SPLK-1003 Sample Questions Answers

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.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.1/Updating/Filterclients

URLhttps://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/DistSearch/Configuredistributedsearch

" To activate distributed search, you add search peers, or indexers, to a Splunk Enterprise instance that you desingate as a search head. You do this by specifying each search peer manually. "

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

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/7.3.1/Admin/Configurationfiledirectories

Section titled, Configuration file directories, states " A detailed list of settings for each configuration file is provided in the .spec file names for that configuration file. You can find the latest version of the .spec and .example files in the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc system/README folder of your Splunk Enterprise installation... "

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/Admin/Inputsconf

-Scroll down to source = < string >

*Default: the input file path

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/Data/Configureyourinputs

Add your data to Splunk Enterprise. With Splunk Enterprise, you can add data using Splunk Web or Splunk Apps. In addition to these methods, you also can use the following methods. -The Splunk Command Line Interface (CLI) -The inputs.conf configuration file. When you specify your inputs with Splunk Web or the CLI, the details are saved in a configuartion file on Splunk Enterprise indexer and heavy forwarder instances.

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

A Splunk Deployment Server is used to centrally manage and distribute apps, configurations, and updates to deployment clients. On the deployment server, the default location for deployment apps is:

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps/

Apps placed in this directory can be assigned to server classes and deployed to deployment clients.

Important distinction:

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps/

is used on the deployment server.

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/

is where apps are normally installed on a Splunk instance, including deployment clients after apps are received.

manager-apps and peer-apps are not the default Deployment Server app staging directory.

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.

When configuring multiple LDAP strategies in Splunk, the order in which they are listed in the authentication.conf file determines the sequence in which Splunk searches them during authentication.

From the official Splunk documentation:

" To configure multiple LDAP strategies, set the authSettings setting to a comma-separated list of all strategies, in the order in which you want to query the strategies. "

— Configure LDAP using configuration files - Splunk Documentation

Therefore, Splunk will search each LDAP strategy in the order specified in the authSettings parameter of the authentication.conf file.

This option corresponds to the file path “$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/splunk_TA_nginx/local/inputs.conf”. This is the configuration file that the user needs to edit to ingest the NGINX access logs to ensure it remains unaffected after upgrade. This is explained in the Splunk documentation, which states:

The local directory is where you place your customized configuration files. The local directory is empty when you install Splunk Enterprise. You create it when you need to override or add to the default settings in a configuration file. The local directory is never overwritten during an upgrade.

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

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. "

Hot/warm/cold/thawed bucket types are searchable. Frozen isn ' t searchable because its either deleted at that state or archived.

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.

 Indexers, search head, deployment server, license master, universal forwarder. This is the combination of Splunk component instances that are needed to handle the volume of data from collecting log files from 50 Linux servers and 200 Windows servers, following the best practices. The roles and functions of these components are:

Indexers: These are the Splunk instances that index the data and make it searchable. They also perform some data processing, such as timestamp extraction, line breaking, and field extraction. Multiple indexers can be clustered together to provide high availability, data replication, and load balancing.

Search head: This is the Splunk instance that coordinates the search across the indexers and merges the results from them. It also provides the user interface for searching, reporting, and dashboarding. A search head can also be clustered with other search heads to provide high availability, scalability, and load balancing.

Deployment server: This is the Splunk instance that manages the configuration and app deployment for the universal forwarders. It allows the administrator to centrally control the inputs.conf, outputs.conf, and other configuration files for the forwarders, as well as distribute apps and updates to them.

License master: This is the Splunk instance that manages the licensing for the entire Splunk deployment. It tracks the license usage of all the Splunk instances and enforces the license limits and violations. It also allows the administrator to add, remove, or change licenses.

Universal forwarder: These are the lightweight Splunk instances that collect data from various sources and forward it to the indexers or other forwarders. They do not index or parse the data, but only perform minimal processing, such as compression and encryption. They are installed on the Linux and Windows servers that generate the log files.

A role in Splunk is a classification that determines what capabilities and indexes a user has.A capability is a permission to perform a specific action or access a specific feature on the Splunk platform1.An index is a collection of data that Splunk software processes andstores2. By assigning roles to users, you can control what they can do and what data they can access on the Splunk platform.

Therefore, the correct answers are A and D. A role in Splunk determines what capabilities and indexes a user has. Option B is incorrect because Splunk servers do not use roles to remotely control each other.Option C is incorrect because Splunk servers use instances and components to determine what functions they control3.

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.

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

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. "

In Splunk Enterprise, license warnings occur when the daily indexing volume exceeds the licensed quota. These warnings are tracked from midnight to midnight based on the system clock of the license manager. If the number of warnings surpasses the allowed threshold within a specified period, a license violation ensues, potentially restricting search capabilities.

To prevent a license warning from escalating to a violation, administrators have until midnight to address the issue. The recommended action is toadd a new licenseto the license manager before midnight. This increases the daily indexing volume quota, ensuring that the current day ' s data ingestion falls within the permissible limits.

It ' s important to note that deleting data from indexers or the license manager does not retroactively reduce the recorded license usage for the day. Once data is indexed, it contributes to the day ' s license volume, and its removal does not negate that contribution.

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.

When using a directory monitor input, specific source types can be selectively overridden using the props.conf file. According to the Splunk documentation1, “You can specify a source type for data based on its input and source. Specify source type for an input. You can assign the source type for data coming from a specific input, such as /var/log/. If you use Splunk Cloud Platform, use Splunk Web to define source types. If you use Splunk Enterprise, define source types in Splunk Web or by editing the inputs.conf configuration file.” However, this method is not very granular and assigns the same source type to all data from an input. To override the source type on a per-event basis, you need to use the props.conf file and the transforms.conf file2. The props.conf file contains settings that determine how the Splunk platform processes incoming data, such as how to segment events, extract fields, and assign source types2. The transforms.conf file contains settings that modify or filter event dataduring indexing or search time2. You can use these files to create rules that match specific patterns in the event data and assign different source types accordingly2. For example, you can create a rule that assigns a source type of apache_error to any event that contains the word “error” in the first line2.

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. "

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.3/Admin/Distdeploylicenses#Clustered_deployments_and_licensing_issues

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

The CLI command " Splunk add forward-server indexer: < receiving-port > " is used to define the indexer and the listening port on forwards. The command creates this kind of entry " [tcpout-server:// < ip address > : < port > ] " in the outputs.conf file.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Forwarder/8.2.2/Forwarder/Configureforwardingwithoutputs.conf

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.5/Admin/Inputsconf

[tcp:// < remote server > : < port > ]

*Configures the input to listen on a specific TCP network port.

*If a < remote server > makes a connection to this instance, the input uses this stanza to configure itself.

*If you do not specify < remote server > , this stanza matches all connections on the specified port.

*Generates events with source set to " tcp: < port > " , for example: tcp:514

*If you do not specify a sourcetype, generates events with sourcetype set to " tcp-raw "

http://www.splunk.com/view/SP-CAAAGPR

The app local directories move to second in the priority list. This is explained in the Splunk documentation, which states:

In a clustered environment, the precedence of configuration files changes slightly from that of a standalone deployment. The app local directories move to second in the priority list, after the peer-apps local directory. This means that any configuration files in the app local directories on the individual peers are overridden by configuration files of the same name and type in the peer-apps local directory on the master node.

Per the provided reference URLhttps://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/7.3.1/Admin/User-seedconf

" To set the default username and password, place user-seed.conf in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local. You must restart Splunk to enable configurations. If the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/passwd file is present, the settings in this file (user-seed.conf) are not used. "

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.

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.

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

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 < file > -index < index_name >

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.

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. "

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.

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.

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 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 bemasked.You need to place these files on the Splunk instance that parses the data, which isusually 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.

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. "

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.

This is because the input type is UDP, which is an unreliable protocol that does not guarantee delivery, order, or integrity of the data packets. UDP does not have any mechanism to resend or acknowledge the data packets, so if Splunk is restarted, any data that was in transit or in the buffer may be dropped and not indexed.

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

The deployer is a Splunk Enterprise instance that you use to distribute apps and certain other configuration updates to search head cluster members. The set of updates that the deployer distributes is called the configuration bundle.https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.1.3/DistSearch/PropagateSHCconfigurationchanges#:~:text=The%20deployer%20is%20a%20Splunk,is%20called%20the%20configuration%20bundle.

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.5/Updating/Updateconfigurations

First line says it all: " The deployment server distributes deployment apps to clients. "

Splunk REST API is a valid method to create a Splunk user. The Splunk REST API allows administrators to create, edit, and delete users programmatically using HTTP requests. The other options are not valid methods to create a Splunk user. Creating a support ticket does not create a user, but requests assistance from Splunk support. Creating a user on the host operating system does not create a Splunk user, but a system user. Adding the username to users.conf does not create a user, but modifies the configuration file that stores user information. References = Configure users with the CLI, Configure users and roles

In Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Universal Forwarder, data inputs are configured using stanzas in inputs.conf . Each stanza defines a listener for a particular input type (for example, TCP or UDP) and a specific port.

Splunk documentation states that a single TCP input stanza can receive data from multiple remote hosts sending to the same TCP port, and similarly, a single UDP input stanza can receive data from multiple devices sending to the same UDP port. Therefore, the number of sending devices does not determine the number of stanzas required; rather, the input protocol and port type do.

In this case:

All three TCP devices can send data to one TCP port (one stanza).

All four UDP devices can send data to one UDP port (one stanza).

Thus, the minimum number of input stanzas required is two — one for TCP and one for UDP.

Example configuration (inputs.conf):

# TCP input for three switches sending via TCP

[tcp://9997]

sourcetype = switch_logs

# UDP input for four switches sending via UDP

[udp://514]

sourcetype = switch_logs

This configuration ensures all seven devices’ logs are collected without creating individual stanzas for each device.

Reference (Splunk Documentation):

Splunk® Enterprise Admin Manual → Configure Data Inputs → “Listen for network data”

inputs.conf.spec and example → “You can configure a single TCP or UDP input to receive data from multiple remote hosts.”

Splunk Universal Forwarder Manual → Configure Forwarding Inputs → “Universal Forwarders can listen on a single TCP or UDP port for multiple remote data sources.”

A modular input script that belongs to a Splunk app is placed inside that app’s bin directory. The app directory is located under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/ < app_name > /, and executable scripts for the app are stored in the bin subdirectory.

Therefore, for an app named cisco_collector, the correct modular input script location is:

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/cisco_collector/bin/cisco_collector.py

Option B is incorrect because $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps/ is used on a deployment server to store deployment apps before they are distributed to deployment clients. It is not the runtime app path used by Splunk for executing the modular input.

Option C is incorrect because the script must be inside the app’s bin directory, not directly under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/.

Option D is incorrect because Splunk does not use $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/mod_input/ as the standard location for modular input scripts.

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

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. "