SPLK-2002 Exam Dumps - Splunk Enterprise Certified Architect

The splunk edit licenser-localslave command is used to convert a Splunk instance to a license slave. This command will configure the Splunk instance to contact a license master and receive a license from it. This command should be used when the Splunk instance is part of a distributed deployment and needs to share a license pool with other instances. The splunk add licenses command is used to add a license to a Splunk instance, not to convert it to a license slave. The splunk list licenser-slaves command is used to list the license slaves that are connected to a license master, not to convert a Splunk instance to a license slave. The splunk list licenser-localslave command is used to list the license master that a license slave is connected to, not to convert a Splunk instance to a license slave. For more information, see Configure license slaves in the Splunk documentation.

According to Splunk Enterprise Distributed Clustering documentation, when you add a search head to an indexer cluster, you must configure it to communicate with the Cluster Manager (previously known as Master Node). The proper way to initialize this connection is by editing the cluster configuration using the splunk edit cluster-config command.

The correct syntax for a search head is:

splunk edit cluster-config -mode searchhead -manager_uri https:// :8089 -secret

Here:

-mode searchhead specifies that this node will function as a search head that participates in distributed search across the indexer cluster.

-manager_uri provides the management URI of the cluster manager.

-secret defines the shared secret key used for secure communication between the manager and cluster members.

Once this configuration is applied, the search head must be restarted for the changes to take effect.

Using -mode peer (Option B) is for indexers joining the cluster, not search heads. The add cluster-manager command (Options C and D) is not a valid Splunk command.

References (Splunk Enterprise Documentation):

• Configure the Search Head for an Indexer Cluster

• Indexer Clustering: Configure the Cluster Manager, Peer, and Search Head Nodes

• Splunk Enterprise Admin Manual: splunk edit cluster-config Command Reference

inputs.conf is a configuration file that contains settings for various types of data inputs, such as files, directories, network ports, scripts, and so on1.

initCrcLength is a setting that specifies the number of characters that the input uses to calculate the CRC (cyclic redundancy check) of a file1. The CRC is a value that uniquely identifies a file based on its content2.

crcSalt is another setting that adds a string to the CRC calculation to force the input to consume files that have matching CRCs1. This can be useful when files have identical headers or when files are renamed or rolled over2.

When troubleshooting a situation where some files within a directory are not being indexed, the ignored files are discovered to have long headers, the first thing that should be added to inputs.conf is to increase the value of initCrcLength. This is because by default, the input only performs CRC checks against the first 256 bytes of a file, which means that files with long headers may have matching CRCs and be skipped by the input2. By increasing the value of initCrcLength, the input can use more characters from the file to calculate the CRC, which can reduce the chances of CRC collisions and ensure that different files are indexed3.

Option C is the correct answer because it reflects the best practice for troubleshooting this situation. Option A is incorrect because decreasing the value of initCrcLength would make the CRC calculation less reliable and more prone to collisions. Option B is incorrect because adding a crcSalt with a static string would not help differentiate files with long headers, as they would still have matching CRCs. Option D is incorrect because adding a crcSalt with the attribute would add the full directory path to the CRC calculation, which would not help if the files are in the same directory2.

According to the Indexer Clustering Administration Guide, configuration bundles pushed from the Cluster Manager (Master Node) overwrite the contents of the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/slave-apps/ directory on each search peer (indexer). However, Splunk provides a special persistent location — the _cluster app’s local directory — for files that must survive bundle redeployments.

Specifically, any configuration files placed in:

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/slave-apps/_cluster/local/

will persist after future bundle pushes because this directory is excluded from the automatic overwrite process.

This is particularly useful for maintaining local overrides or custom configurations that should not be replaced by the Cluster Manager, such as environment-specific inputs, temporary test settings, or monitoring configurations unique to that peer.

Other directories under slave-apps are overwritten each time a configuration bundle is pushed, ensuring consistency across the cluster. Likewise, master-apps exists only on the Cluster Manager and is used for deployment, not persistence.

Thus, the _cluster/local folder is the only safe, Splunk-documented location for configurations that need to survive bundle redeployment.

References (Splunk Enterprise Documentation):

• Indexer Clustering: How Configuration Bundles Work

• Maintaining Local Configurations on Clustered Indexers

• slave-apps and _cluster App Structure and Behavior

• Splunk Enterprise Admin Manual – Cluster Configuration Management Best Practices

A deployment plan should include business continuity and disaster recovery plans, current logging details and data source inventory, and current and future topology diagrams of the IT environment. These elements are essential for planning, designing, and implementing a Splunk deployment that meets the business and technical requirements. A comprehensive list of stakeholders, either direct or indirect, is not part of the deployment plan, but rather part of the project charter. For more information, see Deployment planning in the Splunk documentation.

The Splunk Managing Indexes and Storage Documentation explains that when multiple data sources with significantly different ingestion rates share a single index, index bucket management is governed by volume-based rotation, not by source or time. This means that high-volume data causes buckets to fill and roll more quickly, which in turn causes low-volume data to age out prematurely, even if it is relatively recent — hence Option C is correct.

Additionally, because Splunk organizes data within index buckets based on event time and storage characteristics, low-volume data mixed with high-volume data results in inefficient searches for smaller datasets. Queries that target the low-volume source will have to scan through the same large number of buckets containing the high-volume data, leading to slower-than-necessary search performance — Option B.

Compression efficiency (Option A) and performance optimization through data mixing (Option D) are not influenced by mixing volume patterns; these are determined by the event structure and compression algorithm, not source diversity. Splunk best practices recommend separating data sources into different indexes based on usage, volume, and retention requirements to optimize both performance and lifecycle management.

References (Splunk Enterprise Documentation):

• Managing Indexes and Storage – How Splunk Manages Buckets and Data Aging

• Splunk Indexing Performance and Data Organization Best Practices

• Splunk Enterprise Architecture and Data Lifecycle Management

• Best Practices for Data Volume Segregation and Retention Policies

A search head cluster is a group of Splunk Enterprise search heads that share configurations, job scheduling, and search artifacts1. The deployer is a Splunk Enterprise instance that distributes apps and other configurations to the cluster members1. The local folder of each Splunk app contains the custom configurations that override the default settings2. The default folder of each Splunk app contains the default configurations that are provided by the app2.

By default, when the deployer pushes an app to the search head cluster, it merges the local folder of the app into the default folder and deploys the merged folder to the search heads3. This means that the custom configurations in the local folder will take precedence over the default settings in the default folder. However, this also means that the local folder of the app on the search heads will be empty, unless the app is modified through the search head UI3.

Option B is the correct answer because it reflects the default behavior of the deployer when pushing apps to the search head cluster. Option A is incorrect because the local folder is not copied to the local folder on the search heads, but merged into the default folder. Option C is incorrect because all the .conf files in the local folder are deployed to the search heads, not only certain ones. Option D is incorrect because the local folder is not ignored, but merged into the default folder.

The master node distributes configuration bundles to peer nodes in the slave-apps directory under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc. The configuration bundle method is the only supported method for managing common configurations and app deployment across the set of peers. It ensures that all peers use the same versions of these files1. Bundles typically contain a subset of files (configuration files and assets) from $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system, $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps, and $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/users2. The process of distributing knowledge bundles means that peers by default receive nearly the entire contents of the search head’s apps3.