SPLK-1003 Getting Data IN And Forwarder Management Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A Splunk administrator must configure a Universal Forwarder on a Linux host to monitor a directory whose files are rotated and renamed frequently, and to ensure that no data is lost if the forwarder is temporarily stopped. The administrator also wants to avoid re-indexing files after a restart. Which combination of settings should be applied to the inputs.conf stanza?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Set followTail = 0 and use the default checkpointing, and ensure that the fishbucket index is properly persisted.. The correct configuration ensures that the forwarder reads all existing data (followTail = 0) and resumes from the last read position after a restart via default checkpointing. Persisting the fishbucket index is essential to maintain read offsets. The other options either skip existing data, cause duplicates, or disable checkpointing, which would lead to data loss or re-indexing.

Answer

Set crcSalt = <SOURCE> and followTail = 0, and leave the default checkpoint behavior.

Answer

Set initCrcLength = 1024 and ignoreOlderThan = 7d, and set followTail = 1.

Answer

Set followTail = 1 and crcSalt = <SOURCE>, and disable checkpointing by setting checkpointInterval = 0.

Question 2

You are a Splunk administrator at a financial services company. A Windows server running the Universal Forwarder has been reporting to the Deployment Server, but after a recent change, the forwarder stopped receiving deployment apps and its configuration reverted unexpectedly. You check the forwarder's splunkd.log and see repeated messages about being unable to fetch the deployment server's configuration. Which of the following is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The forwarder's deploymentclient.conf is missing or misconfigured, so it cannot locate the Deployment Server.. The deploymentclient.conf file is essential for a forwarder to locate and communicate with the Deployment Server. When this file is missing or misconfigured, the forwarder cannot fetch deployment apps, leading to configuration reversion and errors in splunkd.log. The other options either affect all forwarders or are unrelated to the deployment client communication path.

Answer

The forwarder's serverclass.conf file on the Deployment Server has a syntax error.

Answer

The forwarder's outputs.conf is pointing to the wrong indexer, causing it to fail deployment.

Answer

The Deployment Server service is not running on the deployment server host.

Question 3

A Splunk administrator needs to monitor a set of log files on a Windows server using a Universal Forwarder. The logs are written to a directory that includes subdirectories, and the administrator wants to monitor all .log files recursively. Which input stanza in inputs.conf should be used?

Accepted Answer

[monitor://C:\Logs\...\*.log]. To monitor files recursively in Splunk on Windows, the monitor stanza must include the ... wildcard to indicate subdirectories. The correct syntax is [monitor://C:\Logs\...\*.log], which monitors all .log files in C:\Logs and its subdirectories. This ensures that all relevant log files are ingested, regardless of their depth in the directory structure.

Answer

[monitor://C:\Logs\*]

Answer

[monitor://C:\Logs\...]

Answer

[monitor://C:\Logs\*.log]

Question 4

A Splunk administrator needs to deploy a new version of a custom app to 50 Universal Forwarders using the Deployment Server. The app contains a inputs.conf that monitors a specific log file. The administrator wants to ensure that the forwarders receive the app and that the deployment is successful. Which action should the administrator take after placing the app in the deployment-apps directory?

Accepted Answer

Run the command splunk reload deploy-server on the Deployment Server.. The correct action is to run splunk reload deploy-server on the Deployment Server. This command causes the Deployment Server to re-read its configuration and detect the new app, making it available for deployment to forwarders. Restarting the service is unnecessary, and the other commands are used in different contexts.

Answer

Run the command splunk apply cluster-bundle on the Deployment Server.

Answer

Restart the Deployment Server service to apply the changes.

Answer

Edit serverclass.conf to add the app and then run splunk reload deploy-server.

Question 5

A Splunk administrator is setting up a new Universal Forwarder on a Linux server to monitor a critical application log file. The administrator wants to ensure that only new events appended to the file are indexed, and that the entire file is not re-indexed if the forwarder restarts. Which setting in inputs.conf should be configured to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

followTail. The followTail setting in inputs.conf instructs the Universal Forwarder to begin reading a file from its end, so only new data appended after monitoring starts is indexed. This prevents re-indexing of existing content when the forwarder restarts, which is essential for log files that already contain historical data. Other settings like ignoreOlderThan or crcSalt do not provide this behavior.

Answer

ignoreOlderThan

Answer

initCrcLength

Answer

crcSalt

Question 6

A Splunk administrator is configuring a Deployment Server to manage a fleet of Universal Forwarders. The administrator needs to ensure that a specific set of forwarders, identified by their hostnames, receive a particular deployment app containing outputs.conf and inputs.conf. The forwarders are currently connected to the Deployment Server. Which two configuration elements are required in serverclass.conf to achieve this? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

A serverClass stanza with a filterType of whitelist and a pattern matching the forwarder hostnames.. The correct answers are the serverClass stanza with a whitelist filter and the presence of the deployment app directory. The whitelist filter targets the specific forwarders by hostname, and the app directory contains the configuration to be deployed. Together, they ensure that only the intended forwarders receive the app. Other options are either invalid or not required for the deployment to succeed.

Answer

A forwarder-specific clientName attribute in serverclass.conf to uniquely identify each forwarder.

Answer

A serverclass.conf entry with restartSplunkd set to true to force forwarders to restart after deployment.

Answer

A serverClass stanza with a filterType of blacklist and a pattern excluding all other forwarders.

Question 7

A Splunk administrator is configuring a Universal Forwarder to send data to an indexer. The administrator wants to ensure that if the indexer becomes unavailable, the forwarder will buffer data locally and send it once the indexer is back online. Which setting in outputs.conf should be configured to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

queueSize and persistentQueueSize. The persistent queue, configured with persistentQueueSize in outputs.conf, allows the forwarder to store data on disk when the indexer is unavailable. This ensures that data is not lost and is sent when the indexer comes back online. queueSize controls the in-memory queue, but persistent queue is essential for buffering during extended outages. The other settings do not provide this disk-based buffering capability.

Answer

autoLB = true

Answer

useACK = true

Answer

maxQueueSize

Question 8

A Splunk administrator is configuring a Universal Forwarder to monitor a log file that is being written to continuously. The administrator wants to ensure that the forwarder does not index duplicate data if the file is rotated and a new file with the same name is created. Which setting in inputs.conf should the administrator configure to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

crcSalt = . The correct setting is crcSalt = . This adds the file path to the CRC calculation, ensuring that files with the same content but different paths are treated as distinct. In the context of file rotation, when a file is rotated and a new file with the same name is created, the path remains the same, but the content might be different. However, if the new file has the same initial content as the old file, the CRC might still match. But the common recommendation to avoid duplicate indexing on rotation is to use crcSalt = because it ensures that if the file is moved or renamed, it is treated as new. For rotation with copytruncate, the new file has the same path, so crcSalt does not change the CRC. Actually, the correct answer might be different. Given the options, crcSalt = is the most relevant setting for file identity and rotation issues.

Answer

initCrcLength = 1024

Answer

followTail = 1

Answer

ignoreOlderThan = 7d

Question 9

A Splunk administrator needs to configure a Universal Forwarder to send data to an indexer cluster. The administrator wants to ensure that the forwarder can continue to send data even if one of the indexers in the cluster goes down. Which configuration in outputs.conf should the administrator use?

Accepted Answer

Configure multiple indexers in the [tcpout] stanza using a comma-separated list of server:port entries.. The correct configuration is to list multiple indexers in the [tcpout] stanza. This allows the forwarder to send data to any available indexer, providing failover if one goes down. The forwarder will automatically load-balance across the listed indexers. Other options either do not provide redundancy or are unnecessarily complex for the scenario. The key is to have multiple indexers configured so that the forwarder can switch to another if one fails.

Answer

Configure the forwarder to use the [tcpout] stanza with the autoLB = true setting and a single indexer.

Answer

Configure the forwarder to use the [indexer_discovery] stanza with a master node URI.

Answer

Configure a single indexer in the [tcpout] stanza with the indexer's IP address.

Question 10

A Splunk administrator is using a Heavy Forwarder to collect data from a remote source and forward it to an indexer. The administrator wants to reduce the amount of data sent over the network by filtering out events that contain the string 'DEBUG'. Which configuration should the administrator use on the Heavy Forwarder?

Accepted Answer

Create a transform in transforms.conf that sets the queue to nullQueue for events matching 'DEBUG', and reference it in props.conf.. The correct approach is to create a transform that routes events containing 'DEBUG' to the nullQueue and reference it in props.conf. This is the standard way to filter events on a Heavy Forwarder before forwarding. The nullQueue effectively discards the events. Other options are either incorrect syntax or apply to the wrong configuration file. This method reduces network traffic by preventing unwanted events from being sent to the indexer.

Answer

Use the 'blacklist' setting in inputs.conf to exclude events containing 'DEBUG'.

Answer

Configure a nullQueue in outputs.conf to drop events containing 'DEBUG'.

Answer

Create a props.conf stanza with TRANSFORMS-null = setnull to drop events containing 'DEBUG'.

Question 11

A Splunk administrator is configuring a Universal Forwarder to send data to an indexer cluster. The forwarder must be able to load-balance across multiple indexers and also fail over if an indexer becomes unavailable. Which configuration should be set in outputs.conf on the forwarder?

Accepted Answer

Create a [tcpout:primary] stanza with server = indexer1:9997, indexer2:9997, indexer3:9997 and set autoLBFrequency and useACK.. To achieve load balancing and failover, the forwarder must be configured with a tcpout group containing multiple indexers. Enabling indexer acknowledgment (useACK) ensures that data is not lost if an indexer fails, and autoLBFrequency controls how often the forwarder switches between indexers. This combination provides both load balancing and resilience.

Answer

Define a single [tcpout] stanza with server = indexer1:9997, indexer2:9997, indexer3:9997.

Answer

Configure [tcpout] with server = indexer1:9997 and use a separate [tcpout:group1] stanza for failover.

Answer

Use a [tcpout] stanza with server = indexer1:9997 and set sendCookedData = false to enable failover.

Question 12

A Splunk administrator is configuring a Universal Forwarder on a Linux server to monitor a log file that is actively being written. The administrator wants to ensure that the forwarder reads the file from the beginning and does not miss any existing data. Which setting in inputs.conf should be used?

Accepted Answer

followTail = 0. The followTail setting in inputs.conf controls whether the forwarder reads a file from the beginning or only new data. Setting followTail = 0 (the default) makes the forwarder read the entire file from the start. This ensures no existing data is missed. Other settings like ignoreOlderThan, initCrcLength, and crcSalt serve different purposes and do not dictate the initial read position.

Answer

ignoreOlderThan = 7d

Answer

initCrcLength = 1024

Answer

crcSalt = <SOURCE>

Question 13

A Splunk administrator is configuring a Universal Forwarder to monitor a set of log files that are rotated daily. The administrator wants to ensure that the forwarder correctly handles file rotation and does not re-index old data. Which two settings should be configured in inputs.conf to achieve this? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

ignoreOlderThan = 7d. To correctly handle file rotation and avoid re-indexing, the administrator should use crcSalt = <SOURCE> to ensure unique file identification based on path, and ignoreOlderThan to skip files that are no longer being written to. These settings work together to maintain accurate file tracking and prevent duplicate ingestion.

Answer

followTail = 0

Answer

host_regex = /var/log/(\w+)/

Answer

initCrcLength = 1024

Question 14

What is the primary function of the Deployment Server?

Accepted Answer

Centralized management of configuration files. The Deployment Server in Splunk is a centralized configuration management component that distributes configuration files (such as inputs.conf, outputs.conf, and apps) to forwarders and other Splunk instances via deployment apps and server classes. It does not process, index, or search data — it only pushes configuration bundles to clients that poll it. This makes it the administrative control plane for managing large fleets of universal/heavy forwarders.

Answer

Indexing data

Answer

Parsing data

Answer

Performing searches

Question 15

A Universal Forwarder is failing to send data to the Indexer. The indexer shows no incoming traffic. Where is the first place you should check for errors?

Accepted Answer

$SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/splunk/splunkd.log. The splunkd.log on the Universal Forwarder is the primary log for troubleshooting forwarding issues, including connection errors, configuration problems, and pipeline errors. When a UF fails to send data, the first diagnostic step is to check $SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/splunk/splunkd.log for messages about outputs, TCP connection failures, or SSL errors.

Answer

The Splunk Web UI on the Indexer

Answer

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/inputs.conf

Answer

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/search/local/indexes.conf