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Apache SkyWalking

ANALYTICS
Velocity3.8

Observability platform for distributed systems and microservices

skywalking.apache.org ↗

SkyWalking 11.0 cuts the UI out of the backend and hands it to a separate project.

observabilityapmbanyandbarchitecture-splittls-securityalerting
◆Current state
Apache SkyWalking is an open-source APM and observability platform, and its recent releases have been a sustained rebuild of its own foundations. BanyanDB, its purpose-built storage engine, replaced H2 outright and was then declared large-scale ready. The Groovy DSL runtime was ripped out for an ANTLR4 and Javassist pipeline with fail-fast compilation. GenAI observability arrived as a new telemetry domain. Version 11.0.0 now removes the bundled UI from the OAP release entirely, adds TLS with certificate hot-reload across every HTTP surface, and introduces a queryAlarms GraphQL API alongside runtime rule hot-update and a live DSL debugger.
◆Where it's heading
The consistent method is subtraction: remove the convenient default, absorb the dependency into something the project controls, then optimise it. H2 went so BanyanDB could be the only answer. Groovy went so the DSL could be compiled and type-checked. Now the UI goes so the backend can release on its own cadence. Each removal costs operators a migration and buys the project a surface it fully owns. The security and operations work in 11.0.0 — TLS everywhere, cert rotation without restart, alarm querying by entity and layer — reads as the same platform being made deployable in environments that audit these things.
◆Prediction
With the UI decoupled and released independently, the version coupling operators previously relied on is gone; expect the project to publish compatibility guidance or a supported-version matrix between OAP and Horizon UI, since the release notes acknowledge there is no 1:1 mapping.

◆Recent moves

  1. 19d ago

    11.0.0 - Horizon Ready, Runtime Rule Hot-Update and Live DSL Debugger

    ⚡ SPARK

    The third structural removal in three releases, and the largest: after taking storage and the DSL runtime in-house, SkyWalking pushes the UI out. It arrives alongside the operational hardening — TLS on every REST server with hot-reload, a real alarm query API — that a decoupled backend needs to stand on its own.

    View source ↗
  2. 5mo ago

    10.4.0 - GenAI Observability, Groovy-Free Runtime and Grafana Tempo Compatible

    ⚡ SPARK

    10.4.0 pairs a new telemetry domain — GenAI observability — with an OAL V2 engine that replaces string-based filters and Groovy-era behaviour with immutable ASTs, typed enums and precise error locations. Grafana Tempo compatibility opens it to teams already standardised elsewhere.

    View source ↗
  3. 8mo ago

    10.3.0 - New Trace Model in BanyanDB

    A new trace model in BanyanDB, presented with deployment evidence at around 200 services. This is the release where SkyWalking's own storage engine is claimed to be ready for large-scale use rather than being the experimental option.

    View source ↗
  4. 1y ago

    10.2.0 - No H2, More BanyanDB

    ⚡ SPARK

    10.2.0 removed H2 storage permanently and added BanyanDB 0.8.0 support, closing off the easy default that small deployments relied on. It also added doc_values only for Elasticsearch fields that need sorting or aggregation.

    View source ↗