Free Practice Questions for Splunk SPLK-1003 Exam

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 systemtime 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.

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.

In Splunk Enterprise, when knowledge bundles (which include lookup files, configurations, and other knowledge objects) are replicated between search heads and indexers, administrators can control the maximum size of lookup files that are eligible for replication.

The correct parameter to use is excludeReplicatedLookupSize, defined in distsearch.conf. This parameter specifies a maximum file size (in megabytes) beyond which lookup files are excluded from bundle replication. By setting this to 500, any lookup file larger than 500 MB will not be replicated to search peers.

This is especially important for performance optimization and preventing unnecessary network load during search head to indexer communication.

Example configuration (distsearch.conf):

[replicationSettings]

excludeReplicatedLookupSize = 500

Reference (Splunk Documentation):

distsearch.conf.spec and example → excludeReplicatedLookupSize

Splunk® Enterprise Distributed Search Manual → “Control knowledge bundle replication between search heads and indexers”

Splunk Admin Manual → “Prevent large lookup files from being replicated”

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/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/8.1.1/DistSearch/Forwardsearchheaddata

Per the provided Splunk reference URL by @hwangho, scroll to section Forward search head data, subsection titled, 2. Configure the search head as a forwarder. "Create an outputs.conf file on the search head that configures the search head for load-balanced forwarding across the set of search peers (indexers)."

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.

REGEX =

* Enter a regular expression to operate on your data.

FORMAT =

* NOTE: This option is valid for both index-time and search-time field extraction. Index-time field extraction configuration require the FORMAT settings. The FORMAT settings is optional for search-time field extraction configurations.

* This setting specifies the format of the event, including any field names or values you want to add.

DEST_KEY =

* NOTE: This setting is only valid for index-time field extractions.

* Specifies where SPLUNK software stores the expanded FORMAT results in accordance with the REGEX match.

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.”