Free Practice Questions for Splunk SPLK-3003 Exam

A host that indexes its internal logs locally should be configured as an indexer. An indexer is a Splunk Enterprise instance that indexes data, transforming raw data into events and placing the results into an index. It also searches the indexed data in response to search requests. Indexers can index their own internal logs, such as _internal, _audit, _introspection, and _metrics, which are useful for monitoring and troubleshooting Splunk Enterprise. Indexers can also forward data to other indexers or third-party systems. References:

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.1.1/Capacity/IntroductiontoSplunkarchitecture 1

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.1.1/Indexer/Whatisanindexer 2

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.1.1/Troubleshooting/Abouttheinternalindexes 3

 The Splunk Validated Architectures (SVAs) are proven reference architectures for stable, efficient and repeatable Splunk deployments. They offer topology options that consider a wide array of organizational requirements, so the customer can easily understand and find a topology that is right for their needs. The SVAs also provide design principles and best practices to help the customer build an environment that is easier to maintain and troubleshoot. The SVAs are available on the Splunk website and can be customized using the Interactive Splunk Validated Architecture (iSVA) tool.

The other options are incorrect because they do not provide the customer with a reliable and tailored resource to help them design their new architecture. Option A is too vague and does not point the customer to a specific document or section. Option B is irrelevant and does not address the customer’s architectural needs. Option C is unreliable and does not guarantee that the customer will find a suitable solution for their requirements.

According to the Splunk Core Consultant study guide, the correct mapping for the deployment of a new environment for a customer is Option D. This is because it follows the PS best practices for mapping, which include the use of the org_cluster_search_base, org_cluster_indexer_base, and org_all_indexes indexes. Additionally, Option D also includes the use of the etc/apps and etc/master-apps directories, which are recommended for the deployment of a new environment. References:

Splunk Core Consultant study guide

Splunk Core Consultant test blueprint

 The SHC will function as expected as the minimum required number of nodes for a SHC is 3. This is because the SHC uses a quorum-based algorithm to determine the cluster state and elect the captain. A quorum is a majority of cluster members that can communicate with each other. As long as a quorum exists, the cluster can continue to operate normally and serve search requests. If a network outage occurs between the two data centers, each data center will have three SHC members, but only one of them will have a quorum. The data center with the quorum will elect a new captain if the previous one was in the other data center, and the other data center will lose its cluster status and stop serving searches until the network communication is restored.

The other options are incorrect because they do not reflect what happens when a network outage occurs between two data centers with a SHC. Option A is incorrect because the SHC deployer will not become the new captain, as it is not part of the SHC and does not participate in cluster activities. Option B is incorrect because the SHC will not stop all scheduled search activity, as it will still run scheduled searches on the data center with the quorum. Option D is incorrect because the SHC captain will not fall back to previous active captain in the remaining site, as it will be elected by the quorum based on several factors, such as load, availability, and priority. References:

Splunk Core Consultant knowledge source documents or study guide: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/resources/splunk-certification-exam-study-guide.html

Splunk Test Blueprint Consultant: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/pdfs/training/splunk-test-blueprint-consultant.pdf

Search head clustering architecture1

Search head cluster captain election

 This configuration item determines whether Splunk software merges multiple lines into single events. By default, it is set to true, which means that Splunk software attempts to merge lines that do not start with a timestamp into the previous line that has a timestamp. This can improve the accuracy of event breaking, but it can also degrade the performance of data ingestion, as it requires more processing and memory resources. Setting SHOULD_LINEMERGE to false can significantly improve data ingestion performance, especially for data sources that have consistent event boundaries and do not need line merging. However, this can also result in incorrect event breaking for some data sources that have multi-line events or variable formats.

The other options are incorrect because they do not have a significant impact on data ingestion performance. Option A is incorrect because AUTO_KV_JSON is a configuration item that enables automatic key-value extraction for JSON data. It does not affect data ingestion performance, as it only applies to search-time processing. Option B is incorrect because BREAK_ONLY_BEFORE_DATE is a configuration item that controls how Splunk software breaks events based on timestamps. It does not affect data ingestion performance, as it only applies to search-time processing. Option D is incorrect because ANNOTATE_PUNCT is a configuration item that adds punctuation metadata to events for faster field extraction. It does not affect data ingestion performance, as it only applies to search-time processing. References:

Splunk Core Consultant knowledge source documents or study guide: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/resources/splunk-certification-exam-study-guide.html

Splunk Test Blueprint Consultant: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/pdfs/training/splunk-test-blueprint-consultant.pdf

Configure event line merging1

How Splunk software breaks event data into events

The troubleshooting resource that would provide insight into why the secure logs are not being ingested by regex whitelisting is tailingprocessor. The tailingprocessor is a Splunk Enterprise component that monitors files and directories for new data. It also applies filtering rules based on props.conf settings, such as whitelist and blacklist. By using the btool command with the tailingprocessor option, you can see how Splunk Enterprise evaluates the filtering rules for a given file or directory. Therefore, the correct answer is D, tailingprocessor. References :=

Use btool to troubleshoot configurations

Configure event processing

Monitor files and directories with inputs.conf

Report acceleration creates a separate summary of the data on the indexer, which is stored in a CSV file. The location of this file is determined by the summaryHomePath attribute in the indexes.conf file. By default, the summaryHomePath is set to $SPLUNK_DB//summary, where $SPLUNK_DB is the root directory for all index data. Therefore, the correct answer is B, summaryHomePath. References :=

Accelerate reports

Indexes.conf.spec

 The primary driver behind implementing indexer clustering in a customer’s environment is to provide higher availability for buckets of data. Indexer clustering is a feature of Splunk Enterprise that allows a group of indexers to replicate each other’s data, so that the system keeps multiple copies of all data. This process is known as index replication. By maintaining multiple, identical copies of Splunk Enterprise data, clusters prevent data loss while promoting data availability for searching. Indexer clustering also provides load balancing and failover capabilities for search and indexing operations.

The other options are incorrect because they are not the main reasons for using indexer clustering. Option A is incorrect because indexer clustering does not improve resiliency as the search load increases, but rather as the indexer load increases. Resiliency refers to the ability of the cluster to maintain search and indexing performance under stress or failure conditions. Option B is incorrect because indexer clustering does not reduce indexing latency, but rather increases it slightly due to the overhead of replication. Indexing latency refers to the time it takes for data to be indexed and searchable after ingestion. Option D is incorrect because indexer clustering does not scale out a Splunk environment to offer higher performance capability, but rather scales up a Splunk environment to offer higher availability and resiliency. Scaling out refers to adding more nodes to a distributed system to increase its capacity and throughput, while scaling up refers to adding more resources to existing nodes to increase their performance and reliability. References:

Splunk Core Consultant knowledge source documents or study guide: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/resources/splunk-certification-exam-study-guide.html

Splunk Test Blueprint Consultant: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/pdfs/training/splunk-test-blueprint-consultant.pdf

About indexer clusters and index replication1

Indexer cluster architecture overview2

 The Splunk Validated Architectures (SVAs) are proven reference architectures for stable, efficient and repeatable Splunk deployments. They offer topology options that consider a wide array of organizational requirements, so the customer can easily understand and find a topology that is right for their needs. The SVAs also provide design principles and best practices to help the customer build an environment that is easier to maintain and troubleshoot. The SVAs are available on the Splunk website1 and can be customized using the Interactive Splunk Validated Architecture (iSVA) tool2.

The other options are incorrect because they do not provide the customer with a reliable and tailored resource to help them design their new architecture. Option A is too vague and does not point the customer to a specific document or section. Option B is irrelevant and does not address the customer’s architectural needs. Option C is unreliable and does not guarantee that the customer will find a suitable solution for their requirements. References:

: Splunk Validated Architectures1

: Interactive Splunk Validated Architecture (iSVA) tool2