Observability platform migration guide: Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, and Fluent Bit

The New Stack

by Katie Greenley

February 26, 2026

AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary

Migrating observability platforms is a complex task that requires careful planning and execution, especially when dealing with tools like Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, and Fluent Bit. The article highlights common patterns to manage such migrations effectively while minimizing risks and ensuring smooth transitions. By leveraging open standards for instrumentation, teams can streamline the migration process, reroute pipelines, and focus on critical dashboards and alerts before fully committing to the new setup. The success of any migration hinges on clearly defining priorities. Identifying which services to migrate first—ideally starting with lower-impact ones—and pinpointing essential dashboards and alerts that are crucial for daily operations is vital. This focused approach ensures that minimal disruption occurs during the transition, as non-critical elements can be addressed later. Understanding the flow of telemetry data is another key step in the migration process. For metrics, it involves mapping how Prometheus scrapes services, whether through direct exporters or remote-write endpoints. For traces, it’s about tracking how OpenTelemetry Collectors route data and any transformations applied along the way. This inventory helps ensure a smooth transition by ensuring all critical data points are accounted for. Adopting open standards like OTLP can significantly simplify migration but may require re-instrumentation if the current setup relies on proprietary tools or closed formats. Replacing instrumentation across services can be time-consuming, especially in large fleets with complex release cycles. However, the long-term benefits of using open standards often outweigh these initial challenges. For DevOps professionals, this approach offers a reliable and cost-effective way to modernize observability infrastructure. By focusing on what truly matters and systematically addressing dependencies, teams can maintain visibility throughout the migration process while minimizing risk. This strategic method not only ensures business continuity but also lays the groundwork for future scalability and efficiency in monitoring and troubleshooting.

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Originally published on The New Stack on 2/26/2026