Splunk SPLK-2002 Splunk Enterprise Certified Architect Exam Practice Test

Answer : B

The TailingProcessor channel in the splunkd.log file would help troubleshoot this issue, because it contains information about the files that Splunk monitors and indexes, such as the file path, size, modification time, and CRC checksum. It also logs any errors or warnings that occur during the file monitoring process, such as permission issues, file rotation, or file truncation. The TailingProcessor channel can help identify if Splunk is reading the new data from the monitor input file or not, and what might be causing the problem. Option B is the correct answer. Option A is incorrect because the ModularInputs channel logs information about the modular inputs that Splunk uses to collect data from external sources, such as scripts, APIs, or custom applications. It does not log information about the monitor input file. Option C is incorrect because the ChunkedLBProcessor channel logs information about the load balancing process that Splunk uses to distribute data among multiple indexers. It does not log information about the monitor input file. Option D is incorrect because the ArchiveProcessor channel logs information about the archive process that Splunk uses to move data from the hot/warm buckets to the cold/frozen buckets.It does not log information about the monitor input file12

1: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.1.2/Troubleshooting/WhatSplunklogsaboutitself#splunkd.log2: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.1.2/Troubleshooting/Didyouloseyourfishbucket#Check_the_splunkd.log_file

Answer : C, D

According to the Splunk documentation1, multi-site clustering is an indexer cluster that spans multiple physical sites, such as data centers. Each site has its own set of peer nodes and search heads. Each site also obeys site-specific replication and search factor rules. The use cases that are made possible by multi-site clustering are:

Greatly reduce WAN traffic by preferentially searching assigned site (search affinity). This means that if you configure each site so that it has both a search head and a full set of searchable data, the search head on each site will limit its searches to local peer nodes.This eliminates any need, under normal conditions, for search heads to access data on other sites, greatly reducing network traffic between sites2.

Seamlessly route searches to a redundant site in case of a site failure. This means that by storing copies of your data at multiple locations, you maintain access to the data if a disaster strikes at one location. Multisite clusters provide site failover capability.If a site goes down, indexing and searching can continue on the remaining sites, without interruption or loss of data2.

The other options are false because:

Use blockchain technology to audit search activity from geographically dispersed data centers. This is not a use case of multi-site clustering, as Splunk does not use blockchain technology to audit search activity.Splunk uses its own internal logs and metrics to monitor and audit search activity3.

Enable a forwarder to send data to multiple indexers. This is not a use case of multi-site clustering, as forwarders can send data to multiple indexers regardless of whether they are in a single-site or multi-site cluster.This is a basic feature of forwarders that allows load balancing and high availability of data ingestion4.

Answer : D

When designing the number and size of indexes, the following considerations should be applied:

Expected daily ingest volumes: This is the amount of data that will be ingested and indexed by the Splunk platform per day. This affects the storage capacity, the indexing performance, and the license usage of the Splunk deployment.The number and size of indexes should be planned according to the expected daily ingest volumes, as well as the peak ingest volumes, to ensure that the Splunk deployment can handle the data load and meet the business requirements12.

Data retention time policies: This is the duration for which the data will be stored and searchable by the Splunk platform. This affects the storage capacity, the data availability, and the data compliance of the Splunk deployment.The number and size of indexes should be planned according to the data retention time policies, as well as the data lifecycle, to ensure that the Splunk deployment can retain the data for the desired period and meet the legal or regulatory obligations13.

Access controls: This is the mechanism for granting or restricting access to the data by the Splunk users or roles. This affects the data security, the data privacy, and the data governance of the Splunk deployment.The number and size of indexes should be planned according to the access controls, as well as the data sensitivity, to ensure that the Splunk deployment can protect the data from unauthorized or inappropriate access and meet the ethical or organizational standards14.

Option D is the correct answer because it reflects the most relevant and important considerations for designing the number and size of indexes.Option A is incorrect because the number of concurrent users is not a direct factor for designing the number and size of indexes, but rather a factor for designing the search head capacity and the search head clustering configuration5. Option B is incorrect because the number of installed apps is not a direct factor for designing the number and size of indexes, but rather a factor for designing the app compatibility and the app performance. Option C is incorrect because it omits the expected daily ingest volumes, which is a crucial factor for designing the number and size of indexes.

1:Splunk Validated Architectures2: [Indexer capacity planning]3: [Set a retirement and archiving policy for your indexes]4: [About securing Splunk Enterprise]5: [Search head capacity planning] : [App installation and management overview]

Answer : B

This is a mandatory Splunk component when implementing a search head cluster, as it is responsible for distributing the configuration updates and app bundles to the cluster members1.The deployer is a separate instance that communicates with the cluster manager and pushes the changes to the search heads1. The other options are not mandatory components for a search head cluster.Option A, Captain Server, is not a component, but a role that is dynamically assigned to one of the search heads in the cluster2.The captain coordinates the replication and search activities among the cluster members2.Option C, Cluster Manager, is a component for an indexer cluster, not a search head cluster3.The cluster manager manages the replication and search factors, and provides a web interface for monitoring and managing the indexer cluster3.Option D, RAFT Server, is not a component, but a protocol that is used by the search head cluster to elect the captain and maintain the cluster state4. Therefore, option B is the correct answer, and options A, C, and D are incorrect.

1: Use the deployer to distribute apps and configuration updates2: About the captain3: About the cluster manager4: How a search head cluster works

Answer : D

Adding more search peers and making sure forwarders distribute data evenly across all indexers will provide the most search performance improvement when the distributed deployment is approaching its capacity. Adding more search peers will increase the search concurrency and reduce the load on each indexer. Distributing data evenly across all indexers will ensure that the search workload is balanced and no indexer becomes a bottleneck. Replacing the indexer storage to SSD will improve the search performance, but it is a costly and time-consuming option. Adding more search heads will not improve the search performance if the indexers are the bottleneck. Rescheduling slow searches to run during an off-peak time will reduce the search contention, but it will not improve the search performance for each individual search. For more information, see [Scale your indexer cluster] and [Distribute data across your indexers] in the Splunk documentation.

Answer : B

According to the Splunk documentation1, the Splunk Deployer deploys app content to the etc/slave-apps/ directory on the search head cluster members by default. This directory contains the apps that the deployer distributes to the members as part of the configuration bundle. The other options are false because:

The etc/apps/ directory contains the apps that are installed locally on each member, not the apps that are distributed by the deployer2.

The etc/shcluster/ directory contains the configuration files for the search head cluster, not the apps that are distributed by the deployer3.

The etc/deploy-apps/ directory is not a valid Splunk directory, as it does not exist in the Splunk file system structure4.

Answer : C, D

According to the Splunk documentation1, a bucket within a clustered index contains two key types of files: the raw data in compressed form (rawdata) and the indexes that point to the raw data (tsidx files). A bucket can be either replicated or searchable, depending on whether it has both types of files or only the rawdata file. A replicated bucket is a bucket that has been copied from one peer node to another for the purpose of data replication. A searchable bucket is a bucket that has both the rawdata and the tsidx files, and can be searched by the search heads. The types of files that exist in a bucket within a clustered index are:

Inside a searchable bucket, there is tsidx and rawdata.This is true because a searchable bucket contains both the data and the index files, and can be searched by the search heads1.

Inside a replicated bucket, there is both tsidx and rawdata. This is true because a replicated bucket can also be a searchable bucket, if it has both the data and the index files.However, not all replicated buckets are searchable, as some of them might only have the rawdata file, depending on the replication factor and the search factor settings1.

The other options are false because:

Inside a replicated bucket, there is only rawdata. This is false because a replicated bucket can also have the tsidx file, if it is a searchable bucket.A replicated bucket only has the rawdata file if it is a non-searchable bucket, which means that it cannot be searched by the search heads until it gets the tsidx file from another peer node1.

Inside a searchable bucket, there is only tsidx. This is false because a searchable bucket always has both the tsidx and the rawdata files, as they are both required for searching the data.A searchable bucket cannot exist without the rawdata file, as it contains the actual data that the tsidx file points to1.