SPLK-1003 Exam Dumps

Explanation:

To redact sensitive data (like passwords) from raw events in Splunk, you use SEDCMD in props.conf. Here’s why:

SEDCMD vs. REGEX:
SEDCMD (Stream Editor Command) is designed for in-place text substitution in raw events.
REGEX is used for field extraction or filtering, not direct redaction.

Correct File (props.conf):
Redaction rules for raw data belong in props.conf, not transforms.conf.
transforms.conf is for field transformations, not modifying raw events.

Syntax:
The format is SEDCMD- = s///.
Example: s/password=([^,|\s]+)/ ####REDACTED####/g replaces passwords like password=secret with ####REDACTED####.

Why Not the Other Options?

A: Uses REGEX-redact_pw, which is invalid for redacting raw events.
C/D: Incorrectly place the rule in transforms.conf, which won’t modify raw events.

Reference:
Splunk Docs: Mask sensitive data with SEDCMD

Explanation:

The Deployment Server in Splunk is specifically designed for:

Centralized management of configurations and apps for forwarders (Universal Forwarders, Heavy Forwarders).
Pushing updates (e.g., inputs.conf, props.conf, custom apps) to forwarders without manual intervention.
Grouping forwarders into server classes for targeted deployments.

Why Not the Other Options?

A: Distributed workloads are managed by indexers/search heads, not the Deployment Server.
B: While the Deployment Server can facilitate upgrades, its primary role is configuration/app distribution, not upgrade automation (tools like DSC or OS package managers handle upgrades).
C: Container orchestration (e.g., Splunk on Kubernetes) uses tools like Splunk Operator, not the Deployment Server.

Key Use Cases:

Deploying input configurations (e.g., monitoring files, network ports).
Distributing parsing rules (e.g., props.conf, transforms.conf).
Managing forwarder-side apps (e.g., custom scripts, filters).

Reference:
Splunk Docs: About the Deployment Server

Explanation:

For single-line event sourcetypes, the most efficient and recommended setting is:
SHOULD_LINEMERGE = false

This setting tells Splunk to treat each line as a separate event, which is optimal for logs where each event is contained on a single line (like Apache access logs, syslog, firewalls, etc.).

🔍 Why this is important:

When SHOULD_LINEMERGE = true, Splunk tries to combine multiple lines into a single event based on patterns. This is useful for multi-line events (e.g., Java stack traces), but it:
Consumes more resources (CPU and memory)
Slows down indexing
Setting it to false improves indexing performance for single-line logs.

📘 Splunk Docs Reference:

"SHOULD_LINEMERGE = false tells Splunk to treat each new line as a new event, which is the most efficient setting for single-line logs."
Source: Splunk props.conf documentation

❌ Why the other options are incorrect:

A. True — Used for multi-line events; not efficient for single-line data.
C. — Not valid for SHOULD_LINEMERGE; applies to BREAK_ONLY_BEFORE or LINE_BREAKER.
D. Newline Character — Not a valid value for this setting.

Explanation:

Splunk licensing is based on the amount of data indexed per day, and this includes most types of data ingested through inputs, including Windows internal logs.
Here’s how each option applies:

✔️ D. Windows internal logs
Count against the license if collected via inputs like WinEventLog://, perfmon://, or monitor:// of .evt/.evtx files.
Treated just like any other incoming data that gets parsed and indexed.

❌ A. Replicated data
Does NOT count against the license.
Applies to index replication in indexer clustering; only the original copy of the data counts, not the replicated copies.

❌ B. splunkd logs
Do NOT count toward license usage.
These are internal logs written by Splunk for its own operations (e.g., $SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/splunk/splunkd.log).

❌ C. Summary index data
Does NOT count against the license.
Summary indexing is used to store pre-computed search results (e.g., for accelerated reports).
Since it’s derived data already indexed once, it’s excluded from license calculations.

📘 Splunk Docs Reference:
“The license volume is based on the amount of original data that you index per day. This does not include replicated data in indexer clusters, or data written to summary indexes.”

Source: About license violations - Splunk Docs

Explanation:

Splunk Enterprise comes with several pre-configured indexes for system and operational data.
Here’s a breakdown:

_license (A):
Stores Splunk license usage and violation data.
Critical for monitoring license compliance.

_internal (B):
Contains Splunk’s internal logs (e.g., indexer, search head, and deployment server activity).
Used for troubleshooting Splunk itself.

_thefishbucket (D):
Tracks file checksums for file-based inputs (prevents re-indexing the same data).
Essential for monitoring file ingestion.

Why Not _external (C)?
_external is not a default index. It might be confused with _external_alerts (a custom index for alert actions) or user-created indexes for external data.

Key Notes:
Default indexes are prefixed with an underscore (_).
Other pre-configured indexes include _audit (audit logs) and _introspection (performance metrics).

Reference:
Splunk Docs: Default indexes

Explanation:

Heavy Forwarder:
Can parse, filter, and transform data before forwarding it (e.g., using props.conf, transforms.conf).
Supports Splunk processing pipelines (like an indexer but without storing data).
Requires a forwarder license.

Universal Forwarder (A):
Forwards raw data only (no parsing or processing).
Lightweight and license-free.

Heaviest Forwarder (B) & Hyper Forwarder (C):
These are not real Splunk components (distractors).

Key Use Case for Heavy Forwarder:
Pre-process data at the edge (e.g., filter sensitive fields, apply sourcetypes) to reduce load on indexers.

Reference:
Splunk Docs: Forwarder types

Explanation:

To configure distributed search groups in Splunk, you must edit the distsearch.conf file.

This file is used to define:
Search peers (indexers that a search head can send search requests to)
Search groups (grouping of search peers)
Authentication settings between search head and indexers

📘 Common settings in distsearch.conf:

[distributedSearch]
servers = indexer1:8089, indexer2:8089

[distributedSearch:group1]
servers = indexer1:8089, indexer2:8089

File location: $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/distsearch.conf (or app-specific directory)

❌ Why the other options are incorrect:

A. props.conf – Used for data parsing and event handling, not related to search peer configuration.
B. search.conf – Used for search-related behaviors and UI defaults, not for distributed configuration.
D. distibutedsearch.conf – This is a misspelled/invalid file name.

📘 Splunk Docs Reference:

“Use distsearch.conf to configure distributed search. You can add search peers, configure groups of search peers, and set connection/authentication settings.”
Ref: distsearch.conf spec - Splunk Docs

Explanation

# Compression
#
# This example sends compressed events to the remote indexer.
# NOTE: Compression can be enabled TCP or SSL outputs only.
# The receiver input port should also have compression enabled.

[tcpout]
server = splunkServer.example.com:4433
compressed = true

Explanation:

In Splunk, when there’s a conflict between whitelist and blacklist settings for inputs (e.g., in inputs.conf), the blacklist takes precedence. Here’s why:

Blacklist Overrides Whitelist:

If a file or path matches both the whitelist and blacklist, Splunk excludes it (blacklist wins).

Example:
text
[monitor:///var/log/*.log]
whitelist = \.log$
blacklist = security\.log
Even if security.log matches the whitelist, it’s ignored because it’s blacklisted.

Security/Performance Rationale:
Blacklists are prioritized to ensure safe data ingestion (e.g., excluding sensitive files).
Avoids accidentally indexing unwanted data due to overly broad whitelists.

Why Not Other Options?
B (Whitelist): Incorrect—blacklist has higher priority.
C (Cancel out): Splunk doesn’t "neutralize" conflicts; blacklist wins.
D (Order of entry): Irrelevant—Splunk evaluates rules logically, not chronologically.

Reference:
Ref: Splunk Docs: inputs.conf whitelist/blacklist behavior

Explanation:

In a Splunk deployment server configuration, client filters (such as whitelists and blacklists) are used to determine which deployment clients get which apps via server classes.

If a client matches both a whitelist and a blacklist:
The blacklist takes precedence, meaning the client will not be included in the server class even if it's on the whitelist.

📘 From Splunk Docs:
“If a client matches both the whitelist and the blacklist, the client is excluded, because the blacklist takes precedence.”

Source:
🔗 Splunk Docs – Use forwarder management: Server classes and client filters

❌ Why the other options are incorrect:
B. Whitelist takes precedence over the blacklist → Incorrect; blacklist overrides whitelist.
C. Wildcards are not supported in any client filters → Incorrect; wildcards are supported, such as in hostnames or IP filters (*, ?).
D. Machine type filters are applied before the whitelist and blacklist → Incorrect; whitelist and blacklist logic governs client inclusion, not machine type priority.