SPLK-1003 Exam Dumps

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.

Explanation:

When creating custom roles in Splunk, you can configure the following permissions and restrictions:

Restrict Search Terms (A):
Use srchFilter in authorize.conf to limit searches to specific patterns (e.g., block sourcetype=password).

Limit Concurrent Search Jobs (C):
Set srchJobsQuota to control how many simultaneous searches a role can run.

Allow/Restrict Indexes (D):
Define srchIndexesAllowed or srchIndexesDefault to specify accessible indexes.

Why Not B (Whitelist Search Terms)?
Splunk supports blocking terms (blacklisting) via srchFilter, but not explicit whitelisting.
Whitelisting would require complex workarounds (e.g., search macros with enforced syntax).

Example authorize.conf Settings:
text
[role_custom]
srchIndexesAllowed = main,web_logs
srchJobsQuota = 5
srchFilter = NOT sourcetype=password

Reference:
Splunk Docs: Configure role-based permissions