Splunk SPLK-1003 Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Exam Practice Test

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."

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Forwarder/8.2.1/Forwarder/HowtoforwarddatatoSplunkE nterprise

"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 following items in the phases below are listed in the order Splunk applies them (ie LINE_BREAKER occurs before TRUNCATE).

Input phase

inputs.conf

props.conf

CHARSET

NO_BINARY_CHECK

CHECK_METHOD

CHECK_FOR_HEADER (deprecated)

PREFIX_SOURCETYPE

sourcetype

wmi.conf

regmon-filters.conf

Structured parsing phase

props.conf

INDEXED_EXTRACTIONS, and all other structured data header extractions

Parsing phase

props.conf

LINE_BREAKER, TRUNCATE, SHOULD_LINEMERGE, BREAK_ONLY_BEFORE_DATE, and all other line merging settings

TIME_PREFIX, TIME_FORMAT, DATETIME_CONFIG (datetime.xml), TZ, and all other time extraction settings and rules

TRANSFORMS which includes per-event queue filtering, per-event index assignment, per-event routing

SEDCMD

MORE_THAN, LESS_THAN

transforms.conf

stanzas referenced by a TRANSFORMS clause in props.conf

LOOKAHEAD, DEST_KEY, WRITE_META, DEFAULT_VALUE, REPEAT_MATCH

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.1.3/Security/ConfigureLDAPwithSplunkWeb

"You can map either users or groups, but not both. If you are using groups, all users must be members of an appropriate group. Groups inherit capabilities form the highest level role they're a member of." "If your LDAP environment does not have group entries, you can treat each user as its own group."

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/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 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

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.

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

The correct answer is C. On Deployment Server, $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps.

A deployment server is a Splunk Enterprise instance that acts as a centralized configuration manager for any number of other instances, called “deployment clients”. A deployment client can be a universal forwarder, a non-clustered indexer, or a search head1.

A deployment app is a directory that contains any content that you want to download to a set of deployment clients. The content can include a Splunk Enterprise app, a set of Splunk Enterprise configurations, or other content, such as scripts, images, and supporting files2.

You create a deployment app by creating a directory for it on the deployment server. The default location is $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps, but this is configurable through the repositoryLocation attribute in serverclass.conf. Underneath this location, each app must have its own subdirectory. The name of the subdirectory serves as the app name in the forwarder management interface2.

The other options are incorrect because:

A. On Universal Forwarder, $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps. This is the location where the deployment app resides after it is downloaded from the deployment server to the universal forwarder. It is not the location of the app before it is deployed2.

B. On Deployment Server, $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps. This is the location where the apps that are specific to the deployment server itself reside. It is not the location where the deployment apps for the clients are stored2.

D. On Universal Forwarder, $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps. This is not a valid location for any app on a universal forwarder. The universal forwarder does not act as a deployment server and does not store deployment apps3.

The Data Preview feature should be used when validating the parsing of data. The Data Preview feature allows you to preview how Splunk software will index your data before you commit the data to an index. You can use the Data Preview feature to check the following aspects of data parsing1:

Timestamp recognition: You can verify that Splunk software correctly identifies the timestamps of your events and assigns them to the _time field.

Event breaking: You can verify that Splunk software correctly breaks your data stream into individual events based on the line breaker and should linemerge settings.

Source type assignment: You can verify that Splunk software correctly assigns a source type to your data based on the props.conf file settings. You can also manually override the source type if needed.

Field extraction: You can verify that Splunk software correctly extracts fields from your events based on the transforms.conf file settings. You can also use the Interactive Field Extractor (IFX) to create custom field extractions.

The Data Preview feature is available in Splunk Web under Settings > Data inputs > Data preview. You can access the Data Preview feature when you add a new input or edit an existing input1.

The other options are incorrect because:

A. When extracting fields for ingested data. The Data Preview feature can be used to verify the field extraction for data that has not been ingested yet, but not for data that has already been indexed. To extract fields from ingested data, you can use the IFX or the rex command in the Search app2.

B. When previewing the data before searching. The Data Preview feature does not allow you to search the data, but only to view how it will be indexed. To preview the data before searching, you can use the Search app and specify a time range or a sample ratio.

C. When reviewing data on the source host. The Data Preview feature does not access the data on the source host, but only the data that has been uploaded or monitored by Splunk software. To review data on the source host, you can use the Splunk Universal Forwarder or the Splunk Add-on for Unix and Linux.

To verify the integrity of a local bucket. The command ./splunk check-integrity -bucketPath [bucket path] [-verbose] is used to verify the integrity of a local bucket by comparing the hashes stored in the l1Hashes and l2Hash files with the actual data in the bucket1. This command can help detect any tampering or corruption of the data.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.3/Data/Monitornetworkports

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.

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.

 [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/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/8.0.3/Admin/Distdeploylicenses#Clustered_deployments_and_licensing_issues

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

"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.

The possible causes of the load balancing issue on the Universal Forwarder are A and C. The receiving port and the DNS record are both factors that affect the ability of the Universal Forwarder to distribute data across multiple receivers. If the receiving port is not properly set up to listen on the right port, or if the DNS record used is not set up with a valid list of IP addresses, the Universal Forwarder might fail to connect to some or all of the receivers, resulting in poor load balancing.

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

The correct answer is D. The timezone of the forwarder will be added to the event as part of indexing.

According to the Splunk documentation1, Splunk software determines the time zone to assign to a timestamp using the following logic in order of precedence:

Use the time zone specified in raw event data (for example, PST, -0800), if present.

Use the TZ attribute set in props.conf, if the event matches the host, source, or source type that the stanza specifies.

If the forwarder and the receiving indexer are version 6.0 or higher, use the time zone that the forwarder provides.

Use the time zone of the host that indexes the event.

In this case, the event does not have a time zone specified in the raw data, nor does it have a TZ attribute set in props.conf. Therefore, the next rule applies, which is to use the time zone that the forwarder provides. A universal forwarder is a lightweight agent that can forward data to a Splunk deployment, and it knows its system time zone and sends that information along with the events to the indexer2. The indexer then converts the event time to UTC and stores it in the _time field1.

The other options are incorrect because:

A. Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) is not the time zone that Splunk adds to the event as part of indexing, but rather the time zone that Splunk uses to store the event time in the _time field. Splunk software converts the event time to UTC based on the time zone that it determines from the rules above1.

B. The timezone of the search head is not relevant for indexing, as the search head is a Splunk component that handles search requests and distributes them to indexers, but it does not process incoming data3. The search head uses the user’s timezone setting to determine the time range in UTC that should be searched and to display the timestamp of the results in the user’s timezone2.

C. The timezone of the indexer that indexed the event is only used as a last resort, if none of the other rules apply. In this case, the forwarder provides the time zone information, so the indexer does not use its own time zone1.

https://answers.splunk.com/answers/131127/scripted-authentication.html

Scripted Authentication: An option for Splunk Enterprise authentication. You can use an authentication system that you have in place (such as PAM or RADIUS) by configuring authentication.conf to use a script instead of using LDAP or Splunk Enterprise default authentication.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.1.1/Indexer/HowSplunkstoresindexes

Once further conditions are met (for example, the index reaches some maximum number of warm buckets), the indexer begins to roll the warm buckets to cold, based on their age. It always selects the oldest warm bucket to roll to cold. Buckets continue to roll to cold as they age in this manner. Cold buckets reside in a different location from hot and warm buckets. You can configure the location so that cold buckets reside on cheaper storage.

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."

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

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 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.

Using the Splunk reference URL https://docs.splunk.com/Splexicon:Searchpeer

"search peer is a splunk platform instance that responds to search requests from a search head. The term "search peer" is usally synonymous with the indexer role in a distributed search topology. However, other instance types also have access to indexed data, particularly internal diagnostic data, and thus function as search peers when they respond to search requests for that data."

The correct answer is C. Distributed search is the feature that allows search heads in a company’s European offices to search data in their New York offices. Distributed search also enables restricting access to certain indexers by using the splunk_server field or the server.conf file1.

Distributed search is a way to scale your Splunk deployment by separating the search management and presentation layer from the indexing and search retrieval layer. With distributed search, a Splunk instance called a search head sends search requests to a group of indexers, or search peers, which perform the actual searches on their indexes. The search head then merges the results back to the user2.

Distributed search has several use cases, such as horizontal scaling, access control, and managing geo-dispersed data. For example, users in different offices can search data across the enterprise or only in their local area, depending on their needs and permissions2.

The other options are incorrect because:

A. Indexer clustering is a feature that replicates data across a group of indexers to ensure data availability and recovery. Indexer clustering does not directly affect distributed search, although search heads can be configured to search across an indexer cluster3.

B. LDAP control is a feature that allows Splunk to integrate with an external LDAP directory service for user authentication and role mapping. LDAP control does not affect distributed search, although it can be used to manage user access to data and searches.

D. Search head clustering is a feature that distributes the search workload across a group of search heads that share resources, configurations, and jobs. Search head clustering does not affect distributed search, although the search heads in a cluster can search across the same set of indexers.

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.

The correct answer is D. Place both props . conf and transforms . conf on the Heavy Forwarder for source A, and place both props . conf and transforms . conf on the indexer for source B.

According to the Splunk documentation1, to mask sensitive data from raw events, you need to use the SEDCMD attribute in the props.conf file and the REGEX attribute in the transforms.conf file. The SEDCMD attribute applies a sed expression to the raw data before indexing, while the REGEX attribute defines a regular expression to match the data to be masked. You need to place these files on the Splunk instance that parses the data, which is usually the indexer or the heavy forwarder2. The universal forwarder does not parse the data, so it does not need these files.

For source A, the data is routed through a heavy forwarder, which can parse the data before sending it to the indexer. Therefore, you need to place both props.conf and transforms.conf on the heavy forwarder for source A, so that the masking takes place before indexing.

For source B, the data is routed directly to the indexer, which parses and indexes the data. Therefore, you need to place both props.conf and transforms.conf on the indexer for source B, so that the masking takes place before indexing.

References: 1: Redact data from events - Splunk Documentation 2: Where do I configure my Splunk settings? - Splunk Documentation

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.

The correct answer is A. splunk add one shot / opt/ incident [data . log —index incident

According to the Splunk documentation1, the splunk add one shot command adds a single file or directory to the Splunk index and then stops monitoring it. This is useful for ingesting static files that do not change or update. The command takes the following syntax:

splunk add one shot -index

The file parameter specifies the path to the file or directory to be indexed. The index parameter specifies the name of the index where the data will be stored. If the index does not exist, Splunk will create it automatically.

Option B is incorrect because the splunk edit monitor command modifies an existing monitor input, which is used for ingesting files or directories that change or update over time. This command does not create a new monitor input, nor does it stop monitoring after indexing.

Option C is incorrect because the splunk add monitor command creates a new monitor input, which is also used for ingesting files or directories that change or update over time. This command does not stop monitoring after indexing.

Option D is incorrect because the splunk edit oneshot command does not exist. There is no such command in the Splunk CLI.

References: 1: Monitor files and directories with inputs.conf - Splunk Documentation

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.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/Knowledge/Usedefaultfields splunk_server

The splunk server field contains the name of the Splunk server containing the event. Useful in a distributed Splunk environment. Example: Restrict a search to the main index on a server named remote. splunk_server=remote index=main 404

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..."

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.

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

You can have a role inherit certain properties from one or more existing role https://docs.splun k.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.5/Security/Aboutusersandroles

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]

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/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."

"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."