What would the steps be to connect to a cloud based application to pull logs via API into Splunk? I am trying to learn how to use this function of Splunk and not sure where to start and the documentation is a little hard to follow. Keep in mind I am not a programmer.
It seems really strange to me that Splunk has yet to offer a method to "pull". Recently, Dynatrace made the Dynatrace SaaS logs available through their API. I want to pull these into Splunk. I agree with Rich that it looks like the only way to do this is through the API and writing something on your own to execute the pull.
Is there a specific method to pull Oracle Cloud Platform logs into Splunk? Would this require using REST API's or the HTTP Event Collector?
You would not use REST API for that, you would use Http Event Collector (HEC):
http://dev.splunk.com/view/event-collector/SP-CAAAE6M
The OP said he wanted to "pull" logs into Splunk, which I take to mean "do something on the Splunk server to get my cloud logs indexed". That's why I suggested the REST app.
The HEC would be the way to go if the cloud app was pushing logs into Splunk and could be modified to use HEC.
There is no clientless way to pull anything anywhere so I assumed he mis-spoke and that he needs a clientless push.
Have a look at the REST API Modular Input app (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/1546/#/documentation ). It will do most of the heavy lifting for you, but you may need to do some programming yourself (or get some help).