Splunk SPLK-1003 Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Exam Practice Test

Answer : A

The HTTP Event Collector (HEC) supports indexer acknowledgment to confirm event delivery. Each acknowledgment is associated with a unique GUID (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.

References:

Splunk Docs: Use indexer acknowledgment with HTTP Event Collector

Answer : D

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.

Answer : C

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.

Answer : D

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

Answer : B

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.

Answer : C

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/splunkdirectory on the Universal Forwarder machine2.

Answer : D

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.