Kubernetes Collection v6.0.0 - Important Changes

We're introducing two major changes to the Sumo Logic Kubernetes Collection solution in v6.

This page describes each change and its impact on your existing setup. Both features are enabled by default in v6. You can review the changes and disable either feature if needed. You must also set the corresponding acknowledgment flag before the upgrade can proceed.

1. Sourceless mode for data upload

Through Helm chart v5, the Sumo Logic Kubernetes Collection sent data to HTTP or OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) sources on a Hosted Collector. The Hosted Collector appears in Manage Data > Collection under the value configured in sumologic.collectorName or, by default, sumologic.clusterName. Sourceless mode removes this dependency. Collection pods instead authenticate and register directly with Sumo Logic by using an installation token and the Sumo Logic OpenTelemetry extension.

The following sections describe the key changes and their impact on your existing setup. Review these impacts and disable sourceless mode if needed. In most cases, we recommend enabling it.

1.1 _source metadata no longer available

In the classic collection model, each data pipeline sends data to a dedicated HTTP or OTLP source, which automatically populates the _source metadata field on ingested data. In sourceless mode, there are no sources involved and data is sent directly to Sumo Logic, so _source is no longer populated and cannot be used in search queries.

Impact:

• Any saved searches, dashboards, or monitors that filter or group by _source will return no results or incorrect results after migration.
• Audit and update these queries before enabling sourceless mode. No changes are needed if your queries do not use _source.

_collector is preserved. The source processor in the OTel pipeline still populates _collector with the value of sumologic.collectorName (defaults to sumologic.clusterName). Queries that use _collector to identify your cluster continue to work without any changes.

1.2 Sending data to a specific Hosted Collector source URL

note

This applies only if you need to continue sending specific data to a Hosted Collector HTTP or OTLP source URL. If you are not using custom source URLs or custom exporters through config.merge or config.override, skip this section.

When sourceless mode is enabled, all Sumo Logic exporters that do not have an explicit endpoint configured will route data through the sourceless path. Custom exporters with an explicit endpoint defined via config.merge or config.override continue to send data to that source URL.

This lets you migrate incrementally, keeping specific custom pipelines pointed at a source URL while others move to sourceless:

sumologic:
  sourcelessMode: true

metadata:
  logs:
    config:
      merge:
        exporters:
          sumologic/custom-logs: # Custom exporter that sends data to the HTTP source below
            endpoint: "https://<your-endpoint>.collection.sumologic.com/receiver/v1/http/<token>"
            timeout: 30s
          sumologic/default: # No explicit endpoint, so this exporter sends data directly to your account without a source
            timeout: 30s

Only exporters without an endpoint use the sourceless path. Exporters with an explicit endpoint continue sending data to that source. To move a custom exporter to sourceless ingestion, remove the endpoint parameter from its configuration.

1.3 Hosted Collector cleanup

The Hosted Collector and its default sources are not deleted automatically when you enable sourceless mode. They remain in your account until you explicitly request cleanup.

Before enabling cleanup, check whether you have added any custom sources to the Hosted Collector beyond the defaults created by the Helm chart. The Hosted Collector for your cluster is identified by sumologic.clusterName or sumologic.collectorName in Manage Data > Collection.

If you have no custom sources, you can enable the cleanup flag:

sumologic:
  sourcelessMode: true
  cleanupHostedCollector: true

warning

Enabling cleanupHostedCollector permanently deletes the Hosted Collector and all sources attached to it. This cannot be undone.

If you have custom sources, do not enable cleanupHostedCollector until you have migrated all custom sources to an alternative ingestion path.

1.4 Source type restriction

note

This applies only to deployments using sourceType: http for logs, metrics, or events.

sourcelessMode: true is incompatible with sourceType: http. The Helm chart will fail validation if both are set. You must either:

• Switch to sourceType: otlp (recommended), or
• Use config.merge to define an explicit endpoint for pipelines that need to continue using an HTTP source URL. See section 1.2.

1.5 Collector pods now visible under OpenTelemetry Collection

Once sourceless mode is enabled, all collection pods that send data to Sumo Logic will register as OpenTelemetry collectors and appear in Manage Data > Collection > OpenTelemetry Collection.

To view pods registered for a specific cluster:

1. Navigate to Manage Data > Collection > OpenTelemetry Collection.
2. In the Filters panel, add the tag cluster=<your-cluster-name>.
3. All collector pods for that cluster are listed with their registration status and last active time.

The classic Hosted Collector model did not provide this pod visibility.

2. Metrics pipeline unification

The Kubernetes metrics collection pipeline is moving from a 2-layer architecture (collector StatefulSet and metadata StatefulSet) to a single-layer architecture (collector only).

In the 2-layer pipeline:

• Layer 1 (Collector) scrapes metrics via the Prometheus receiver, applies light processing, and forwards via OTLP to Layer 2.
• Layer 2 (Metadata) enriches metrics with Kubernetes metadata (k8sattributes, source, sumologic processors), applies routing, batching, and exports to Sumo Logic.

In the single-layer pipeline, the collector handles all of this in a single pod using two logical pipelines connected by a forward connector. The metadata StatefulSet, HPA, Services, and PDB are no longer rendered.

note

sumologic.metrics.collector.otelcol.singleLayerPipeline.migrationDocAcknowledged must be set to true regardless of whether you enable or disable the single-layer pipeline. The upgrade is blocked until this flag is set. If you are not using any metadata.metrics.* configuration overrides, you can set this flag and proceed with the upgrade.

Benefits

• Fewer pods, because the metadata replicas are eliminated, which reduces resource consumption.
• Lower end-to-end latency (no internal OTLP hop).
• Simpler configuration, with a single pipeline to manage.

What changes

When sumologic.metrics.collector.otelcol.singleLayerPipeline.enabled is set to true:

1. The metadata metrics StatefulSet, HPA, Services, and PDB are not rendered.
2. The collector config includes all enrichment processors (k8sattributes, source, sumologic, etc.) and Sumo Logic exporters.
3. SUMO_ENDPOINT_* env vars are injected into the collector pod.
4. Both sumologic.metrics.collector.otelcol.config.merge and metadata.metrics.config.merge are applied to the collector config, preserving existing customizations.
5. The collector pipeline is renamed from metrics to metrics/collector. The enrichment pipeline keeps the name metrics (matching the 2-layer metadata pipeline name).

For detailed migration steps, including resource sizing, configuration key migration, pipeline rename examples, and rollback instructions, see How to Upgrade.