Splunk SPLK-4001 Splunk O11y Cloud Certified Metrics User Exam Practice Test

The correct answer is D. Mean (Transformation).

According to the web search results, a mean transformation is an analytic function that returns the average value of a metric or a dimension over a specified time interval1. A mean transformation can be used to smooth a very spiky metric, such as cpu.utilization, by reducing the impact of outliers and noise. A mean transformation can also help to see if the metric is trending up or down over time, by showing the general direction of the average value. For example, to smooth the cpu.utilization metric and see if it is trending up over time, you can use the following SignalFlow code:

mean(1h, counters(“cpu.utilization”))

This will return the average value of the cpu.utilization counter metric for each metric time series (MTS) over the last hour. You can then use a chart to visualize the results and compare the mean values across different MTS.

Option A is incorrect because rate/sec is not an analytic function, but rather a rollup function that returns the rate of change of data points in the MTS reporting interval1. Rate/sec can be used to convert cumulative counter metrics into counter metrics, but it does not smooth or trend a metric. Option B is incorrect because median is not an analytic function, but rather an aggregation function that returns the middle value of a metric or a dimension over the entire time range1. Median can be used to find the typical value of a metric, but it does not smooth or trend a metric. Option C is incorrect because mean (by host) is not an analytic function, but rather an aggregation function that returns the average value of a metric or a dimension across all MTS with the same host dimension1. Mean (by host) can be used to compare the performance of different hosts, but it does not smooth or trend a metric.

Mean (Transformation) is an analytic function that allows you to smooth a very spiky metric by applying a moving average over a specified time window. This can help you see the general trend of the metric over time, without being distracted by the short-term fluctuations1

To use Mean (Transformation) on a cpu.utilization metric, you need to select the metric from the Metric Finder, then click on Add Analytics and choose Mean (Transformation) from the list of functions. You can then specify the time window for the moving average, such as 5 minutes, 15 minutes, or 1 hour. You can also group the metric by host or any other dimension to compare the smoothed values across different servers2

To learn more about how to use Mean (Transformation) and other analytic functions in Splunk Observability Cloud, you can refer to this documentation2.

1: https://docs.splunk.com/Observability/gdi/metrics/analytics.html#Mean-Transformation  2: https://docs.splunk.com/Observability/gdi/metrics/analytics.html

According to the Splunk O11y Cloud Certified Metrics User Track document1, a single-instance dashboard is a type of dashboard that displays charts and information for a single instance of a service or host. You can use a single-instance dashboard to monitor the performance and health of a specific server, such as the one that is restarting due to power supply issues. You can also create detectors for the metrics that are relevant to the server, such as CPU usage, memory usage, disk usage, and uptime. Therefore, option A is correct.

According to the web search results, clicking a metric name from the results in metric finder displays the metric in Chart Builder1. Chart Builder is a tool that allows you to create and customize charts using metrics, dimensions, and analytics functions2. To save the chart created in the UI, you need to do the following steps:

• Click the Save button on the top right corner of the Chart Builder. This will open a dialog box where you can enter the chart name and description, and choose the dashboard where you want to save the chart.
• Enter a name and a description for your chart. The name should be descriptive and unique, and the description should explain the purpose and meaning of the chart.
• Choose an existing dashboard from the drop-down menu, or create a new dashboard by clicking the + icon. A dashboard is a collection of charts that display metrics and events for your services or hosts3. You can organize and share dashboards with other users in your organization using dashboard groups3.
• Click Save. This will save your chart to the selected dashboard and redirect you to the dashboard view. You can also access your saved chart from the Dashboards menu on the left navigation bar.

According to the web search results, ephemeral infrastructure is a term that describes instances that are auto-scaled up or down, or are brought up with new code versions and discarded or recycled when the next code version is deployed1. Splunk Observability Cloud has a feature that allows you to create detectors for ephemeral infrastructure without sending false notifications of instances being down2. To use this feature, you need to do the following steps:

• Create the detector as usual, by selecting the metric or dimension that you want to monitor and alert on, and choosing the alert condition and severity level.
• Select Alert settings, then select Ephemeral Infrastructure. This will enable a special mode for the detector that will automatically clear alerts for instances that are expected to be terminated.
• Enter the expected lifetime of an instance in minutes. This is the maximum amount of time that an instance is expected to live before being replaced by a new one. For example, if your instances are replaced every hour, you can enter 60 minutes as the expected lifetime.
• Save the detector and activate it.

With this feature, the detector will only trigger alerts when an instance stops reporting a metric unexpectedly, based on its expected lifetime. If an instance stops reporting a metric within its expected lifetime, the detector will assume that it was terminated on purpose and will not trigger an alert. Therefore, option B is correct.

The alert recipients tab specifies where notification messages should be sent when alerts are triggered or cleared. The options that can be used are:

• Invoke a webhook URL. This option allows you to send a HTTP POST request to a custom URL that can perform various actions based on the alert information. For example, you can use a webhook to create a ticket in a service desk system, post a message to a chat channel, or trigger another workflow1
• Send an SMS message. This option allows you to send a text message to one or more phone numbers when an alert is triggered or cleared. You can customize the message content and format using variables and templates2
• Send to email addresses. This option allows you to send an email notification to one or more recipients when an alert is triggered or cleared. You can customize the email subject, body, and attachments using variables and templates. You can also include information from search results, the search job, and alert triggering in the email3

Therefore, the correct answer is A, C, and D.

1: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Alert/Webhooks 2: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Alert/SMSnotification 3: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Alert/Emailnotification

According to the Splunk Observability Cloud documentation1, detectors operate at the native resolution of the metric or dimension that they monitor, with some exceptions for transformations or timeshifts. The native resolution is the frequency at which the data points are reported by the source. For example, if a metric is reported every 10 seconds, the detector will evaluate the metric every 10 seconds. The native resolution ensures that the detector uses the most granular and accurate data available for alerting.

According to the web search results1, an event feed chart is a type of chart that shows a list of events that meet criteria you specify. An event feed chart can display one or more event types depending on how you specify the criteria. The event types that you can include in an event feed chart are:

• Custom events that have been sent in from an external source: These are events that you have created or received from a third-party service or tool, such as AWS CloudWatch, GitHub, Jenkins, or PagerDuty. You can send custom events to Splunk Observability Cloud using the API or the Event Ingest Service.
• Events created when a detector triggers or clears an alert: These are events that are automatically generated by Splunk Observability Cloud when a detector evaluates a metric or dimension and finds that it meets the alert condition or returns to normal. You can create detectors to monitor and alert on various metrics and dimensions using the UI or the API.

Therefore, option A, B, and D are correct.

The correct answers are A and D.

According to the Splunk Test Blueprint - O11y Cloud Metrics User document1, one of the alerting concepts that is covered in the exam is detectors and alerts. Detectors are the objects that define the conditions for generating alerts, and alerts are the notifications that are sent when those conditions are met.

The Splunk O11y Cloud Certified Metrics User Track document2 states that one of the recommended courses for preparing for the exam is Alerting with Detectors, which covers how to create, modify, and manage detectors and alerts.

In the Alerting with Detectors course, there is a section on Cloning Detectors, which explains that cloning a detector creates a copy of the detector with all its settings, rules, and alert recipients. The document also provides some reasons why you might want to clone a detector, such as:

• To modify the rules without affecting the existing detector. This can be useful if you want to test different thresholds or conditions before applying them to the original detector.
• To explore how a detector was created without risk of changing it. This can be helpful if you want to learn from an existing detector or use it as a template for creating a new one.

Therefore, based on these documents, we can conclude that A and D are accurate reasons to clone a detector. B and C are not valid reasons because:

• Cloning a detector does not reduce the amount of billed TAPM for the detector. TAPM stands for Tracked Active Problem Metric, which is a metric that has been alerted on by a detector. Cloning a detector does not change the number of TAPM that are generated by the original detector or the clone.
• Cloning a detector does not add an additional recipient to the detector’s alerts. Cloning a detector copies the alert recipients from the original detector, but it does not add any new ones. To add an additional recipient to a detector’s alerts, you need to edit the alert settings of the detector.

According to the Splunk Observability Cloud documentation1, lag is a rollup function that returns the difference between the most recent and the previous data point values seen in the metric time series reporting interval. This can be used to measure the time delta between a data point being sent and a data point being received, as long as the data points have timestamps that reflect their send and receive times. For example, if a data point is sent at 10:00:00 and received at 10:00:05, the lag value for that data point is 5 seconds.

According to the Splunk O11y Cloud Certified Metrics User Track document1, Observability Cloud has the following rollup functions: Sum: (default for counter metrics): Returns the sum of all data points in the MTS reporting interval. Average (default for gauge metrics): Returns the average value of all data points in the MTS reporting interval. Min: Returns the minimum data point value seen in the MTS reporting interval. Max: Returns the maximum data point value seen in the MTS reporting interval. Latest: Returns the most recent data point value seen in the MTS reporting interval. Lag: Returns the difference between the most recent and the previous data point values seen in the MTS reporting interval. Rate: Returns the rate of change of data points in the MTS reporting interval. Therefore, option A is correct.

The correct answer is D. Top / Bottom.

Top and bottom are aggregate analytic functions that allow a user to see the highest or lowest n values of a metric. They can be used to select a subset of the time series in the plot by count or by percent. For example, top (5) will show the five time series with the highest values in each time period, while bottom (10%) will show the 10% of time series with the lowest values in each time period1

To learn more about how to use top and bottom functions in Splunk Observability Cloud, you can refer to this documentation1.

The correct answer is A. Max Delay.

Max Delay is a parameter that specifies the maximum amount of time that the analytics engine can wait for data to arrive for a specific detector. For example, if Max Delay is set to 10 minutes, the detector will wait for only a maximum of 10 minutes even if some data points have not arrived. By default, Max Delay is set to Auto, allowing the analytics engine to determine the appropriate amount of time to wait for data points1

In this case, since the customer knows that the data from the over-utilized machine can be delayed by up to 10 minutes, they can modify the Max Delay setting for the detector to 10 minutes. This will prevent the detector from firing alerts before the data points arrive, and avoid false positives or missing data1

To learn more about how to use Max Delay in Splunk Observability Cloud, you can refer to this documentation1.

1: https://docs.splunk.com/observability/alerts-detectors-notifications/detector-options.html#Max-Delay

The correct answer is D. gRPC (4317), SignalFx (9080), Fluentd (8006).

According to the web search results, these are the default ports for the corresponding components in the OpenTelemetry Collector. You can verify this by looking at the table of exposed ports and endpoints in the first result1. You can also see the agent and gateway configuration files in the same result for more details.

1: https://docs.splunk.com/observability/gdi/opentelemetry/exposed-endpoints.html

According to the Splunk Observability Cloud documentation1, to create a detector, you need the following information:

• Alert Signal: This is the metric or dimension that you want to monitor and alert on. You can select a signal from a chart or a dashboard, or enter a SignalFlow query to define the signal.
• Alert Condition: This is the criteria that determines when an alert is triggered or cleared. You can choose from various built-in alert conditions, such as static threshold, dynamic threshold, outlier, missing data, and so on. You can also specify the severity level and the trigger sensitivity for each alert condition.
• Alert Settings: This is the configuration that determines how the detector behaves and interacts with other detectors. You can set the detector name, description, resolution, run lag, max delay, and detector rules. You can also enable or disable the detector, and mute or unmute the alerts.
• Alert Message: This is the text that appears in the alert notification and event feed. You can customize the alert message with variables, such as signal name, value, condition, severity, and so on. You can also use markdown formatting to enhance the message appearance.
• Alert Recipients: This is the list of destinations where you want to send the alert notifications. You can choose from various channels, such as email, Slack, PagerDuty, webhook, and so on. You can also specify the notification frequency and suppression settings.

According to the web search results, dashboard groups are a feature of Splunk Observability Cloud that allows you to organize and share dashboards with other users in your organization1. You can set permissions for each dashboard group, such as who can view, edit, or manage the dashboards in the group1. To create a dashboard group that no one else can edit, you need to do the following steps:

• Create a dashboard group as usual, by selecting Dashboard Group from the Create menu on the navigation bar, entering a name and description, and adding dashboards to the group1.
• Select Alert settings from the Dashboard actions menu (⋯) on the top right corner of the dashboard group. This will open a dialog box where you can configure the permissions for the dashboard group1.
• Under Write access, select Only me. This will restrict the write access to the dashboard group to yourself only. No one else will be able to edit or delete the dashboards in the group1.
• Click Save. This will create a dashboard group that no one else can edit.

The correct answer is D. The detector is automatically linked to the chart.

When you create a detector from a chart on a custom dashboard, the detector is automatically linked to the chart. This means that you can see the detector status and alerts on the chart, and you can access the detector settings from the chart menu. You can also unlink the detector from the chart if you want to1

Changes made to the chart do not affect the detector, and changes made to the detector do not affect the chart. The detector and the chart are independent entities that have their own settings and parameters. However, if you change the metric or dimension of the chart, you might lose the link to the detector1

The alerts generated by the detector will show up in the Alerts page, where you can view, manage, and acknowledge them. You can also see them on the team landing page if you assign the detector to a team2

To learn more about how to create and link detectors from charts on custom dashboards, you can refer to this documentation1.

1: https://docs.splunk.com/observability/alerts-detectors-notifications/link-detectors-to-charts.html 2: https://docs.splunk.com/observability/alerts-detectors-notifications/view-manage-alerts.html