The OpenTelemetry Collector project is currently in beta with a defined roadmap to GA. Splunk OpenTelemetry Collector is beta in part because it is a distribution of the OpenTelemetry Collector.
Yes. Customers that use Splunk OpenTelemetry distributions, such as Splunk OpenTelemetry Collector, can receive direct help from Splunk support even while the distributions are in beta. Customers are free to use the core OpenTelemetry OSS components (several do!) and Splunk will provide best effort guidance for any issues experienced. Only Splunk OpenTelemetry distributions are in scope for official Splunk support and support-related SLAs.
Beta primarily means that a breaking change may be introduced in a new release. Breaking changes may include:
- Rename or removal of a configuration option
- Removal of or change of functionality in a component