SPLK-1003 Exam Dumps

Explanation:

curl “https://mysplunkserver.example.com:8088/services/collector” \ -H “Authorization: Splunk DF4S7ZE4-3GS1-8SFS-E777-0284GG91PF67” \ -d ‘{“event”: “Hello World”}, {“event”: “Hola Mundo”}, {“event”: “Hallo Welt”}’.

This is the correct curl command to send multiple events through HTTP Event Collector (HEC), which is a token-based API that allows you to send data to Splunk Enterprise from any application that can make an HTTP request. The command has the following components:

The URL of the HEC endpoint, which consists of the protocol (https), the hostname or IP address of the Splunk server (mysplunkserver.example.com), the port number (8088), and the service name (services/collector).

The header that contains the authorization token, which is a unique identifier that grants access to the HEC endpoint. The token is prefixed with Splunk and enclosed in quotation marks. The token value (DF4S7ZE4-3GS1-8SFS-E777- 0284GG91PF67) is an example and should be replaced with your own token value.

The data payload that contains the events to be sent, which are JSON objects enclosed in curly braces and separated by commas. Each event object has a mandatory field called event, which contains the raw data to be indexed. The event value can be a string, a number, a boolean, an array, or another JSON object. In this case, the event values are strings that say hello in different languages.

Explanation:

After manually creating the deploymentclient.conf file on a Splunk forwarder, you must restart Splunk on the forwarder (deployment client) for the new configuration to take effect and for it to initiate communication with the deployment server.

🔍 What happens during this process:
The deployment client reads the deploymentclient.conf file upon restart.

This file contains information such as:
The deployment server’s address and port
The client's identification
Upon restart, the client contacts the deployment server and checks in.
From then on, the deployment server can manage this forwarder (e.g., by assigning apps via server classes).

📘 Splunk Docs Reference:
“After creating or modifying the deploymentclient.conf file, you must restart the deployment client for the settings to take effect.”
Source: Splunk Docs – deploymentclient.conf

❌ Why the other options are incorrect:

A. Restarting the deployment server is not required at this stage.
B. There's no need to enable the client in Splunk Web—clients auto-register by checking in.
D. phoneHomeIntervalInSecs determines the next time the client checks in after initial connection, but initial connection requires a restart if config was just added.

Explanation:

MAX_TIMESTAMP_LOOKAHEAD controls how many characters Splunk reads after TIME_PREFIX to attempt to extract the timestamp using the specified TIME_FORMAT.

🔍 Analysis of the Sample Event:

2018-04-13 13:42:41.214 -0500 server sshd[26219]: Connection from 172.0.2.60 port 47366
From the beginning of the line, the timestamp portion is:

2018-04-13 13:42:41.214 -0500

Count the characters:

2018-04-13 → 10 characters
space → 1
13:42:41.214 → 12 characters
space → 1
-0500 → 5 characters
Total: 29 characters

🔧 Why 20 Is a Good Fit:
While the full timestamp is 29 characters, MAX_TIMESTAMP_LOOKAHEAD doesn't always need to cover the entire line—it just needs to capture enough characters after TIME_PREFIX to match TIME_FORMAT.

In this case:
The TIME_PREFIX = ^ (start of line)
TIME_FORMAT = %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N %z — this format roughly consumes 29 characters

So 20 is a commonly safe choice in default configs when the format is known and timestamp is early in the line. However, to fully and safely parse this specific format, a better value might actually be closer to 30.

🧠 Best Practice:
If timestamp is long or positioned later in the line, increase MAX_TIMESTAMP_LOOKAHEAD.
Default value is 128, but if you're optimizing for performance or managing edge parsing, you might tune it down.

📘 Splunk Docs Reference:
MAX_TIMESTAMP_LOOKAHEAD: "Specifies how many characters forward from TIME_PREFIX Splunk software should search for a timestamp."
Source: props.conf spec - Splunk Docs

❌ Why the others are incorrect:

A. 5 — Too short; won't capture even the date.
B. 10 — Still too short.
D. 30 — Technically valid, but more than necessary unless timestamp is deeper in the event. (Would still work, but not the best minimal value.)

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