Splunk Developer Summer 2021 Update

It’s getting hot here in California as summer rolls on, and we have some hot updates for you across the Splunk platform, Python SDK, Splunk Cloud vetting, Custom UI preferences (e.g. time picker) deprecation, preventing unnecessary rolling restarts, jQuery and Python migrations, Add-on Builder, docs, and how you can easily find the latest updates and releases across the Splunk Developer portal. And .conf21!

Splunk Cloud Platform v8.2 and Splunk Enterprise v8.2 Are Now Available

May brought the latest update to the Splunk platform with the 8.2 release. You can get all of the details in the “What’s New in Splunk Enterprise 8.2” blog post. Your apps that supported Splunk v8.1 should be unaffected by this update, but keep reading for upcoming changes that will affect your apps, both public in Splunkbase and private on your own Splunk instances.

Splunk Enterprise SDK for Python v1.6.16 is Out Now and You Should Update Your Apps

Now is a great time to update your app with the latest SDKs, including the Python SDK which fixes a bug to avoid catastrophic backtracking in search commands. It’s a good idea to update your apps with each SDK update so that your apps are not negatively affected by the bugs in prior releases.

Add-On Builder v4.0.0 Update is Available Now and You Should Update Your Add-Ons

If you use Add-On Builder to create add-ons, you will not only want to update your add-ons with this latest release but you must update your add-ons August 31, 2021 to be compatible with future releases of Splunk Cloud Platform and Splunk Enterprise. You can export your current project and then import it into this new version to create a new compatible project.

Changes to the Splunk Cloud Platform App Vetting Process

In order to deliver the best app experience in the Splunk Cloud Platform, the process for delivering updates to AppInspect and the app vetting process for Splunk Cloud has been updated. There is a new “future” tag for new tests added to AppInspect that will start as “warning” but in three months will be upgraded to “fail.” Read all of the details in the “Managing Updates to the Splunk Cloud Vetting Process” blog post.

Ability for Apps to Define Default UI Preferences Deprecated in Splunk Cloud

Are your apps using ui-prefs.conf to specify custom user interface preferences, such as for time picker? This ability will be deprecated over time (see “Offload UI state from SHC conf”) starting with the next Splunk Cloud Platform in July. This change will not impact Splunk Enterprise releases. If your application uses ui-prefs.conf to specify default attributes, they will not take effect for Splunk Cloud Platform.

Preventing Search Head / Search Head Cluster Rolling Restarts

Does your app contain a custom configuration file, such as addonbuilder.conf? If so, you need to add a trigger stanza to your app.conf file to prevent an unnecessary “restart required” message and rolling restart.

It’s a simple thing to do. Just add:

reload.<conf_file_name> = simple

inside of your app.conf file. You can read more here about “Configuration file reload triggers in app.conf.”

AppInspect now gives a warning if your app includes a custom configuration file but does not define a corresponding reload trigger in app.conf. For more information, check the updates for AppInspect v2.5.0. By the end of August 2021, we intend to convert this warning to a blocking failure.

Python Migration

Splunk will support only Python 3.0 later this year. Read more in “Removing Python 2 from New Splunk Cloud and Splunk Enterprise Releases Starting in Fall 2021.” 

jQuery 3.5+ Migration

If your app uses jQuery 1 or 2, now is the time to read “How to Upgrade Your App to jQuery v3.5 or newer.” Apps that use these older versions will not work in future releases of Splunk Cloud Platform and Splunk Enterprise. This could also affect your app if it contains HTML dashboards that were converted from SimpleXML to HTML and are linking to Splunk libraries, including these older versions of jQuery, that will go away in the future. Additionally, HTML Dashboards, a legacy capability, are no longer supported as of June 1, 2021 since the new Dashboard Studio is now available for these use cases. While still available for use, HTML Dashboards may require manual updates if they break between Splunk release upgrades.

Secrets Storage Docs

Read all about how you can securely store and retrieve sensitive information, such as passwords, in an app using the capabilities of the Splunk platform in the “Manage secret storage in apps for Splunk Cloud or Splunk Enterprise” documentation.

Discovering What’s New on dev.splunk.com

There is a new page on dev.splunk.com that helps you find “What's new on the Splunk Developer Portal for Splunk Cloud and Splunk Enterprise.” This page is updated with each product update and release, AppInspect updates, and Documentation updates. Watch this pages to stay up-to-date with all the changes across the Splunk Developer portal.

.conf21 is Now Open for Registration

October and .conf21 may seem far away but it will be here soon and if you plan to attend .conf21, either live in Las Vegas, or virtually from wherever you are, you can register now! We are building out the Splunk Developer track with sessions that you won’t want to miss.

Support for SplunkEnterprise 7.3, 8.0 is Ending Soon. Update your Apps to Splunk 8.1 or Newer Now!

Keep up to date with the latest supported versions of Splunk products on the Splunk Support Policy page. Here you’ll find the dates when releases of Splunk products are no longer supported. End of support for Splunk Enterprise 7.3 and 8.0 are coming on October 22, 2021 (unless otherwise updated on the Support Policy page).

Prior newsletters: Spring 2021, Fall 2020, Summer 2020
Keep up with the latest Splunk Developer news: follow @SplunkDev and Splunk Blogs for Developers

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Thanks!
Tom Chavez