SPLK-1003 Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Questions and Answers

Setting: ignoreOlderThan = < time_window > Description: " Causes the input to stop checking files for updates if the file modification time has passed the < time_window > threshold. " Default: 0 (disabled)

According to the Splunk documentation1, to customize a configuration file, you need to create a new file with the same name in a local or app directory. Then, add the specific settings that you want to customize to the local configuration file. Never change or copy the configuration files in the default directory. The files in the default directory must remain intact and in their original location. The Splunk Enterprise upgrade process overwrites the default directory.

To deploy configuration files to deployment clients, you need to use the deployment server. The deployment server is a Splunk Enterprise instance that distributes content and updates to deployment clients2. The deployment server uses a directory called $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps to store the apps and configuration files that itdeploys to clients2. To update the configuration files in this directory, you need to edit them manually and then run the command $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/sp1unk reload deploy—server to make the changes take effect2.

Therefore, option A is incorrect because it does not include the reload command. Option B is incorrect because it makes the change on a deployment client instead of the deployment server. Option D is incorrect because it changes the default directory instead of the local directory.

" You can group your search peers to facilitate searching on a subset of them. Groups of search peers are known as " distributed search groups. " You specify distributed search groups in the distsearch.conf file "

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/Updating/Aboutdeploymentserver

" The deployment server is the tool for distributing configurations, apps, and content updates to groups of Splunk Enterprise instances. "

A Heavy Forwarder is a Splunk instance that can parse and filter data before forwarding it to another Splunk instance, such as an indexer1. A Heavy Forwarder can also perform index-time field extractions using the TRANSFORMS setting2.

The TRANSFORMS setting is used to configure data transformations in the transforms.conf file3. The transforms.conf file contains settings and values that you can use to configure host and source type overrides, anonymize sensitive data, route events to different indexes, create index-time and search-time field extractions, and set up lookup tables3.

The TRANSFORMS setting can be deployed to the Heavy Forwarder where the syslog files are being monitored, so that the logs can be rerouted based on the event message before they are forwarded to the indexer2. This can improve the performance and efficiency of data processing and indexing2.

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.

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.

- etc/system/local/ has better precedence at index time - for identical settings in the same file, the last one overwrite others, see :https://community.splunk.com/t5/Getting-Data-In/What-is-the-precedence-for-identical-stanzas-within-a-single/m-p/283566

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.

According to the Splunk system admin course PDF, When adding native users, Username and Password ARE REQUIRED

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/7.3.0/Data/Specifyinputpathswithwildcards

The ellipsis wildcard searches recursively through directories and any number of levels of subdirectories to find matches.

If you specify a folder separator (for example, //var/log/.../file), it does not match the first folder level, only subfolders.

* The asterisk wildcard matches anything in that specific folder path segment.

Unlike ..., * does not recurse through subfolders.

 [monitor::/opt/log/crashlog/Jan27crash.txt]. This stanza means that Splunk is monitoring a single local file named Jan27crash.txt in the /opt/log/crashlog/ directory1. The monitor input type is used to monitor files and directories for changes and index any new data that is added2.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/7.3.1/Data/Configurecharactersetencoding

" Configure character set encoding. Splunk software attempts to apply UTF-8 encoding to your scources by default. If a source foesn ' t use UTF-8 encoding or is a non-ASCII file, Splunk software tries to convert data from the source to UTF-8 encoding unless you specify a character set to use by setting the CHARSET key in the props.conf file. "

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Admin/Howtoeditaconfigurationfile#Clear%20a%20setting

The failOpen setting in the [duoMFA] stanza determines how Splunk software handles authentication requests when it cannot connect to the Duo Security service. If failOpen is set to True, as in this example, Splunk software allows users to log in without completing a multifactor challenge. If failOpen is set to False, Splunk software denies all logins when it cannot connect to Duo Security. This setting is independent of the authentication type or the secretKey protection. References = Connect to Duo Security for multifactor authentication

The app local directories move to second in the priority list. This is explained in the Splunk documentation, which states:

In a clustered environment, the precedence of configuration files changes slightly from that of a standalone deployment. The app local directories move to second in the priority list, after the peer-apps local directory. This means that any configuration files in the app local directories on the individual peers are overridden by configuration files of the same name and type in the peer-apps local directory on the master node.

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.

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

When a user is assignedmultiple rolesin Splunk and each has a defined srchFilter, Splunk combines these filters using alogical ANDoperation. This ensures that the user can only search within the intersection of constraints imposed by each role.

From Splunk Docs:

" If a user has multiple roles assigned and multiple roles specify srchFilter, Splunk softwareANDs the filters together. "

— Source: Splunk Documentation – authorize.conf

Let’s break it down:

role_A specifies: sourcetype!=json AND index=main

role_B specifies: sourcetype=csv

To evaluate the effective search filter for the user, Splunk willANDthe two conditions:

(sourcetype=csv) AND (sourcetype!=json AND index=main)

This means the user ' s search is limited to events where:

sourcetype=csv (from role_B)

sourcetype!=json AND index=main (from role_A)

Combining them together logically:

srchFilter = ((sourcetype=csv) AND (sourcetype!=json AND index=main))

This is exactly what is shown inOption A.

" 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. "

A bucket is the object that stores events inside of an index. According to the Splunk documentation1, “An index is a collection of directories, also called buckets, that contain index files. Each bucket represents a specific time range.” A bucket can be in one of several states, such as hot, warm, cold, frozen, or thawed1. Buckets are managed by indexers or clusters of indexers1.

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.

Splunk uses alayered configuration modelwhere settings are loaded in a specific order. This order determines which configuration takes precedence when multiple settings conflict. Atindex time(the point when data is parsed and indexed), the configuration precedence is clearly defined in the official documentation.

FromSplunk Docs(props.conf precedence):

Configuration file resolution order (highest to lowest precedence):

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/users/ < username > / < appname > /local

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/ < appname > /local

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/ < appname > /default

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/default

However, forindex-time configurations, a slight difference applies:

system/local and users/local areoften treated specially, butin practice and according to Splunk Docs, thesystem/localconfigs override apps/default, and so on.

InOption C, the correct precedence fromhighest to lowestis:

/etc/users/local (Highest)

/etc/system/default

/etc/apps/aaa/local

/etc/apps/zzz/default

/etc/system/local (Lowest of these listed)

Though system/local typically has high precedence,when users/local is involved, that is the ultimate override. Splunk Docs confirms this in:

Configuration file precedence

Configuration layering reference

Therefore, Option C reflects the correct Splunk configuration file precedence order at index time.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.6/Security/ManageSplunkuserroleswithLDAP

According to the Splunk documentation1, event processing occurs at the parsing phase of the data pipeline. The parsing phase is where Splunk software processes incoming data into individual events, extracts timestamp information, assigns source types, and performs other tasks to make the data searchable1. The parsing phase can also apply field extractions, event type matching, and other transformations to the events2.

In Splunk Enterprise, when you configure the server.conf file with strict pool quota=false, it means that license pools are allowed to share the total available license quota rather than being restricted to their individually allocated quotas. However, this does not prevent pools from issuing warnings if they exceed their allocated limits.

Given the environment with a 1000 GB/day license split into three pools:

Pool X: 500 GB/day license, 100 GB used

Pool Y: 350 GB/day license, 400 GB used

Pool Z: 150 GB/day license, 300 GB used

Let ' s analyze the usage:

Pool X is allocated 500 GB/day but has only used 100 GB, well within its limit.

Pool Y is allocated 350 GB/day but has used 400 GB, which exceeds its limit by 50 GB.

Pool Z is allocated 150 GB/day but has used 300 GB, which exceeds its limit by 150 GB.

Even with strict pool quota=false, pools Y and Z have exceeded their individual allocated quotas and will issue warnings. Pool X has not exceeded its quota and thus will not issue any warnings. Therefore, the pools that are issued warnings are Y and Z.

homePath = $SPLUNK_DB/hatchdb/db

coldPath = $SPLUNK_DB/hatchdb/colddb

thawedPath = $SPLUNK_DB/hatchdb/thaweddb

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

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/7.3.1/Admin/Indexesconf#PER_INDEX_OPTIONS

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/8.0.5/Data/Usingforwardingagents

Scroll down to the section Titled, How to configure forwarder inputs, and subsection Here are the main ways that you can configure data inputs on a forwarder Install the app or add-on that contains the inputs you wants

The correct answer is B. The network input in Splunk might be found in the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/$appName/local/inputs.conf file.

A network input is a type of input that monitors data from TCP or UDP ports. To configure a network input, you need to specify the port number, the connection host, the source, and the sourcetype in the inputs.conf file. You can also set other optional settings, such as index, queue, and host_regex1.

The inputs.conf file is a configuration file that contains the settings for different types of inputs, such as files, directories, scripts, network ports, and Windows event logs. The inputs.conf file can be located in various directories, depending on the scope and priority of the settings. The most common locations are:

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/default: This directory contains the default settings for all inputs. You should not modify or copy the files in this directory2.

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local: This directory contains the custom settings for all inputs that apply to the entire Splunk instance. The settings in this directory override the default settings2.

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/$appName/default: This directory contains the default settings for all inputs that are specific to an app. You should not modify or copy the files in this directory2.

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/$appName/local: This directory contains the custom settings for all inputs that are specific to an app. The settings in this directory override the default and system settings2.

Therefore, the best practice is to create or edit the inputs.conf file in the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/$appName/local directory, where $appName is the name of the app that you want to configure the network input for. This way, you can avoid modifying the default files and ensure that your settings are applied to the specific app.

The other options are incorrect because:

A. There is no network directory under the apps directory. The network input settings should be in the inputs.conf file, not in a separate directory.

C. There is no udp.conf file in Splunk. The network input settings should be in the inputs.conf file, not in a separate file. The system directory is not the recommended location for custom settings, as it affects the entire Splunk instance.

D. The var/lib/splunk directory is where Splunk stores the indexed data, not the input settings. The homePath setting is used to specify the location of the index data, not the input data. The inputName is not a valid variable for inputs.conf.

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.

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.

https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/what-is-this-fishbucket-thing.html

" Every Splunk instance has a fishbucket index, except the lightest of hand-tuned lightweight forwarders, and if you index a lot of files it can get quite large. As any other index, you can change the retention policy to control the size via indexes.conf "

Reference https://community.splunk.com/t5/Archive/How-to-reindex-data-from-a-forwarder/td-p/93310

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.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.5/Indexer/Howindexingworks

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

-Scroll down to source = < string >

*Default: the input file path

" The forwarder/indexer relationship can be considered platform agnostic (within the sphere of supported platforms) because they exchange their data handshake (and the data, if you wish) over TCP.

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

Add your data to Splunk Enterprise. With Splunk Enterprise, you can add data using Splunk Web or Splunk Apps. In addition to these methods, you also can use the following methods. -The Splunk Command Line Interface (CLI) -The inputs.conf configuration file. When you specify your inputs with Splunk Web or the CLI, the details are saved in a configuartion file on Splunk Enterprise indexer and heavy forwarder instances.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.4/Admin/Propsconf#props.conf.spec

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.1.1/Admin/Propsconf

" * Reuse of the same field-extracting regular expression across multiple sources, source types, or hosts. " https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.4/Admin/Propsconf#props.conf.spec

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/7.3.0/Admin/Wheretofindtheconfigurationfiles

" To determine the order of directories for evaluating configuration file precendence, Splunk software considers each file ' s context. Configuration files operate in either a global context or in the context of the current app and user "

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/7.0.3/Forwarding/Routeandfilterdatad#Perform_selective_indexing_and_forwarding

Specifies a comma-separated list of tcpout group names. Use this setting to selectively forward your data to specific indexers by specifying the tcpout groups that the forwarder should use when forwarding the data. Define the tcpout group names in the outputs.conf file in [tcpout: < tcpout_group_name > ] stanzas. The groups present in defaultGroup in [tcpout] stanza in the outputs.conf file.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Forwarding/Protectagainstlossofin-flightdata#:~:text=The%20default%20for%20the%20maxQueueSize,wait%20queue%20size%20is%2021MB.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Forwarding/Protectagainstlossofin-flightdata

" When ingesting event data, the measured data volume is based on the new raw data that is placed into the indexing pipeline. Because the data is measured at the indexing pipeline, data that is filetered and dropped prior to indexing does not count against the license volume qota. "

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.6/Admin/HowSplunklicensingworks