SPLK-1003 Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Questions and Answers

When Splunk is integrated with LDAP, most of the user attributes are managed by the LDAP server and cannot be changed in the Splunk UI. However, one exception is the default app attribute, which specifies which app a user sees when they log in to Splunk. This attribute can be changed in the Splunk UI by editing the user settings. Therefore, option A is the correct answer. References: Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin | Splunk, [Configure Splunk to use LDAP and map groups - Splunk Documentation]

This is explained in the Splunk documentation1, which states:

If an indexer goes down during a search, the search head notifies you that the results might be incomplete. The search head does not attempt to re-run the search on another indexer.

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

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

"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."

--reset Reset the fishbucket for the given key or file in the btree. Resetting the checkpoint for an active monitor input reindexes data, resulting in increased license use. https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8. 1.1/Troubleshooting/CommandlinetoolsforusewithSupport

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.

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.

Begin generating internal Splunk logs. Immediately after installation, a Universal Forwarder will start generating internal Splunk logs that contain information about its own operation, such as startup and shutdown events, configuration changes, data ingestion, and forwarding activities1. These logs are stored in the $SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/splunk directory on the Universal Forwarder machine2.

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

"A Splunk platform instance that responses to search requests from a search head. The term "Search peer" is usually synonymous with the indexer role in a distributed search topology..."

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

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/8.1.0/Data/ConsiderationsfordecidinghowtomonitorWindowsdata

"The Splunk platform collects remote Windows data for indexing in one of two ways: From Splunk forwarders, Using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). For Splunk Cloud deployments, you must use the Splunk Universal Forwarder on a Windows machines to montior remote Windows data."

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/8.0.3/DistSearch/Distributedsearchgroups

Splunk checks role-to-group mapping only during user login for external authentication (e.g., LDAP, SAML). Users already logged in will continue using their previously assigned roles until they log out and log back in.

The changes to role mapping do not disrupt ongoing sessions.

Incorrect Options:

B: Search is not disabled upon role updates.

C: This is incorrect since existing users are also updated upon the next login.

D: Role updates do not terminate ongoing sessions.

References:

Splunk Docs: Configure user authentication

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

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/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."

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.

References:

Splunk Docs: Monitor text files

Splunk Docs: Configure followTail in inputs.conf

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Data/Whitelistorblacklistspecificincomingdata#Include_or_exclude_specific_incoming_data

https://docs.splunk.com/Document ation/Splunk/8.2.1/Updating/Filterclients

REGEX =

* Enter a regular expression to operate on your data.

FORMAT =

* NOTE: This option is valid for both index-time and search-time field extraction. Index-time field extraction configuration require the FORMAT settings. The FORMAT settings is optional for search-time field extraction configurations.

* This setting specifies the format of the event, including any field names or values you want to add.

DEST_KEY =

* NOTE: This setting is only valid for index-time field extractions.

* Specifies where SPLUNK software stores the expanded FORMAT results in accordance with the REGEX match.

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.

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 correct answer is C. /var/log/host_460352847/bar/file/foo.txt.

The monitor stanza in inputs.conf is used to configure Splunk to monitor files and directories for new data. The monitor stanza has the following syntax1:

[monitor://]

The input path can be a file or a directory, and it can include wildcards (*) and regular expressions. The wildcards match any number of characters, including none, while the regular expressions match patterns of characters. The input path is case-sensitive and must be enclosed in double quotes if it contains spaces1.

In this case, the input path is /var/log//bar/.txt, which means Splunk will monitor any file with the .txt extension that is located in a subdirectory named bar under the /var/log directory. The subdirectory bar can be at any level under the /var/log directory, and the * wildcard will match any characters before or after the bar and .txt parts1.

Therefore, the file /var/log/host_460352847/bar/file/foo.txt will be matched by the monitor stanza, as it meets the criteria. The other files will not be matched, because:

A. /var/log/host_460352847/temp/bar/file/csv/foo.txt has a .csv extension, not a .txt extension.

B. /var/log/host_460352847/bar/foo.txt is not located in a subdirectory under the bar directory, but directly in the bar directory.

D. /var/log/host_460352847/temp/bar/file/foo.txt is located in a subdirectory named file under the bar directory, not directly in the bar directory.

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.

https://do cs.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.spe c

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"

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. "

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/8.0.5/Deploy/Datapipeline

"In the input segment, Splunk software consumes data. It acquires the raw data stream from its source, breaks in into 64K blocks, and annotates each block with some metadata keys."

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.2.0/Data/Configuretimestamprecognition

"Specify how far (how many characters) into an event Splunk software should look for a timestamp." since TIME_PREFIX = ^ and timestamp is from 0-29 position, so D=30 will pick up the WHOLE timestamp correctly.

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

"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

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

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.

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