Observability Practical By Samson Tanimawo, PhD Published Feb 2, 2026 4 min read

The Vendor Migration Rollout Pattern

Switching observability vendors is risky. The dual-write pattern that lets you migrate safely.

Phase 1: dual-write

Old vendor and new vendor both receive telemetry. New vendor's data is observed but not relied on.

Confidence builds; new vendor's UI gets familiar.

Dashboards read from new vendor. Old vendor is fallback. Alerts still go to both.

Most usage shifts. Issues with new vendor surface and get fixed.

Old vendor: shut off ingestion. Data retention runs out per the old contract.

New vendor: only target. Migration complete.