SPLK-1003 Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Questions and Answers

Search-time field extractions are the process of extracting fields from events after they are indexed. Search-time field extractions are specified on the search head, which is the Splunk component that handles searching and reporting. Search-time field extractions are configured in props.conf and transforms.conf files, which are located in the etc/system/local directory on the search head. Therefore, option D is the correct answer. References: Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin | Splunk, [About fields - Splunk Documentation]

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/DistSearch/Whatisdistributedsearch

Parallel reduce search processing If you struggle with extremely large high-cardinality searches, you might be able to apply parallel reduce processing to them to help them complete faster. You must have a distributed search environment to use parallel reduce search processing.

The Splunk indexing process consists of three main phases: Input, Parsing, and Indexing. Understanding these phases is crucial for configuring data inputs and managing data flow within Splunk.

Input Phase: Splunk receives data from various sources, such as files, network ports, or scripted inputs.

Parsing Phase: Splunk breaks the data into individual events, applies transformations, and extracts timestamps.

Indexing Phase: Splunk writes the parsed events to disk and creates indexes for efficient searching.

From the official Splunk documentation:

" The data pipeline consists of three main phases: input, parsing, and indexing. "

— How the Splunk platform indexes data - Splunk Documentation

Therefore, the correct order of the indexing process is: Input phase → Parsing phase → Indexing phase.

The acceptFrom setting controls which remote hosts are allowed or denied for a network input. It supports IP addresses and CIDR notation. A deny rule is represented with an exclamation mark !.

To allow all hosts in the 10.0.0.0/8 network but deny hosts in the 10.1.0.0/16 network, the configuration must include both:

10.0.0.0/8 to allow the broader network

!10.1.0.0/16 to deny the excluded subnet

The best matching option is:

acceptFrom = !10.1.0.0/16, 10.0.0.0/8

Option A is incorrect because it only accepts the 10.1.0.0/16 network, which is the network that should be excluded.

Option B is incorrect because it accepts all 10.x.x.x hosts and does not exclude 10.1.x.x.

Option C is incorrect because it repeats the acceptFrom setting on separate lines. In Splunk configuration files, repeated attributes in the same stanza can override earlier values, so this is not the correct way to express the allow/deny list.

Option D is correct because it defines the exclusion and the allowed network in one acceptFrom list.

IgnoreOlderThan:This setting filters files for indexing based on their age. It does not prevent indexing of old data already in the file.

allowList:This setting allows specifying patterns to include files for monitoring, but it does not control indexing of pre-existing data.

monitor:This is the default method for monitoring files but does not address indexing pre-existing data.

followTail:This attribute, when set in inputs.conf, ensures that Splunk starts reading a file from the end (tail) and does not index existing old data. It is ideal for scenarios with large files where only new updates are relevant.

The outputs.conf file defines how forwarders send data to receivers1. You can specify some output configurations at installation time (Windows universal forwarders only) or the CLI, but most advanced configuration settings require that you edit outputs.conf1.

The [tcpout:…] stanza specifies a group of forwarding targets that receive data over TCP2. You can define multiple groups with different names and settings2.

The server setting lists one or more receiving hosts for the group, separated by commas2. If you specify multiple hosts, the forwarder load balances the data across them2.

Therefore, option A is correct, because the forwarder will send data to both inputsl.mysplunkhfs.corp:9997 and inputs2.mysplunkhfs.corp:9997, even if 145.188.183.184:9097 is unreachable.

This is because the input type is UDP, which is an unreliable protocol that does not guarantee delivery, order, or integrity of the data packets. UDP does not have any mechanism to resend or acknowledge the data packets, so if Splunk is restarted, any data that was in transit or in the buffer may be dropped and not indexed.

Hot/warm/cold/thawed bucket types are searchable. Frozen isn ' t searchable because its either deleted at that state or archived.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/7.3.1/DistSearch/SHCarchitecture

Scroll down to section titled, How the cluster handles concurrent search quotas, " Overall search quota. This quota determines the maximum number of historical searches (combined scheduled and ad hoc) that the cluster can run concurrently. This quota is configured with max_Searches_per_cpu and related settings in limits.conf. "

In Splunk Enterprise, license warnings occur when the daily indexing volume exceeds the licensed quota. These warnings are tracked from midnight to midnight based on the system clock of the license manager. If the number of warnings surpasses the allowed threshold within a specified period, a license violation ensues, potentially restricting search capabilities.

To prevent a license warning from escalating to a violation, administrators have until midnight to address the issue. The recommended action is toadd a new licenseto the license manager before midnight. This increases the daily indexing volume quota, ensuring that the current day ' s data ingestion falls within the permissible limits.

It ' s important to note that deleting data from indexers or the license manager does not retroactively reduce the recorded license usage for the day. Once data is indexed, it contributes to the day ' s license volume, and its removal does not negate that contribution.

Data integrity controls in Splunk ensure that indexed data has not been tampered with.

When enabled, Splunk calculates hashes for each bucket and stores these hash files in the rawdata directory of the corresponding bucket.

Incorrect Options:

A, C, D:These directories do not store hash files.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Admin/Outputsconf

# Compression

#

# This example sends compressed events to the remote indexer.

# NOTE: Compression can be enabled TCP or SSL outputs only.

# The receiver input port should also have compression enabled.

[tcpout]

server = splunkServer.example.com:4433

compressed = true

Users log on to the search head and run reports: – The search head dispatches searches to the peers – Peers run searches in parallel and return their portion of results – The search head consolidates the individual results and prepares reports

A modular input script that belongs to a Splunk app is placed inside that app’s bin directory. The app directory is located under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/ < app_name > /, and executable scripts for the app are stored in the bin subdirectory.

Therefore, for an app named cisco_collector, the correct modular input script location is:

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/cisco_collector/bin/cisco_collector.py

Option B is incorrect because $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps/ is used on a deployment server to store deployment apps before they are distributed to deployment clients. It is not the runtime app path used by Splunk for executing the modular input.

Option C is incorrect because the script must be inside the app’s bin directory, not directly under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/.

Option D is incorrect because Splunk does not use $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/mod_input/ as the standard location for modular input scripts.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.1.1/DistSearch/Forwardsearchheaddata

Per the provided Splunk reference URL by @hwangho, scroll to section Forward search head data, subsection titled, 2. Configure the search head as a forwarder. " Create an outputs.conf file on the search head that configures the search head for load-balanced forwarding across the set of search peers (indexers). "

The coldPath parameter defines the path for the cold buckets, which are the oldest and least frequently accessed data in an index1. By setting the coldPath to point to the NAS mount point, the Splunk administrator can achieve the retention strategy of having older data on slower NAS storage.

https://answers.splunk.com/answers/131127/scripted-authentication.html

Scripted Authentication: An option for Splunk Enterprise authentication. You can use an authentication system that you have in place (such as PAM or RADIUS) by configuring authentication.conf to use a script instead of using LDAP or Splunk Enterprise default authentication.

This is the endpoint URI used to collect data using the HTTP Event Collector (HEC), which is a token-based API that allows you to send data to Splunk Enterprise from any application that can make an HTTP request. The endpoint URI consists of the protocol (http or https), the hostname or IP address of the Splunk server, the port number (default is 8088), and the service name (services/collector). For example:

https://mysplunkserver.example.com:8088/services/collector

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.1.1/Indexer/HowSplunkstoresindexes

Once further conditions are met (for example, the index reaches some maximum number of warm buckets), the indexer begins to roll the warm buckets to cold, based on their age. It always selects the oldest warm bucket to roll to cold. Buckets continue to roll to cold as they age in this manner. Cold buckets reside in a different location from hot and warm buckets. You can configure the location so that cold buckets reside on cheaper storage.

To remove a search peer from a search head in a distributed search environment using the CLI, Splunk provides the splunk remove search-server command. This command is executed on the search head and removes the specified search peer from its configuration.

The correct syntax for this command is:

splunk remove search-server -auth < user > : < password > < host > : < port >

Where:

< user > : < password > are the credentials for the search head.

< host > : < port > specifies the management port of the search peer to be removed.

For example:

bash

CopyEdit

splunk remove search-server -auth admin:password 123.45.67.89:8089

This command removes the search peer from the search head ' s configuration. It ' s important to note that this action does not affect the search peer itself; it merely removes the association from the search head.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.5/Admin/Inputsconf

[tcp:// < remote server > : < port > ]

*Configures the input to listen on a specific TCP network port.

*If a < remote server > makes a connection to this instance, the input uses this stanza to configure itself.

*If you do not specify < remote server > , this stanza matches all connections on the specified port.

*Generates events with source set to " tcp: < port > " , for example: tcp:514

*If you do not specify a sourcetype, generates events with sourcetype set to " tcp-raw "

According to the Splunk documentation1, a heavy forwarder is a Splunk Enterprise instance that can parse and filter data before forwarding it to an indexer. A heavy forwarder can perform line breaking,which is the process of splitting incoming data into individual events based on a set of rules2. A heavy forwarder can also apply other transformations to the data, such as field extractions, event type matching, or masking sensitive data3.

http://www.splunk.com/view/SP-CAAAGPR

Splunk REST API is a valid method to create a Splunk user. The Splunk REST API allows administrators to create, edit, and delete users programmatically using HTTP requests. The other options are not valid methods to create a Splunk user. Creating a support ticket does not create a user, but requests assistance from Splunk support. Creating a user on the host operating system does not create a Splunk user, but a system user. Adding the username to users.conf does not create a user, but modifies the configuration file that stores user information. References = Configure users with the CLI, Configure users and roles

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.3/DistSearch/Distributedsearchgroups

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Deploy/Datapipeline " The data pipeline segments in depth. INPUT - In the input segment, Splunk software consumes data. It acquires the raw data stream from its source, breaks it into 64K blocks, and annotates each block with some metadata keys. The keys can also include values that are used internally, such as the character encoding of the data stream, and values that control later processing of the data, such as the index into which the events should be stored. PARSING Annotating individual events with metadata copied from the source-wide keys. Transforming event data and metadata according to regex transform rules. "

A Splunk Deployment Server is used to centrally manage and distribute apps, configurations, and updates to deployment clients. On the deployment server, the default location for deployment apps is:

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps/

Apps placed in this directory can be assigned to server classes and deployed to deployment clients.

Important distinction:

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps/

is used on the deployment server.

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/

is where apps are normally installed on a Splunk instance, including deployment clients after apps are received.

manager-apps and peer-apps are not the default Deployment Server app staging directory.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/Data/AboutHECIDXAck

- Section: About channels and sending data

Sending events to HEC with indexer acknowledgment active is similar to sending them with the setting off. There is one crucial difference: when you have indexer acknowledgment turned on, you must specify a channel when you send events. The concept of a channel was introduced in HEC primarily to prevent a fast client from impeding the performance of a slow client. When you assign one channel per client, because channels are treated equally on Splunk Enterprise, one client can ' t affect another. You must include a matching channel identifier both when sending data to HEC in an HTTP request and when requesting acknowledgment that events contained in the request have been indexed. If you don ' t, you will receive the error message, " Data channel is missing. " Each request that includes a token for which indexer acknowledgment has been enabled must include a channel identifier, as shown in the following example cURL statement, where < data > represents the event data portion of the request

When there are conflicting settings within two or more configuration files, the setting with the highest precedence is used. The precedence of configuration files is determined by a combination of the file type, the directory location, and the alphabetical order of the file names.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.1.3/Security/ConfigureLDAPwithSplunkWeb

" You can map either users or groups, but not both. If you are using groups, all users must be members of an appropriate group. Groups inherit capabilities form the highest level role they ' re a member of. " " If your LDAP environment does not have group entries, you can treat each user as its own group. "

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/Data/UsetheHTTPEventCollector

" The HTTP Event Collector (HEC) lets you send data and application events to a Splunk deployment over the HTTP and Secure HTTP (HTTPS) protocols. HEC uses a token-based authentication model. You can generate a token and then configure a logging library or HTTP client with the token to send data to HEC in a specific format. This process eliminates the need for a Splunk forwarder when you send application events. "

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.1.1/Updating/Definedeploymentclasses#Ways_to_define_server_classes " When you use forwarder management to create a new server class, it saves the server class definition in a copy of serverclass.conf under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local. If, instead of using forwarder management, you decide to directly edit serverclass.conf, it is recommended that you create the serverclass.conf file in that same directory, $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local. "

< https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.6/Updating/Deploymentserverarchitecture >

https://docs.splunk.com/Splexicon:Serverclass

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/Data/Anonymizedata

Scrolling down to the section titled " Define the sed script in props.conf shows the correct syntax of an example which validates that the number/character /1 immediately preceded the /g

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/Data/Howdoyouwanttoadddata

The fastest way to add data to your Splunk Cloud instance or Splunk Enterprise deployment is to use Splunk Web. After you access the Add Data page, choose one of three options for getting data into your Splunk platform deployment with Splunk Web: (1) Upload, (2) Monitor, (3) Forward The Upload option lets you upload a file or archive of files for indexing. When you choose Upload option, Splunk Web opens the upload process page. Monitor. For Splunk Enterprise installations, the Monitor option lets you monitor one or more files, directories, network streams, scripts, Event Logs (on Windows hosts only), performance metrics, or any other type of machine data that the Splunk Enterprise instance has access to.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.0.0/DistSearch/Distributedsearchgroups

A Splunk Enterprise trial license gives you access to all the features of Splunk Enterprise for a limited period of time, usually 60 days1. After the trial period expires, you can either purchase a Splunk Enterprise license or switch to a Free license1.

A Splunk Enterprise Free license allows you to index up to 500 MB of data per day, but some features are disabled, such as authentication, distributed search, and alerting2. You can switch to a Free license at any time during the trial period or after the trial period expires1.

A Splunk Enterprise Forwarder license is used with forwarders, which are Splunk instances that forward data to other Splunk instances. A Forwarder license does not allow indexing or searching of data3. You can install a Forwarder license on any Splunk instance that you want to use as a forwarder4.

A Splunk Enterprise commercial end-user license is a license that you purchase from Splunk based on either data volume or infrastructure. This license gives you access to all the features of Splunk Enterprise within a defined limit of indexed data per day (volume-based license) or vCPU count (infrastructure license). You can purchase and install this license after the trial period expires or at any time during the trial period1.

The next step to enable the communication between the forwarder and the deployment server after installing a new forwarder with a manually created deploymentclient.conf is to restart Splunk on the deployment client. The deploymentclient.conf file contains the settings for the deployment client, which is a Splunk instance that receives updates from the deployment server. The file must include the targetUri attribute, which specifies the hostname and management port of the deployment server. To apply the changes in the deploymentclient.conf file, Splunk must be restarted on the deployment client. Therefore, option C is the correct answer. References: Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin | Splunk, [Configure deployment clients - Splunk Documentation]

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Data/Configureeventlinebreaking

Attribute : SHOULD_LINEMERGE = [true|false]

Description : When set to true, the Splunk platform combines several input lines into a single event, with configuration based on the settings described in the next section.

" Where to place the scripts for scripted inputs. The script that you refer to in $SCRIPT can reside in only one of the following places on the host file system:

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/bin

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/ < your_App > /bin

$SPLUNK_HOME/bin/scripts

As a best practice, put your script in the bin/ directory that is nearest to the inputs.conf file that calls your script on the host file system. "

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Security/Aboutusersandroles#Role_inheritance

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/7.3.1/Security/Aboutusersandroles#How_users_inherit_capabilities

Quoting the following Splunk URL reference https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/DMC/DMCprerequisites " Monitoring Console setup prerequisites. Forward internal logs (both $SPLUNK_HOME/car/log/splunk and $SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/introspection) to indexers from all other components. Without this step, many dashboards will lack data. "

Using the provided DUO/Splunk reference URLhttps://duo.com/docs/splunk

Scroll down to the Network Diagram section and note the following 6 similar steps

1 - SPlunk connection initiated

2 - Primary authentication

3 - Splunk connection established to Duo Security over TCP port 443

4 - Secondary authentication via Duo Security ' s service

5 - Splunk receives authentication response

6 - Splunk session logged in.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/Admin/Inputsconf

-Scroll down to source = < string >

*Default: the input file path

curl “https://mysplunkserver.example.com:8088/services/collector” \ -H “Authorization: Splunk DF4S7ZE4-3GS1-8SFS-E777-0284GG91PF67” \ -d ‘{“event”: “Hello World”}, {“event”: “Hola Mundo”}, {“event”: “Hallo Welt”}’. This is the correct curl command to send multiple events through HTTP Event Collector (HEC), which is a token-based API that allows you to send data to Splunk Enterprise from any application that can make an HTTP request. The command has the following components:

The URL of the HEC endpoint, which consists of the protocol (https), the hostname or IP address of the Splunk server (mysplunkserver.example.com), the port number (8088), and the service name (services/collector).

The header that contains the authorization token, which is a unique identifier that grants access to the HEC endpoint. The token is prefixed with Splunk and enclosed in quotation marks. The token value (DF4S7ZE4-3GS1-8SFS-E777-0284GG91PF67) is an example and should be replaced with your own token value.

The data payload that contains the events to be sent, which are JSON objects enclosed in curly braces and separated by commas. Each event object has a mandatory field called event, which contains the raw data to be indexed. The event value can be a string, a number, a boolean, an array, or another JSON object. In this case, the event values are strings that say hello in different languages.

 The eval command is a distributable streaming command, which means that it can run on the search peers in a distributed environment1. The search peers are the indexers that store the data and perform the initial steps of the search processing2. The eval command calculates an expression and puts the resulting value into a search results field1. In your search, you are using the eval command to create a new field called “responsible_team” based on the values in the “account” field.

The following items in the phases below are listed in the order Splunk applies them (ie LINE_BREAKER occurs before TRUNCATE).

Input phase

inputs.conf

props.conf

CHARSET

NO_BINARY_CHECK

CHECK_METHOD

CHECK_FOR_HEADER (deprecated)

PREFIX_SOURCETYPE

sourcetype

wmi.conf

regmon-filters.conf

Structured parsing phase

props.conf

INDEXED_EXTRACTIONS, and all other structured data header extractions

Parsing phase

props.conf

LINE_BREAKER, TRUNCATE, SHOULD_LINEMERGE, BREAK_ONLY_BEFORE_DATE, and all other line merging settings

TIME_PREFIX, TIME_FORMAT, DATETIME_CONFIG (datetime.xml), TZ, and all other time extraction settings and rules

TRANSFORMS which includes per-event queue filtering, per-event index assignment, per-event routing

SEDCMD

MORE_THAN, LESS_THAN

transforms.conf

stanzas referenced by a TRANSFORMS clause in props.conf

LOOKAHEAD, DEST_KEY, WRITE_META, DEFAULT_VALUE, REPEAT_MATCH

The correct answer is C and D. A heavy forwarder and an indexer are the Splunk components that can break a stream of syslog inputs into individual events.

A universal forwarder is a lightweight agent that can forward data to a Splunk deployment, but it does not perform any parsing or indexing on the data. A search head is a Splunk component that handles search requests and distributes them to indexers, but it does not process incoming data.

A heavy forwarder is a Splunk component that can perform parsing, filtering, routing, and aggregation on the data before forwarding it to indexers or other destinations. A heavy forwarder can break a stream of syslog inputs into individual events based on the line breaker and should linemerge settings in the inputs.conf file1.

An indexer is a Splunk component that stores and indexes data, making it searchable. An indexer can also break a stream of syslog inputs into individual events based on the props.conf file settings, such as TIME_FORMAT, MAX_TIMESTAMP_LOOKAHEAD, and line_breaker2.

A Splunk component is a software process that performs a specific function in a Splunk deployment, such as data collection, data processing, data storage, data search, or data visualization.

Syslog is a standard protocol for logging messages from network devices, such as routers, switches, firewalls, or servers. Syslog messages are typically sent over UDP or TCP to a central syslog server or a Splunk instance.

Breaking a stream of syslog inputs into individual events means separating the data into discrete records that can be indexed and searched by Splunk. Each event should have a timestamp, a host, a source, and a sourcetype, which are the default fields that Splunk assigns to the data.