliers and their respective officers, directors, employees and agents from any and all claims (including without limitation any proceeding, investigation or claim by a self-regulatory organization, state or federal securities agency or commission), demands, damages, costs and liabilities, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or in connection with: (1) any of your Contributions, including an assertion that the information, content, or other materials or services provided or made available by you or the use thereof, may infringe any copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights of any individual or entity, or misappropriate any individual or entity's trade secret, or contain any libelous, defamatory, disparaging, pornographic, or obscene materials; (2) any breach by you of your obligations under these Terms including the Rules of Conduct set forth in Section 7; (3) your unlawful and/or unauthorized use of, or activities in connection with this Site. The foregoing indemnities shall survive expiration or termination of these Terms.

13. TERMINATION

Splunk may, in its sole discretion, at any time for any reason or no reason, terminate your access to this Site and any account(s) you may have in connection with this Site, including if Splunk believes that you have violated or acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of these Terms or if it is required by applicable law, regulation, court or governing agency order.

Our termination of any user’s access to the Site hereunder may be effected without notice and, on such termination, we may immediately deactivate or delete user’s account and/or bar any further access to such files, and your right to use the Site will immediately cease. Splunk shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your access to the Site or account hereunder.

14. CLAIMS OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

Splunk respects the intellectual property rights of others and asks that the people who use the Site do the same. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under U.S. copyright law. If you believe in good faith that materials available on the Site infringe your copyright, you (or your agent) may send Splunk a notice requesting that we remove the material or block access to it. If you believe in good faith that someone has wrongly filed a notice of copyright infringement against you, the DMCA permits you to send Splunk a counter-notice. Notices and counter-notices must meet the then-current statutory requirements imposed by the DMCA. See https://www.copyright.gov/ for details. Notices and counter-notices should be sent to:

Copyright Agent
Splunk Inc.
250 Brannan St
San Francisco, CA 94107
[email protected]
+1 415.848.8400

We encourage you to consult your legal advisor before filing a notice or counter-notice.

15. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS.

Some of the information on this Site may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of Splunk. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. Such statements include those that (a) use the words “believes,“ “expects,“ “anticipates,“ “estimates“ or words of similar importance or meaning; (b) are specifically identified as forward-looking; (c) describe any of Splunk’s plans, objectives or goals for future operations and products; or (d) concern the characteristics and growth of Splunk’s markets or customers or Splunk’s expected liquidity and capital resources. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include economic, competitive, governmental and technological influences affecting Splunk’s operations, markets, products, services and prices. Further information on potential factors that could affect the actual financial results of Splunk are included in Splunk’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission; specifically, Splunk’s most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. Splunk does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

16. GENERAL

The Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and Splunk with respect to your use of this Site and supersede all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals, whether electronic, oral or written, between you and Splunk with respect to this Site. The Terms and the relationship between each user and Splunk shall be governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to its conflict of law provisions and each party shall submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within the county of San Francisco, California. If any provision of the Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Terms remain in full force and effect. A party may only waive its rights under these Terms, by a written document executed by both parties. Any failure to enforce any provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver thereof or of any other provision hereof. You may not assign, transfer or sublicense any or all of your rights or obligations under these Terms without Splunk’s express prior written consent. No provision of these Terms is intended for the benefit of any third party, and the parties do not intend that any provision should be enforceable by a third party either under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 or otherwise.

17. CONTACT; NOTICES

If you have any general question, comment or complaint regarding the Site, please send an e-mail to [email protected]. Formal notices to Splunk under these Terms (including a report of any violation of the Terms by any user) shall be sufficient only if in writing and transmitted via personal delivery or delivered by a major commercial rapid delivery courier service or by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, to: Splunk Inc., Attention: Legal Department, 250 Brannan Street, San Francisco, California 94107, with a copy to [email protected]. Notices to you may be made via posting to the Site, by e-mail, or by regular mail, in Splunk's discretion. Without limitation, you agree that a printed version of these Terms and of any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to these Terms to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.

Updated: December 2020

This Privacy Policy explains how Splunk Inc. and its affiliates ("Splunk") collect, use, and disclose information you provide to us or which we otherwise collect in providing products or services to you (“Information”), including “Personal Data” by which we mean information that allows us to determine your identity when you engage with us.

This Privacy Policy applies to splunk.com and to other websites Splunk operates and that are linked to it. From time to time, Splunk acquires companies who may operate under their own privacy policies. You will continue to be presented with those companies’ privacy policies on their websites until the integration with Splunk is complete and those websites are linked to this Privacy Policy.

The use of our products and services, including those available through other Splunk websites that link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, “Offerings”), are subject to the terms of the applicable customer agreement. The use of our website is subject to the Splunk Website Terms and Conditions of Use. The terms of this Privacy Policy are incorporated into and form part of those agreements.

Data Collection
Interactions
What We Collect via Your Interactions
How We Use Information Collected from Interactions
Opting Out Of Marketing Emails
Offerings
What We Collect via Our Offerings and How We Use It
Other Collection Practices
Data Collection Practices Associated with Apps
How Splunk Shares Your Information
How We Secure Your Information
Splunk Also Observes the Following Practices
Lawful Basis for Transferring Your Data
Supplemental Terms and Conditions for Certain Regions
Links to Other Parties
Updates to This Privacy Policy
Contact Splunk
Links to Related Agreements, Policies, and Information

Data Collection

There are two primary ways in which Splunk collects Information from you: through Interactions and through Offerings as set forth below.

Interactions

When you interact online or offline with Splunk, we may receive your Information, including your Personal Data. For example, we receive your Information when you:

Visit Splunk’s websites or offices
Download materials through our websites
Provide or update account information through our websites
Register or attend Splunk-hosted or sponsored events (such as promotional events, webcasts, contests, or hackathons)
Participate in community programs
Communicate with us including by emails, phone, texts, and online chats
Provide testimonials

We collect Information about you from other sources such as public databases, joint marketing partners, social media platforms, conference/event hosts, and partners when you interact with them.

We refer collectively to these contacts as “Interactions” and we explain below how we use the Information we collect through them.

What We Collect via Your Interactions

We (or others acting on our behalf) may collect your Information, including your Personal Data, through the Interactions described more fully below. The Personal Data we collect includes such things as:

Name
Email address
Physical address, including country
Employer
Title / position
Payment details
Phone number
User name / user ID
IP address
MAC address (or other device identifiers automatically assigned to your device when you access the internet)
Photographs (for example, when visiting our offices or attending an event)
Videos (for example, when you consent to provide a product testimonial)

We collect Personal Data in various ways, such as when you manually key in your Personal Data to our website forms or provide it to us or others from whom we receive marketing leads. From time to time, we offer virtual private networks (VPNs) for attendees at Splunk events or visitors to our offices. If you access a Splunk-provided VPN, we may collect Personal Data from you, such as IP and MAC addresses, when we monitor the VPNs for security or performance.

IP addresses are also collected on an automated basis through your use of the website services using cookies, web beacons, and like technologies. We may infer your location from your IP address. For more on the use of cookies and like technologies, see the Splunk Cookie Policy.

When you make purchases through our website, we use third-party payment processors to collect credit card or other financial information. Splunk does not store the credit card information you provide, only confirmation that payment was made.

How We Use Information Collected from Interactions

Splunk uses the Information it collects from your Interactions to deliver services to you in accordance with our terms, to fulfill our legal obligations, or to conduct necessary business activities (sometimes called “legitimate interests”), as described below. We take seriously the need to balance our legitimate interests with your privacy rights and summarize for you here how we use your Information, including Personal Data.

We use your Information to:

Fulfill your orders or respond to your requests for information
For example, to satisfy your requests for website materials such as marketing collateral or white papers, we collect and use your name and email address.
Operate, enhance, and personalize your experience on our website
We collect Information via cookies and like technologies as set forth in the Splunk Cookie Policy to fulfill our legitimate interest in operating our website, making it easy to navigate, enriching the available content and offering information tailored to your interests. In doing so, we may receive your location information, which you can stop at any time by configuring the location setting permissions in your device.
Issue you Splunk accounts for access to online communities and forums (including blogs)
When you join our online communities and forums, including blogs (collectively, “online forums”), we collect your Personal Data so you can participate. The guidelines associated with those online forums recommend not sharing private or proprietary information on them, as many aspects of them are public. If you choose to submit content to online forums, such content will be considered “public” and will not be subject to the privacy protections set forth in this Privacy Policy.
Send you administrative information
We may need to notify you (or we may choose to inform you) when we make updates to our terms or policies or make changes to our website services. We will use your name and email address to send administrative notices to you, which due to their nature are treated differently from marketing communications from which you can opt out.
Manage your Splunk account
In order to perform the services under the contract between you and Splunk, we need to collect certain Information from you such as your contact and payment details. Without this Information, we may not be able to deliver the services or comply with our legal obligations.
Send you marketing communications
Where we have your consent to do so (if required), we will provide you with product announcements, educational materials, announcements about special offers, or information about upcoming or ongoing online/offline events, such as SplunkLive! or .conf and related offers. In accordance with applicable law, we give you the choice to opt out of receiving these communications.
Invite you to participate on customer advisory boards or in surveys, studies, and assessments of Offerings
We use your Personal Data to register you to participate on advisory boards (such as our Customer Advisory Board or Product Advisory Council) or to request feedback from you about Splunk Offerings. We use your feedback to fulfill our legitimate interest in improving our Offerings and growing our business. Your participation is voluntary and subject to the terms of your agreements with us and this Privacy Policy.
Diagnose and fix technical issues, monitor for security, and otherwise protect our property
We do this to satisfy our legitimate interest in assessing actual or potential threats to our facilities, attendees at Splunk-sponsored events, our IT systems and networks, and website services. We may process your Personal Data, in particular your IP address, for this purpose.
To comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request, or to protect our legal rights or those of others
For any other purpose disclosed to you in connection with our website services from time to time

If we process your Personal Data for a purpose other than that set out above, we will provide you with information about such processing, and if required, obtain your consent.

Opting Out of Marketing Emails

If you no longer want to receive marketing emails from Splunk on a go-forward basis, please submit your request through our data request portal. Alternatively, you may use the "unsubscribe" feature in our email messages.

Offerings

We also collect Information, including Personal Data, when providing our Offerings. We may ask you for this Information directly, or in some cases, we may collect it when certain features are enabled. For example, we collect Information from you when you (or someone you work with):

Trial or order any of our Offerings
Interact with Splunk online or offline, including when you request support services
Use our Offerings to process information in the cloud

What We Collect via Our Offerings and How We Use It

We collect and process different types of product data (described below) when you deploy our Offerings in order to fulfill our legal obligations to you and operate our business. We work hard to help ensure a balance between our legitimate interests and your privacy rights.

License Usage Data is Information that allows us to identify your account entitlements, such as license consumption, capacity, or type in our systems through an assigned license ID. We use this information to validate accounts and automate license verification.
Usage Data is Information about your operating environment, user/product interactions, and sessions. This includes information such as your network and systems architecture, OS and product versions, page loads and views, searches by number and type, errors, number of active and licensed users, source types and format (e.g., json, xml, and csv), web browser, http referrer page, and app workflows.

We use Usage Data to fulfill our legal obligations in providing the Offerings to you and to fulfill our legitimate interest in supporting and enhancing them. For example, we may use this data to:
- Troubleshoot issues, provide support, and update our Offerings
- Provide guidance to help you optimize your usage of our Offerings
- Better understand how our users configure our Offerings
- Determine which configurations or practices optimize performance (e.g., best practices)
- Benchmark key performance indicators (“KPIs”)
- Recommend enhancements
- Perform data analysis and audits
- Identify, understand, and anticipate performance issues and the factors that affect them
- Identify product security issues that may affect you
- Improve and develop new features and functionality
- Monitor the health, performance, and security of our Offerings
We hash or otherwise pseudonymize identifiable information connected to user activity for data analytics purposes.

In our paid on-premises products, you can set your level of participation. For more details on what we collect and your participation options, see Splunk's Documentation (Share Performance Data).
Support Usage Data includes License Usage and/or Usage Data as part of a customized support program that offers you accelerated troubleshooting, notices of patches/upgrades, tips to optimize performance, and suggestions about other Offerings that may be of interest to you. The data is customer-identifiable so that we can help personalize your experience. From time to time, we may also use the Information to analyze usage trends, such as by data type, environment size, scale and architecture, and industry or sector, to develop and prioritize product enhancements (e.g., bug fixes or new features). On-premises customers can opt out at any time. However, this Information is essential for the operation of our cloud Offerings.
Mobile Device Data is Information we collect in certain Splunk Offerings (“Apps” as discussed below) that associates your mobile device with an identifier for your App to help us improve the user experience and personalize your services and content. We may also receive information that your mobile device sends when you use our Apps, such as a device identifier or OS. Depending on your configuration of Splunk’s Offerings, location information about you (or your end users) may be shared with Splunk; however, you can disable location sharing using the location-setting features on your mobile device.

Certain Splunk Offerings rely on automated methods of processing, such as artificial intelligence, which are a set of technologies and processes that allow computers to learn, reason, and assist in decision making. These technologies may consume Usage Data or other data you input into the Offering that may be associated with you. The use of data in connection with such Offerings is set forth in the relevant terms.

For more information about the data collected through our Offerings, see Offering-specific Documentation (e.g., Share Performance Data for Splunk Enterprise).

Other Collection Practices

We also collect Personal Data from you to fulfill our contractual commitments to you. For example, we collect contact information such as name, address (email and physical) and phone number to enter you into our customer databases and manage your account. We also collect billing and payment information and information about your Offerings, such as browser type, version number and OS, to administer your account, respond to customer service/support inquiries, and provide you with information about software updates via alerts or other “push” notifications.

We may share this Information with our affiliates, vendors and partners who help us service your account and with whom we have written agreements protecting the confidentiality, privacy, and security of your Information. We do not sell this Information.

Data Collection Practices Associated with Apps

The Splunk Offerings are extendible using software applications commonly called “apps,” “add-ons,” “widgets,” or “technical add-ons” that we offer through splunkbase.splunk.com or other websites that link to this Privacy Policy. We refer to these collectively as “Apps.” These Apps are versatile and have access to a broad set of web technologies that can be used to collect and use your Information. This Privacy Policy only applies to Apps built by or on behalf of Splunk. It does not apply to Apps developed by others (“App Developers”) and available through splunkbase.splunk.com, third-party marketplaces (e.g., AWS Marketplace and Google Play Store), or interoperable with Splunk Offerings.

Splunk requires App Developers to comply with applicable privacy and data protection laws but cannot guarantee that they do so. Before you use Apps created by App Developers, you should familiarize yourself with their privacy policies and license agreements.

Splunk collects data generated from the use and performance of Apps that interoperate with Splunk Offerings, such as crash information, version, session duration, and user engagement (e.g., number of downloads, active/licensed users, and log-ins). We may share this information with App Developers so they can improve and enhance the performance of their Apps.

How Splunk Shares Your Information

Splunk may disclose your Information to others in the following ways:

Affiliates. We may disclose Information to our affiliates subject to this Privacy Policy in order for them to help market, sell, and service our Offerings. Splunk is the party responsible for the management of jointly-used Personal Data. Splunk maintains intragroup agreements with its affiliates covering the use of Personal Data within the Splunk family of companies.
Service Providers. We may disclose Information to our service providers (e.g., infrastructure as a service, order fulfillment, professional/customer/support services), pursuant to written agreements with confidentiality, privacy, and security obligations. Splunk maintains a list of its sub-processors who process Personal Data as part of the Offerings, which Splunk updates as needed.
App Developers. We may disclose Information about App use and performance with App Developers so that they can improve and enhance the performance of their Apps. App Developers will be identified to you when you deploy and use their Apps pursuant to their license terms, including their privacy policies.
Partners and Sponsors. We may disclose contact and account Information to our partners and event sponsors (identified at time of registration or event participation) pursuant to written agreements with confidentiality, privacy and security obligations. They may use the Information to assess your interest in Splunk Offerings, conduct user research and surveys, or send you marketing communications, subject to the terms of their privacy policies. We may also share Support Usage Data with partners when they manage your Offering for you.
Compliance and Safety. We may disclose Information as necessary or appropriate under applicable laws (including laws outside your country of residence) to: comply with legal process or requirements; respond to requests from public or government authorities (including those outside your country of residence); enforce our terms and conditions; and protect our operations, rights and safety, and that of you and others, as needed.
Merger, Sale, etc. We may disclose Information in the event of a proposed or actual corporate or financing transaction, such as a reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or disposition of all or any portion of Splunk business, assets, or stock (including Information regarding any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).
Other Users. We may disclose Information to other users of the service in aggregated format, provided it does not include Personal Data. This may include “best practices” tips, KPIs, benchmark data or other such aggregated information useful to the user community. For select Offerings, we may share Information you provide, such as security artifacts that may contain Personal Data (e.g., IP address) with other subscribers, but only if required as part of the Offering, as set forth in the relevant terms.

How We Secure Your Information

Splunk takes reasonable technical and organizational measures to safeguard Personal Data against loss, theft, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, misuse, or destruction. Unfortunately, no data transmission, software, or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure (for example, if you feel that the security of an account has been compromised), please notify us immediately in accordance with the Contact Splunk section below. If Splunk learns of a breach of its systems, Splunk may notify you or others consistent with applicable law and/or as agreed in our contract with you. Splunk may communicate with you electronically regarding privacy and security issues affecting Information collected through your Interactions or use of our Offerings.

Splunk Also Observes the Following Practices

Retention Period. We retain your Information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or not prohibited by applicable law. Information you store in Splunk cloud environments is portable by you at the end of the term of your agreement with Splunk. We retain your contract information for the duration of your agreement with us and thereafter as required or permitted by law. We keep a record of your data requests, including your requests to opt out of marketing communications, in order to honor them in the future. See the Splunk Data Retention Policy for additional details.

Use of Splunk Offerings by Minors. The Splunk Offerings are not directed to individuals 16 and under or those not of the age of majority in your jurisdiction, and we request that these individuals, or others on their behalf, not provide us with their Personal Data.

Lawful Basis for Transferring Your Data

While Splunk acknowledges the invalidation of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework by the European Court of Justice in July 2020, and the invalidation of the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework by the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commission in September 2020, Splunk continues to comply with these Frameworks regarding the collection, use, and retention of Personal Data transferred from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and/or Switzerland, as applicable, to the United States. Splunk has certified to the Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles (“Principles”). If there is any conflict between the terms in this Privacy Policy and the Principles, the Principles will govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, please visit privacyshield.gov where you may view Splunk’s certifications.

Cross-border Transfers. Your Personal Data may be stored and processed in any country where Splunk, its affiliates, or third-party service providers conduct business or hosts events. These locations may be outside of your country of residence, including in the United States, and therefore, different data protection laws may apply globally. When we transfer Personal Data, we implement safeguards to help ensure an adequate level of data protection exists for the transfer, such as standard contractual clauses. We put also in place appropriate terms to protect your Personal Data in our agreements with our service providers.

Supplemental Terms and Conditions for Certain Regions

Europe

If you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you have the right to: request access to and correction of your Personal Data; restrict or object to the processing of your Personal Data; and request your Personal Data be deleted or “forgotten” (technically erased). If you would like to exercise these rights, please submit your request through our data requests portal or call us at 1(855) 775-8657. We will comply as soon as reasonably practicable consistent with applicable law. Please describe the nature of your request and the Personal Data at issue, and we will comply as soon as reasonably practicable consistent with applicable law. We will verify your identity before we comply with your request, and therefore, ask for your cooperation with our identity verification process.

If we process your Personal Data based on your consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time. We will let you know if we are seeking to rely on your consent at the time of collection.

In Europe, Splunk Services UK Limited is responsible for the management of Personal Data used for completing orders as described above in Other Collection Practices.

California (Effective January 01, 2020)

If you are a California resident, California law provides you with specific rights regarding your personal information, including (i) the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about its collection and use over the past 12 months, and (ii) the right to request that we delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions. For purposes of California law, personal information means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a consumer or household.

If you or a designated third-party agent would like to exercise these rights, please submit the request through our data requests portal, and we will comply as soon as reasonably practicable consistent with applicable law. We will verify your identity, and the identity of any third-party agent acting on your behalf, before we comply with the request, and therefore, ask for your cooperation with our identity verification process.

Please note that we are only required to respond to two such requests per individual each year. You also have the right not to be discriminated against if you exercise any of your rights under California privacy law.

Over the past 12 months, we may have collected the following categories of personal information from California residents:

Identifiers or other elements of personal information under California Civil Code Section 1798.80 such those described in What We Collect via Your Interactions
Protected class information about veteran’s status if you applied for a veteran’s discount. Splunk does not collect this information directly. We use service providers to confirm eligibility.
Commercial information about products or services as described in Other Collection Practices
Internet activity when you interact with Splunk’s website as described in What We Collect via Your Interactions, What We Collect via Our Offerings and How We Use It, and the Splunk Cookie Policy
Geolocation data such as IP address as described in What We Collect via Your Interactions, What We Collect via Our Offerings and How We Use It, and the Splunk Cookie Policy
Inferences drawn from any of the information identified above

This information is collected and used for the purposes disclosed in this Privacy Policy. We have not sold personal information of California residents in the 12 months immediately preceding the posting of this updated Privacy Policy. We may have disclosed any of the above categories of personal information pursuant to an individual’s consent or under a written contract with a service provider for a business purpose in the 12 months immediately preceding the posting of this updated Privacy Policy.

Links to Other Parties

Our Offerings may contain links to, or facilitate access to, other websites or online services. This Privacy Policy does not address, and Splunk is not responsible for, the privacy, information, or practices of other parties, including without limitation any App Developer, social media platform provider, wireless service provider, or device manufacturer. The inclusion of a link within the Offerings does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by Splunk or its affiliates. Splunk encourages you to review the privacy policies and learn about the privacy practices of those companies whose websites you choose to visit or apps you choose to use. We list below links to resources about many of the other parties with whom we interact as described in this Privacy Policy:

For partners
For App Developers listed on Splunkbase
For other marketplaces where Splunk Apps may be found
For industry content providers (such as providers of research, white papers, etc.)
For industry award providers (such as those listed on Splunk.com)
For other resources (such as source code repositories, sample data sources, customers, etc.) mentioned in blogs and press releases
For other providers, sponsors, or speakers at events in which Splunk is involved
For social media platform providers (such as Twitter, GitHub, Twitch, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Facebook)

Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time and will post our updates here. We will also communicate any material changes of the Privacy Policy to you.

Contact Splunk

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy or Splunk’s privacy practices, you can contact us at any time at [email protected] or by mail as provided below:

Splunk Inc.
Attention: Legal Dept.
San Francisco, CA
Headquarters

Splunk UK
Attention: Legal Dept.
London Paddington
United Kingdom office

Splunk Germany
Attention: Legal Dept.
Munich
Germany office

If your request or concern is not satisfactorily resolved by us, you may approach your local data protection authority.

Links to Related Agreements, Policies, and Information

Splunk Cookie Policy
Splunk Website Terms and Conditions of Use
Splunk Privacy Shield Notice
Splunk General Terms
Phantom Terms of Service
Splunk Protects