Splunk SPLK-1003 Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Exam Practice Test

The Universal Forwarder (UF) handles data forwarding to indexers. When monitoring a continuous and high-volume syslog stream over TCP, the UF may not detect an end-of-file (EOF) condition, which is typicallyrequired to trigger load balancing between multiple indexers. This can result in the UF continuously sending data to a single indexer, potentially leading to uneven load distribution.

To address this, Splunk provides the forceTimebasedAutoLB setting in the outputs.conf configuration file. Enabling this setting allows the UF to switch between indexers at regular time intervals, regardless of EOF detection. This ensures a more balanced distribution of data across multiple indexers, even in scenarios with continuous data streams like syslog.

In Splunk Enterprise, when knowledge bundles (which include lookup files, configurations, and other knowledge objects) are replicated between search heads and indexers, administrators can control the maximum size of lookup files that are eligible for replication.

The correct parameter to use is excludeReplicatedLookupSize, defined in distsearch.conf. This parameter specifies a maximum file size (in megabytes) beyond which lookup files are excluded from bundle replication. By setting this to 500, any lookup file larger than 500 MB will not be replicated to search peers.

This is especially important for performance optimization and preventing unnecessary network load during search head to indexer communication.

Example configuration (distsearch.conf):

[replicationSettings]

excludeReplicatedLookupSize = 500

Reference (Splunk Documentation):

distsearch.conf.spec and example → excludeReplicatedLookupSize

Splunk® Enterprise Distributed Search Manual → “Control knowledge bundle replication between search heads and indexers”

Splunk Admin Manual → “Prevent large lookup files from being replicated”

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

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/8.0.3/DistSearch/Distributedsearchgroups

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Forwarder/8.2.1/Forwarder/HowtoforwarddatatoSplunkEnterprise

"You can collect data on the universal forwarder using several methods. Define inputs on the universal forwarder with the CLI. You can use the CLI to define inputs on the universal forwarder. After you define the inputs, the universal forwarder collects data based on those definitions as long as it has access to the data that you want to monitor. Define inputs on the universal forwarder with configuration files. If the input you want to configure does not have a CLI argument for it, you can configure inputs with configuration files. Create an inputs.conf file in the directory, $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local

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.

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/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/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

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/8.2.1/Updating/Filterclients

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."

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.

When creating new user roles in Splunk, it's recommended to define roles that incorporate the necessary capabilities and index access permissions. This approach allows for granular control over user access and aligns with best practices for role-based access control.

"You can create custom roles and assign those roles to your users. Custom roles let you make granular adjustments to user access, including... Role inheritance... Capabilities... Allowed and default indexes..."

— About configuring role-based user access -

By creating roles that incorporate both capabilities and index access, administrators can efficiently manage user permissions and maintain a secure Splunk environment.

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

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/8.2.2/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/8.0.4/Data/Whitelistorblacklistspecificincomingdata

"It is not necessary to define both an allow list and a deny list in a configuration stanza. The settings are independent. If you do define both filters and a file matches them both, Splunk Enterprise does not index that file, as the blacklist filter overrides the whitelist filter." Source:https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.1.0/Data/Whitelistorblacklistspecificincomingdata

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.1.1/Knowledge/Configureadvancedextractionswithfieldtransforms

use transformations with props.conf and transforms.conf to:

– Mask or delete raw data as it is being indexed

–Override sourcetype or host based upon event values

– Route events to specific indexes based on event content

– Prevent unwanted events from being indexed

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://<input path>]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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/8.0.1/Forwarding/Aboutforwardingandreceivingdata

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Forwarder/8.1.1/Forwarder/Configureforwardingwithoutputs.conf#:~:text=compressed%3Dtrue%20This%20tells%20the,the%20forwarder%20sends%20raw%20data.

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

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.

In Splunk Enterprise, when collecting data from remote Windows machines using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), the configurations are defined in the wmi.conf file. This file specifies the parameters for connecting to WMI providers and defines the data inputs.

The wmi.conf file is located in the $SPLUNK_HOME\etc\system\local\ directory. It contains stanzas that define global settings and input-specific configurations for WMI data collection. This setup allows Splunk to collect various types of data from remote Windows systems, such as event logs and performance metrics, without requiring a forwarder on the remote machine.

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 beconfigured 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://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.

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.

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."

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.

According to the Splunk documentation1, to manually specify a character set for an input, you need to set the CHARSET key in the props.conf file. You can specify the character set by host, source, or sourcetype, but not by index.

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

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

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.5/Updating/Updateconfigurations First line says it all: "The deployment server distributes deployment apps to clients."

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 Splunk Deployment Server is a centralized component used to distribute configurations and apps to multiple deployment clients, such as forwarders, indexers, or other Splunk instances.

By default, all deployment apps that the Deployment Server manages are stored in the directory:

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps/

Each subdirectory under this path represents a deployment app that can be pushed to one or more clients based on rules defined in serverclass.conf.

The Deployment Server stages updates in /etc/deployment-apps/ and deploys them to clients based on matching server classes. This mechanism allows centralized management and configuration consistency across distributed Splunk environments.

Reference (Splunk Documentation):

Splunk® Enterprise Admin Manual → Use the deployment server to deploy configurations

serverclass.conf.spec and example → “Deployment server staging area is $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps/.”

Splunk Docs: “About deployment server”

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]

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."

 The setting that allows the configuration of Splunk to allow events to span over more than one line is SHOULD_LINEMERGE. This setting determines whether consecutive lines from a single source should be concatenated into a single event. If SHOULD_LINEMERGE is set to true, Splunk will attempt to merge multiple lines into one event based on certain criteria, such as timestamps or regular expressions. Therefore, option A is the correct answer. References: Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin | Splunk, [Configure event line merging - Splunk Documentation]

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/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/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."

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.1.1/Data/Monitornetworkports

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.

Referencehttps://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.

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.

The HTTP Event Collector (HEC) supports indexer acknowledgment to confirm event delivery. Each acknowledgment is associated with a uniqueGUID(Globally Unique Identifier).

GUID ensures events are not re-indexed in the case of retries.

Incorrect Options:

B, C, D:These are not valid channel values in HEC acknowledgments.

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

 [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.