SPLK-1003 Exam Dumps - Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin

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:] stanzas. The groups present in defaultGroup in [tcpout] stanza in the outputs.conf file.

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.

Per the provided Splunk reference URL

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.5/Data/AboutHECIDXAck

"While HEC has precautions in place to prevent data loss, it's impossible to completely prevent such an occurrence, especially in the event of a network failure or hardware crash. This is where indexer acknolwedgment comes in."

Reference https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.5/Data/AboutHECIDXAck

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/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/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."

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."

The correct answer is C. MonitorNoHandle.

MonitorNoHandle is a type of input stanza that allows a Splunk forwarder to read files on Windows systems as Windows writes to them. It does this by using a kernel-mode filter driver to capture raw data as it gets written to the file1. This input stanza is useful for files that get locked open for writing, such as the Windows DNS server log file2.

The other options are incorrect because:

A. Tail Reader is not a valid input stanza in Splunk. It is a component of the Tailing Processor, which is responsible for monitoring files and directories for new data3.

B. Upload is a type of input stanza that allows Splunk to index a single file from a local or network file system. It is not suitable for files that are constantly being updated, as it only indexes the file once and does not monitor it for changes4.

D. Monitor is a type of input stanza that allows Splunk to monitor files and directories for new data. However, it may not work for files that Windows prevents Splunk from reading while they are open. In such cases, MonitorNoHandle is a better option2.

A Splunk forwarder is a lightweight agent that can forward data to a Splunk deployment. There are two types of forwarders: universal and heavy. A universal forwarder can only forward data, while a heavy forwarder can also perform parsing, filtering, routing, and aggregation on the data before forwarding it5.

An input stanza is a section in the inputs.conf configuration file that defines the settings for a specific type of input, such as files, directories, network ports, scripts, or Windows event logs. An input stanza starts with a square bracket, followed by the input type and the input path or name. For example, [monitor:///var/log] is an input stanza for monitoring the /var/log directory.

References:

1: Monitor files and directories - Splunk Documentation

2: How to configure props.conf for proper line breaking … - Splunk Community

3: How Splunk Enterprise monitors files and directories - Splunk Documentation

4: Upload a file - Splunk Documentation

5: Use forwarders to get data into Splunk Enterprise - Splunk Documentation

[6]: inputs.conf - Splunk Documentation

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 D. No, because the event time is greater than the retention time.

According to the Splunk documentation1, the frozenTimePeriodInSecs setting in indexes.conf determines how long Splunk software retains indexed data before deleting it or archiving it to a remote storage. The default value is 188697600 seconds, which is equivalent to six years. The setting can be overridden on a per-index basis.

In this case, the cat_facts index has a frozenTimePeriodInSecs setting of 2630000 seconds, which is equivalent to about 30 days. This means that any event that is older than 30 days from the current time will be removed from the index and will not be searchable.

The event timestamp was 3739283 seconds ago, which is equivalent to about 43 days. This means that the event is older than the retention time of the cat_facts index and will not be searchable.

The other settings in the stanza, such as maxHotSpanSecs and maxTota1DataSizeMB, do not affect the retention time of the events. They only affect the size and duration of the buckets that store the events.

References: 1: Set a retirement and archiving policy - Splunk Documentation

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

To determine the order of directories for evaluating configuration file precedence, 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: Global. Activities like indexing take place in a global context. They are independent of any app or user. For example, configuration files that determine monitoring or indexing behavior occur outside of the app and user context and are global in nature. App/user. Some activities, like searching, take place in an app or user context. The app and user context is vital to search-time processing, where certain knowledge objects or actions might be valid only for specific users in specific apps.

A role in Splunk is a classification that determines what capabilities and indexes a user has. A capability is a permission to perform a specific action or access a specific feature on the Splunk platform1. An index is a collection of data that Splunk software processes and stores2. By assigning roles to users, you can control what they can do and what data they can access on the Splunk platform.

Therefore, the correct answers are A and D. A role in Splunk determines what capabilities and indexes a user has. Option B is incorrect because Splunk servers do not use roles to remotely control each other. Option C is incorrect because Splunk servers use instances and components to determine what functions they control3.

References: 1: Define roles on the Splunk platform with capabilities - Splunk Documentation 2: About indexes and indexers - Splunk Documentation 3: Splunk Enterprise components - Splunk Documentation

"The search head replicates the knowledge bundle periodically in the background or when initiating a search. " "As part of the distributed search process, the search head replicates and distributes its knowledge objects to its search peers, or indexers. Knowledge objects include saved searches, event types, and other entities used in searching accorss indexes. The search head needs to distribute this material to its search peers so that they can properly execute queries on its behalf."

"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"

Reference https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.3/Admin/Configurationparametersandthedatapipeline

 The parsing phase is the process of extracting fields and values from raw data. The parsing phase respects LINE_BREAKER, SHOULD_LINEMERGE, BREAK_ONLY_BEFORE_DATE, and all other line merging settings in props.conf. These settings determine how Splunk breaks the data into events based on certain criteria, such as timestamps or regular expressions. The event boundaries are defined by the props.conf file, which can be modified by the administrator. Therefore, the parsing phase is the last opportunity for defining event boundaries.

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.

"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//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."

The CLI command "Splunk add forward-server indexer:" is used to define the indexer and the listening port on forwards. The command creates this kind of entry "[tcpout-server://:]" in the outputs.conf file.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Forwarder/8.2.2/Forwarder/Configureforwardingwithoutputs.conf

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."

Adding further clarity and quoting same Splunk reference URL from @giubal"

"To keep configuration settings consistent across peer nodes, configuration files are managed from the cluster master, which pushes the files to the slave-app directories on the peer nodes. Files in the slave-app directories have the highest precedence in a cluster peer's configuration. Here is the expanded precedence order for cluster peers:

1.Slave-app local directories -- highest priority

2. System local directory

3. App local directories

4. Slave-app default directories

5. App default directories

6. System default directory --lowest priority

After an app is downloaded, it resides under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps on the deployment clients. But it resided in the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps location in the deployment server.

URL https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/DistSearch/Configuredistributedsearch

"To activate distributed search, you add search peers, or indexers, to a Splunk Enterprise instance that you desingate as a search head. You do this by specifying each search peer manually."

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.1.2/Security/Dataintegritycontrol#:~:text=When%20you%20enable%20data%20integrity%20control%2C%20Splunk%20Enterprise%20computes%20hashes,it%20to%20a%20l1Hashes%20file .

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.

References:

1: Configure inputs using Splunk Connect for Syslog - Splunk Documentation

2: inputs.conf - Splunk Documentation

3: How to configure props.conf for proper line breaking … - Splunk Community

4: Reliable syslog/tcp input – splunk bundle style | Splunk

5: Configure inputs using Splunk Connect for Syslog - Splunk Documentation

6: About configuration files - Splunk Documentation

[7]: Configure your OSSEC server to send data to the Splunk Add-on for OSSEC - Splunk Documentation

[8]: Splunk components - Splunk Documentation

[9]: Syslog - Wikipedia

[10]: About default fields - Splunk Documentation

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

"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

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.

This option corresponds to the file path “$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/splunk_TA_nginx/local/inputs.conf”. This is the configuration file that the user needs to edit to ingest the NGINX access logs to ensure it remains unaffected after upgrade. This is explained in the Splunk documentation, which states:

The local directory is where you place your customized configuration files. The local directory is empty when you install Splunk Enterprise. You create it when you need to override or add to the default settings in a configuration file. The local directory is never overwritten during an upgrade.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.5/Forwarding/Forwarddatatothird-partysystemsd

"You can specify a SEDCMD configuration in props.conf to address data that contains characters that the third-party server cannot process. "

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

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/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

https://docs.splunk.com /Documentation/SplunkCloud/8.2.2106/Admin/ConcurrentLimits

"Set limits for concurrent scheduled searches. You must have the edit_search_concurrency_all and edit_search_concurrency_scheduled capabilities to configure these settings."

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

[tcp://:]

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

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

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

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

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

The indexing pipeline and the parsing pipeline are the two pipelines that are responsible for transforming the raw data into events and preparing them for indexing. The indexing pipeline applies index-time settings, such as timestamp extraction, line breaking, host extraction, and source type recognition. The parsing pipeline applies parsing settings, such as field extraction, event segmentation, and event annotation.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.1/Troubleshooting/Usebtooltotroubleshootconfigurations

"The btool command simulates the merging process using the on-disk conf files and creates a report showing the merged settings."

"The report does not necessarily represent what's loaded in memory. If a conf file change is made that requires a service restart, the btool report shows the change even though that change isn't active."

Immediately after installation, a universal forwarder will start generating internal Splunk logs that contain information about its own operation, such as configuration changes, data inputs, and forwarding activities1. These logs are stored in the $SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/splunk directory on the universal forwarder machine1. The universal forwarder will not automatically detect any indexers in its subnet and begin routing data, as it needs to be configured with the IP address and port number of the indexer or the deployment server2. The universal forwarder will not begin reading local files on its server, as it needs to be configured with the data inputs that specify which files or directories to monitor2. The universal forwarder will not send an email to the operator that the installation process has completed, as this is not a default behavior of the universal forwarder and would require additional configuration3.

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.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.3/Admin/Distdeploylicenses#Clustered_deployments_and_licensing_issues