SPLK-1002 Practice Test 19 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A Splunk administrator needs to schedule a saved search to run every second Friday at 10:00 AM. Which cron expression should be used?

Accepted Answer

0 10 8-14 * 5. The correct cron expression for every second Friday at 10:00 AM is '0 10 8-14 * 5'. This expression runs at 10:00 AM on Fridays (day 5) only if the day of month is between 8 and 14, which includes the second Friday. Option A ('0 10 * * 5') runs every Friday at 10:00 AM, not just the second one. Option C ('0 10 */2 * *') runs at 10:00 AM every other day (every 2 days) regardless of day of week. Option D ('0 10 * * *') runs at 10:00 AM every day. Therefore, B is correct.

Answer

0 10 * * 5

Answer

0 10 */2 * *

Answer

0 10 * * *

Question 2

A Splunk administrator uses a macro to normalize firewall logs into the CIM Network Traffic data model. The macro includes a field alias that maps `bytes_sent` to `bytes_out`. The mapping works in ad-hoc searches, but when the macro is used in a summary index search, the field is not populated. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The alias creates a new field that is not included in the summary index output.. The macro applies the field alias at search time, but summary index searches store the results of the search output. Since the alias field `bytes_out` is derived from `bytes_sent` and not a native field in the data, it is not automatically included in the summary index unless explicitly referenced in the search output. Therefore, the field is not populated in the summary index, making option A the correct answer.

Answer

The summary index is accelerated and overrides the alias.

Answer

Field aliases are not supported in macros.

Answer

The macro is not shared to the global context, so it fails in summary indexing.

Question 3

Which TWO best practices should be followed when creating saved searches that use macros? (Select exactly 2.)

Accepted Answer

Escape special characters in macro arguments to ensure correct parsing.. Options C and E are correct. For option C, escaping special characters in macro arguments is essential to prevent parsing errors when the macro is expanded. For option E, avoiding subsearches inside macros is a best practice because subsearches can significantly impact performance, especially when the macro is used in multiple saved searches. Option A is not a best practice; defining macros globally can lead to namespace conflicts and it's often better to scope macros to a specific app. Option B is not recommended because static time ranges in macros limit flexibility; it's better to pass time range as an argument. Option D is not a best practice because inline comments in macro definitions can cause issues if not properly escaped and can make the macro definition harder to maintain.

Answer

Define macros globally so they are accessible by all saved searches.

Answer

Use static time ranges in macros to avoid unexpected time shifts.

Answer

Include inline comments in macro definitions to document the logic.

Question 4

A systems engineer creates a summary index using a saved search that runs every 30 minutes. The summary index aggregates data from multiple sourcetypes. After a week, the engineer notices that the summary index contains duplicate events for certain time ranges. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The summary index time range extends beyond the schedule interval, causing overlapping windows.. If the summary index time range extends beyond the schedule interval, overlapping windows cause duplicate events. Option A: time zone conversion would not create duplicates. Option B: schedule timing might cause missed data, not duplicates. Option C: summary index acceleration does not cause duplicates.

Answer

The macro used in the saved search includes a time zone conversion that shifts events.

Answer

The saved search schedule is set to run at the wrong time.

Answer

The summary index acceleration is enabled, causing automatic re-summarization.

Question 5

An alert saved search runs every 5 minutes and is set to trigger when count > 0. The alert keeps triggering repeatedly for the same events. What is the recommended solution?

Accepted Answer

Increase the alert throttle period.. Increasing the alert throttle period suppresses duplicate alerts for the same events within a defined time window, preventing repeated triggers. Option A reduces frequency but does not address duplicate alerts. Option B does not solve the underlying issue. Option D may miss legitimate events.

Answer

Set the alert to trigger once per hour.

Answer

Disable the alert and re-enable.

Answer

Change the condition to count > 1.

Question 6

When designing a macro for use across multiple dashboards, which two considerations are important? (Choose TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Use token arguments to parameterize the macro.. Options A and C are correct. Permissions must be set to allow cross-app usage. Token arguments (like $index$) enable flexibility. Absolute time ranges reduce reusability. Subsearches are allowed but not a primary consideration. Descriptions are helpful but not essential.

Answer

Include absolute time ranges in the macro definition.

Answer

Define the macro with a description for documentation.

Answer

Avoid using macros with subsearches.

Question 7

A performance analyst notices that a saved search running a macro with multiple `| eval` statements takes significantly longer than expected. The macro includes conditions like `| eval status=if(success=="true", "OK", "Fail")`. Which change would most likely improve performance?

Accepted Answer

Replace the `| eval` with a lookup table that maps the conditions.. The performance issue stems from the conditional `| eval` statements that must be evaluated on every event, consuming CPU cycles. Replacing the `eval` with a lookup table precomputes the status mapping, offloading computation from search time and improving performance. Therefore, option C is correct. Option A (reducing arguments) does not affect the complexity of the eval expressions. Option B (increasing summary index range) is not relevant to the eval overhead. Option D (adding more fields commands) would add extra processing, not reduce it.

Answer

Reduce the number of arguments passed to the macro.

Answer

Increase the summary index range to reduce the number of events processed.

Answer

Add more `| fields` commands to limit output fields.

Question 8

An analyst wants to group events that start with a 'login' event and end with a 'logout' event, using the username field. Which transaction syntax is correct?

Accepted Answer

transaction username startswith="login" endswith="logout". The proper syntax for grouping events that start with 'login' and end with 'logout' using the username field is 'transaction username startswith="login" endswith="logout"'. Option A lacks quotes around the values, which would cause incorrect parsing. Option B includes an unnecessary 'maxspan=2h' which is not required by the question. Option C uses 'by username' incorrectly; the field should be placed immediately after 'transaction', not using the 'by' keyword.

Answer

transaction username startswith=login endswith=logout

Answer

transaction username startswith="login" endswith="logout" maxspan=2h

Answer

transaction startswith="login" endswith="logout" by username

Question 9

A Splunk admin is troubleshooting a transaction that groups firewall allow and deny events by session ID. The transaction should end when a deny event occurs for that session. Which transaction option should be used to define the end condition?

Accepted Answer

endswith="action=deny". 'endswith="action=deny"' specifies the event that terminates the transaction when a deny event occurs. Option A 'endswith="action=allow"' would end on an allow event, not the desired deny. Option B 'startswith="action=deny"' would start the transaction on a deny event, not end it. Option D 'maxevents=2' limits the number of events but does not define a condition based on event content.

Answer

endswith="action=allow"

Answer

startswith="action=deny"

Answer

maxevents=2

Question 10

A transaction that groups events by field 'session_id' sometimes produces transactions that contain events from multiple distinct sessions due to session_id reuse over time. What is the best way to ensure transactions are correctly separated?

Accepted Answer

Use 'transaction session_id maxspan=30m' to limit the time window.. Adding a maxspan limits the time window, preventing events from reused session IDs that are widely separated in time from merging into the same transaction. Options A, B, and D do not address the reuse issue effectively: A limits events per transaction but doesn't separate sessions, B includes raw data but doesn't separate, D uses start/end markers which may not be present for all sessions.

Answer

Use 'transaction session_id maxevents=1' to stop after one event.

Answer

Use 'transaction session_id mvlist=_raw' to include raw data.

Answer

Use 'transaction session_id startswith="new_session" endswith="end_session"'.

Question 11

A company uses `transaction` to group events by `order_id`. Some orders have many events (1000+). Which option should be added to prevent a single transaction from consuming too many resources?

Accepted Answer

maxevents=500. Maxevents=500. This option limits the number of events that can be included in a single transaction, preventing a transaction with many events (like 1000+) from consuming too many resources. Option A (keepevicted=true) retains evicted events but does not limit resource usage. Option B (maxspan=1h) limits the time span of the transaction, not the event count. Option D (maxpause=5m) limits the time between events but does not cap the total number of events.

Answer

keepevicted=true

Answer

maxspan=1h

Answer

maxpause=5m

Question 12

A transaction search that uses a large maxspan and high-cardinality fields is failing due to memory limitations. Which approach can best reduce memory usage without changing the transaction logic?

Accepted Answer

Use the 'fields' command before transaction to retain only the correlation fields and _time.. Using the 'fields' command before 'transaction' to retain only the correlation fields and _time reduces the amount of data held in memory for each event, directly addressing memory limitations. Option A (using 'stats' with values()) changes the logic and does not preserve the event boundary behavior of transaction. Option C (increasing maxpause) does not reduce memory; it may increase the number of concurrent open transactions. Option D (setting keepevicted=true) actually increases memory usage by keeping evicted events.

Answer

Use the 'stats' command with values() instead of transaction.

Answer

Increase the maxpause value to reduce number of open transactions.

Answer

Set keepevicted=true to offload evicted events.

Question 13

Which TWO options can be used with the `transaction` command to define the beginning and end of a transaction?

Accepted Answer

endswith. startswith and endswith define boundary events. maxspan and maxpause are constraints.

Answer

closed_txn

Answer

maxpause

Answer

maxspan

Question 14

An analyst wants to group events by 'session_id' but only if the events occur within 5 minutes of each other, and there must be at least 2 events per transaction. Which transaction parameters achieve this?

Accepted Answer

transaction session_id maxpause=300 minevents=2. Maxpause=300 ensures events are within 5 minutes of each other, and minevents=2 ensures at least 2 events. Option A (maxspan=300) only limits total time. Option B (maxevents=2) limits event count but not grouping window. Option D (minpause) is not a valid parameter.

Answer

transaction session_id maxspan=300

Answer

transaction session_id maxspan=300 maxevents=2

Answer

transaction session_id maxspan=300 minpause=300

Question 15

A security team needs to group login events for the same user within a 5-minute window. Which transaction option should be used to limit the time between consecutive events?

Accepted Answer

maxpause. (maxpause) is correct because maxpause limits the maximum time between consecutive events in a transaction. Option A (maxspan) limits the total duration of the transaction from first to last event. Option C (startswith) defines a condition to start a transaction. Option D (endswith) defines a condition to end a transaction.

Answer

maxspan

Answer

startswith

Answer

endswith