DevOpsDays PDX: Choose Your Own CNCF Observability Project Adventure (workshops)

I'm headed to the Pacific Northwest for the DevOpsDays PDX conference from 8-10 September.

I really like the vibe of this conference with the local scene full of really engaged developers and observability enthusiasts. I submitted a few ideas around my own personal open source interests and they came back asking me to facilitate a hands-on workshop. 

The workshop is the sum of all my personal explorations of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) projects over the last four years. For this event they will be expanded into the option of running and exploring all the projects on a lightweight Kubernetes for your personal machine (k3s).

Read on for more details

Mastering Fluent Bit: Beginners Guide for Contributing to our CNCF Project Docs

This series is a general purpose getting started guide for those of us wanting to learn about the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) project Fluent Bit.

Each article in this series addresses a single topic by providing insights into what the topic is, why we are interested in exploring that topic, where to get started with the topic, and how to get hands-on with learning about the topic as it relates to the Fluent Bit project.

The idea is that each article can stand on its own, but that they also lead down a path that slowly increases our abilities to implement solutions with Fluent Bit telemetry pipelines.

Let's take a look at the topic of this article, contributing to the Fluent Bit docs project. This is a follow-up to our previous article on contributing to the Fluent Bit project website, and this time we go a step further by tackling documentation contributions. If we can find something undocumented, clarify something confusing, or fix a gap between what the code does and what the docs say — that is a genuine contribution that the community notices.

Mastering Fluent Bit: Beginners Guide for Contributing to our CNCF Project Website

This series is a general purpose getting started guide for those of us wanting to learn about the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) project Fluent Bit.

Each article in this series addresses a single topic by providing insights into what the topic is, why we are interested in exploring that topic, where to get started with the topic, and how to get hands-on with learning about the topic as it relates to the Fluent Bit project.

The idea is that each article can stand on its own, but that they also lead down a path that slowly increases our abilities to implement solutions with Fluent Bit telemetry pipelines.

Let's take a look at the topic of this article, contributing to the Fluent Bit project website. This article will be a hands-on exploration of how to get started contributing blog articles to the Fluent Bit project website, something that is very accessible to newcomers and a great way to become part of the community.

A New Chapter: Joining SUSE as Technical Advocacy Lead

There are moments in your career where the path forward becomes surprisingly clear. After years of building, shipping, and advocating in the open source and cloud native ecosystem, I find myself at one of those moments. 

Today I'm excited to share that I've joined SUSE as Technical Advocacy Lead — and I couldn't be more energized about what lies ahead.

Let me back up a bit, because getting here is a story worth telling.

OpenSearchCon EU - Fluent Bit & OpenSearch: The Power Couple of Open Source Observability

After my adventures with the OpenSearch maintainers and developers in their booth at KubeCon NA this year, I was excited to share the results of our adventures at their OpenSearchCon EU event.

So with full enthusiasm I submitted a session about the observability power couple that is Fluent Bit and OpenSearch when used together. This would provide the attendees with a good overview of what the CNCF graduated project Fluent Bit, an end-to-end observability pipeline, can do for them. 

To complement and visualize your pipeline telemetry data, OpenSearch was added to the mix and we worked hard to provide a streamlined demo project providing the hands-on experience of setting up the entire integration. 

Let's look at the session and supporting hands-on learning content we are providing.

KubeCon EU 2026 - From Hallucinations to Hardware: Diagnosing LLM Failures

I'm excited to share that a talk I submitted, with my good friend Ryan Peirce, was accepted to Cloud Native AI & Kubeflow Day! 

In case you were still unaware, KubeCon + CloudNativeCon is the flagship conference of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), gathering adopters and technologists from leading open source and cloud native communities. The event brings together the entire cloud native ecosystem for education, collaboration, and networking opportunities.

Every year this event features multiple co-located events, and we're excited to be presenting at Cloud Native AI & Kubeflow Day, which focuses on the intersection of cloud native technologies and artificial intelligence workloads.

Below are all the details of our session at the time of this writing.

Mastering Fluent Bit: Developers Guide to Forwarding Metrics with Prometheus Remote Write

 This series is a general purpose getting started guide for those of us wanting to learn about the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) project Fluent Bit.

Each article in this series addresses a single topic by providing insights into what the topic is, why we are interested in exploring that topic, where to get started with the topic, and how to get hands-on with learning about the topic as it relates to the Fluent Bit project.

The idea is that each article can stand on its own, but that they also lead down a path that slowly increases our abilities to implement solutions with Fluent Bit telemetry pipelines.

Let's take a look at the topic of this article, integrating Fluent Bit with Prometheus. In case you missed the previous article, check out the developer guide to monitoring health metrics with Prometheus where you explore how to monitor the health of your telemetry data pipelines.

This article will complete our hands-on exploration of Prometheus integration, helping developers leverage Fluent Bit's powerful metrics capabilities. We'll look at the final pattern for integrating Fluent Bit with Prometheus in your observability infrastructure.

Mastering Fluent Bit: Developers Guide to Monitoring Health Metrics with Prometheus

This series is a general purpose getting started guide for those of us wanting to learn about the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) project Fluent Bit.

Each article in this series addresses a single topic by providing insights into what the topic is, why we are interested in exploring that topic, where to get started with the topic, and how to get hands-on with learning about the topic as it relates to the Fluent Bit project.

The idea is that each article can stand on its own, but that they also lead down a path that slowly increases our abilities to implement solutions with Fluent Bit telemetry pipelines.

Let's take a look at the topic of this article, integrating Fluent Bit with Prometheus. In case you missed the previous article, check out the developer guide to routing metrics to Prometheus where you explore how to collect and direct metrics telemetry data to your Prometheus instance.

This article will continue our hands-on exploration of Prometheus integration, helping developers leverage Fluent Bit's powerful metrics capabilities. We'll look at the second of three essential patterns for integrating Fluent Bit with Prometheus in your observability infrastructure.

Mastering Fluent Bit: Developers Guide to Routing Metrics to Prometheus

This series is a general purpose getting started guide for those of us wanting to learn about the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) project Fluent Bit.

Each article in this series addresses a single topic by providing insights into what the topic is, why we are interested in exploring that topic, where to get started with the topic, and how to get hands-on with learning about the topic as it relates to the Fluent Bit project.

The idea is that each article can stand on its own, but that they also lead down a path that slowly increases our abilities to implement solutions with Fluent Bit telemetry pipelines.

Let's take a look at the topic of this article, integrating Fluent Bit with Prometheus. In case you missed the previous article, check out the developer guide to telemetry pipeline routing where you explore how to direct telemetry data to different destinations based on tags, patterns, and conditions.

This article will be a hands-on exploration of Prometheus integration that helps you as a developer leverage Fluent Bit's powerful metrics capabilities. We'll look at the first of three essential patterns for integrating Fluent Bit with Prometheus in your observability infrastructure.

DevOpsCon Amsterdam 2026: It’s my docs, and I will cry if I want to!

My last DevOpsCon event was in Munich, so when I saw they were expanding and visiting my home country in Amsterdam, Netherlands I could not resist. I submitted a few things and the one that was selected is a talk I'm going to be testing based on my experiences over the last year as a maintainer on the Fluent Bit CNCF project.

I will be on-site at the Van der Valk Hotel Amsterdam-Amstel for DevOpsCon Amsterdam from 20-24 April 2026. They will have networking, sessions, and hands-on workshops available for all who attend.

Below you'll find my talk details and the schedule.

2025 Year in Review: Community, Contribution, and Changes

As we ease into the last few days of 2025, I like to close out this one last task: reflecting back on all the fun, challenges, and travel over the past year. While it takes a bit of research to gather all the facts and figures, it’s a rewarding effort. I’ve been sharing on this site for two decades now—no ads, no ulterior motives—just an honest effort to communicate with the world.

This year, the focus for me and my teams remained on the four pillars of our role: speaking, publishing, socializing, and hands-on content generation. 

While 2024 was about observability (o11y) taking center stage, 2025 was the year we put those theories into practice, accelerated our momentum, and stated to gain serious traction in the wild. 

Read on to find out more!

Mastering Fluent Bit: Developer Guide to Telemetry Pipeline Routing

This series is a general purpose getting started guide for those of us wanting to learn about the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) project Fluent Bit.

Each article in this series addresses a single topic by providing insights into what the topic is, why we are interested in exploring that topic, where to get started with the topic, and how to get hands-on with learning about the topic as it relates to the Fluent Bit project.

The idea is that each article can stand on its own, but that they also lead down a path that slowly increases our abilities to implement solutions with Fluent Bit telemetry pipelines.

Let's take a look at the topic of this article, using Fluent Bit routing for developers. In case you missed the previous article, check out the top three telemetry pipeline filters where you explore the most useful filters for manipulating and controlling your telemetry data.

This article will be a hands-on exploration of routing patterns that help you as a developer building sophisticated telemetry pipelines. We'll look at how to direct telemetry data to different destinations based on tags, patterns, and conditions in your Fluent Bit configurations.

Mastering Fluent Bit: Top 3 Telemetry Pipeline Filters for Developers

This series is a general purpose getting started guide for those of us wanting to learn about the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) project Fluent Bit.

Each article in this series addresses a single topic by providing insights into what the topic is, why we are interested in exploring that topic, where to get started with the topic, and how to get hands-on with learning about the topic as it relates to the Fluent Bit project.

The idea is that each article can stand on its own, but that they also lead down a path that slowly increases our abilities to implement solutions with Fluent Bit telemetry pipelines.

Let's take a look at the topic of this article, using Fluent Bit filters for developers. In case you missed the previous article, check out three tips for using telemetry pipeline multiline parsers where you explore how to handle complex multiline log messages.

This article will be a hands-on exploration of filters that help you as a developer testing out your Fluent Bit pipelines. We'll take a look at the top three filters you'll want to know about when building your telemetry pipeline configurations in Fluent Bit.

Mastering Fluent Bit: 3 Tips for Telemetry Pipeline Multiline Parsers for Developers

This series is a general purpose getting started guide for those of us wanting to learn about the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) project Fluent Bit.

Each article in this series addresses a single topic by providing insights into what the topic is, why we are interested in exploring that topic, where to get started with the topic, and how to get hands-on with learning about the topic as it relates to the Fluent Bit project.

The idea is that each article can stand on its own, but that they also lead down a path that slowly increases our abilities to implement solutions with Fluent Bit telemetry pipelines.

Let's take a look at the topic of this article, using Fluent Bit multiline parsers for developers. In case you missed the previous article, check out using telemetry pipeline processors where you explore the top three telemetry data processors for developers.

This article will be a dive into parsers that help developer testing of Fluent Bit pipelines when dealing with difficult and long multiline log messages. We'll take a look at using multiline parsers for your telemetry pipeline configuration in Fluent Bit.

Mastering Fluent Bit: Top 3 Telemetry Pipeline Processors for Developers

This series is a general purpose getting started guide for those of us wanting to learn about the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) project Fluent Bit. 

Each article in this series addresses a single topic by providing insights into what the topic is, why we are interested in exploring that topic, where to get started with the topic, and how to get hands-on with learning about the topic as it relates to the Fluent Bit project.

The idea is that each article can stand on its own, but that they also lead down a path that slowly increases our abilities to implement solutions with Fluent Bit telemetry pipelines.

Let's take a look at the topic of this article, using Fluent Bit processors for developers. In case you missed the previous article, check out the top tips on using telemetry pipeline parsers for developers where you get tips on cleaning up your telemetry data for better developer experiences.

This article will be a hands-on tour of the things that help you as a developer testing out your Fluent Bit pipelines. We'll take a look at the top 3 processors you'll want to know about when building your telemetry pipeline configurations in Fluent Bit.

Cloud Native Rejekts NA 2025 - Expanding Your Toolbox: Beginners Guide to Controlling Kubernetes Logs (slides)

Today I spoke at the always fun event taking place before KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA, Cloud Native Rejekts. 

Since my transfer from the application development domains to the cloud native observability domain more than three years ago, I've never missed a single CFP for this event. This year it was in another amazing location, The Academy of Medicine in Atlanta, GA.

In the past I've shared observability topics in a session on Perses,  a session providing OpenTelemetry insights, and a session on integrating Fluent Bit with OpenTelemetry including a live demo. Today I told a cloud native story helping developers gain control of their logs in Kubernetes environments while within their inner development loop.

 Below you will find the session slides, abstract, and location details for this Atlanta based event.

Mastering Fluent Bit: Controlling Logs with Fluent Bit on Kubernetes (updated)

This is a special update to the original Controlling Logs with  Fluent Bit on Kubernetes article published previously that is no longer valid.

The issue requiring this update arose over last weekend when I discovered that Broadcom, who acquired VMWare, who were the custodians of the bitnami catalog, did something not so nice to all of us.

In this issue, they announced that the catalog would be moved in August 2025 to a legacy catalog in favor of a 'secure' catalog and no longer updated.  

This meant that the current Logs Control Easy Install project, the workshop Controlling Logs with Fluent Bit on Kubernetes, and the original article had to all be updated.  I spent this last weekend and most of this week bringing all three of these artifacts up to date with a new application workload to replace the use of Ghost CMS.

Let's take a look at what these changes meant to the original article and provide you with a new guide, using Fluent Bit to get control of logs on a Kubernetes cluster.

Mastering Fluent Bit: Top Tip Using Telemetry Pipeline Parsers for Developers

This series is a general purpose getting started guide for those of us wanting to learn about the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) project Fluent Bit. 

Each article in this series addresses a single topic by providing insights into what the topic is, why we are interested in exploring that topic, where to get started with the topic, and how to get hands-on with learning about the topic as it relates to the Fluent Bit project.

The idea is that each article can stand on its own, but that they also lead down a path that slowly increases our abilities to implement solutions with Fluent Bit telemetry pipelines.

Let's take a look at the topic of this article, using Fluent Bit tips for developers. In case you missed the previous article, check out the top 3 telemetry pipeline output plugins for developers where you get tips on the best of Fluent Bit for your developer experiences.

This article will be a hands-on tour of the things that help you as a developer testing out your Fluent Bit pipelines. We'll take a look at the top tip when using a parser for your telemetry pipeline configuration in Fluent Bit.

All Things Open 2025 - Cloud Metrics: The Cost-Value Equation (slides)

As I previously mentioned, I missed the 2024 All Things Open, having last spoken in 2023, but I'm back this year at All Things Open in Raleigh, NC! 

I'm a big fan of the All Things Open conferences and meetups, as they have been a rock star organization since they started and always put on great events in the state of North Carolina. This year is the 13th edition and I've only missed the events across the pandemic years.

The selection committee was kind enough to select one of my favorite topics that I've been working on within my current team at Chronosphere, cloud metrics and cost-value equations. Today I was on-site and gave this burst-talk session. I wanted to share the slides and my thoughts on the attendee reactions.

SRECon Eu 2025 - The Executive Signal (slides)

 "SREcon25 Europe/Middle East/Africa is a gathering of engineers who care deeply about site reliability, systems engineering, and working with complex distributed systems at scale. SREcon strives to challenge both those new to the profession as well as those who have been involved in it for decades. The conference has a culture of critical thought, deep technical insights, continuous improvement, and innovation."

Today I shared some insights into the executive signal and gave some important tips that everyone can use to cut through the noise and drive change. Below I share the slides from my talk.