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Connect Cribl Search to an API

Explore data coming from an API, and create Snapshots for better performance and observability.

API Dataset Provider Types
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To quickly connect to your API, use a dedicated Dataset Provider type:

To connect to any other HTTP API, create a Generic HTTP API Dataset Provider.

API Snapshots
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When searching an API Dataset, what you get is the current state of the queried system. But what if you want to see how that state changes over time? You can do this by taking Dataset Snapshots.

To create Snapshots, Cribl Search runs scheduled searches on your API Dataset, and then keeps the results of those searches in Cribl Lake. This allows you to:

  • See trends in how your data changes over time.
  • Ensure consistent search performance by avoiding API throttling of the queried endpoints.

Enable Snapshots
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You can enable Snapshots for any API Dataset:

  1. In Cribl Search, go to Data, then Datasets.
  2. Open an API Dataset.
  3. Select Snapshots, and toggle Enable Snapshots to Yes.
  4. Select a Cribl Lake Dataset where you want to store the Snapshots. To quickly add a new Cribl Lake Dataset, select Open Lake.
  5. In Schedule to run, configure the time schedule for creating Snapshots. This is how often Cribl Search will run scheduled searches on your Dataset. Use the drop-downs, or enter a cron expression. You can double-check your configuration by looking at the Estimated schedule below.
  6. Select Save.

Now, Cribl Search will systematically query your Dataset and keep the results in Cribl Lake. You can use those results like any other Dataset: searching them, running scheduled searches, setting up Notifications, or creating Dashboards.