SPLK-1003 Practice Test 2 — 25 Questions

Question 1

A financial services company uses Splunk to detect fraudulent transactions. Each transaction event has fields: `user_id`, `amount`, `merchant`, `timestamp`. The fraud detection team wants to identify users who make multiple small transactions (under $50) totaling over $200 within a 1-hour window, which may indicate testing stolen credit cards. They write the following search:

`index=transactions sourcetype=payment amount<50 | transaction user_id maxspan=1h | where sum(amount) > 200`

This search runs but returns no results, even though manual inspection shows users with such patterns. What is the primary reason the search fails?

Accepted Answer

The `where sum(amount) > 200` does not work as expected because `sum()` is not an aggregation function in that context; you need to use `stats sum(amount)` or `eval total=mvsum(amount)` first.. Option D is correct because the `transaction` command creates a single multivalue field `amount` containing all amounts from the grouped events. The `where` clause cannot directly aggregate multivalue fields with `sum()`; it requires an explicit `eval` to compute the sum (e.g., `eval total=mvsum(amount)`) or a `stats` command. Without this, the `where` clause evaluates `sum(amount)` as a string operation or fails silently, returning no results.

Answer

The `amount<50` filter is applied before the transaction, which excludes amounts exactly $50.

Answer

The search lacks a `fields` command to include `user_id`, so the transaction fails.

Answer

The `maxspan=1h` is too short; users might spread transactions over more than 1 hour.

Question 2

Match each Splunk component to its function.

Accepted Answer

Search Head: Distributes search requests and merges results from indexers.. In a Splunk distributed environment, the Search Head handles search distribution and result merging, the Indexer indexes and stores data, the Universal Forwarder collects and forwards data, and the Deployment Server manages configuration deployment. Common mistakes include swapping the roles of Search Head and Indexer, or confusing the Deployment Server with a forwarder.

Answer

Search Head: Indexes and stores incoming data.

Answer

Deployment Server: Lightweight forwarder that sends data to indexers.

Question 3

Match each Splunk knowledge object to its purpose.

Accepted Answer

Event types: Categorize events based on search criteria.. Knowledge objects in Splunk help organize and enrich data. Event types group events by criteria, Tags label field values, Lookups add external data, and Macros store reusable search fragments. Common confusions arise between these similar but distinct objects.

Answer

Event types: Add descriptive keywords to field values.

Answer

Tags: Categorize events based on search criteria.

Answer

Lookups: Reusable search fragments.

Question 4

Match each Splunk report type to its description.

Accepted Answer

Table Report: Displays raw or transformed data in a tabular format with rows and columns.. In Splunk, report types define how data is presented. Table Reports show raw data in rows/columns, Chart Reports use graphs, Single Value Reports show one key metric, and Statistics Reports summarize data. Common confusions arise between Table/Statistics and Chart/Single Value.

Answer

Table Report: Displays summary statistics with counts and averages.

Answer

Chart Report: Displays a single numerical value with a sparkline.

Question 5

A security analyst sets up a saved search alert to trigger when more than 100 failed logins occur in 5 minutes. To avoid alert fatigue, they want to suppress the alert if the number of failed logins is the same as the previous evaluation. Which alert action setting should they configure?

Accepted Answer

Enable 'Alert suppression' and set 'Suppress if results are the same as the previous search'.. Option B is correct because 'Alert suppression' with the setting 'Suppress if results are the same as the previous search' directly addresses the requirement to avoid alert fatigue when the number of failed logins is unchanged. Option A, 'Alert throttling', limits the frequency of alerts based on a time interval or field values, not comparison of result sets. Option C's throttle field is typically for throttling per field value, not condition-based suppression. Option D's severity and delay do not suppress based on result comparison.

Answer

Enable 'Alert throttling' based on the 'src' field.

Answer

Set the 'Throttle' field to suppress alerts for a specified time window.

Answer

Configure 'Alert severity' to low and set a delay.

Question 6

Refer to the exhibit. A security analyst runs this search to group SSH login events into sessions based on a session_id that is extracted only from 'Accepted publickey' events. However, the resulting transactions contain only the 'Accepted publickey' event and none of the subsequent commands or logouts. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The session_id field is only populated for the 'Accepted publickey' event, so other events have a different or null session_id and do not join the transaction.. Option B is correct because the `transaction` command groups events by the `session_id` field. If `session_id` is only extracted from 'Accepted publickey' events (e.g., via a `rex` or `eval` command), subsequent commands and logout events will have a null or different `session_id`. Since `transaction` requires all events in the group to share the same `session_id` value, those other events cannot join the transaction, resulting in a transaction containing only the single 'Accepted publickey' event.

Answer

The maxpause=5m is too short, causing the transaction to close before other events occur.

Answer

The transaction command requires that all events have a non-null session_id to be grouped.

Answer

The sourcetype filter is too restrictive.

Question 7

A security analyst needs to correlate authentication events from multiple Windows domain controllers to identify failed logon attempts from a specific user account, and then enrich the results with the user's department and manager from an HR database. Which TWO Splunk features should the analyst use?

Accepted Answer

Data model acceleration. Data model acceleration (B) is correct because it pre-computes and indexes authentication event data from multiple Windows domain controllers, enabling fast, efficient correlation of failed logon attempts for a specific user. Lookup definition (D) is correct because it allows the analyst to define a lookup that enriches the authentication events with the user's department and manager from an external HR database, mapping fields like username to the HR data.

Answer

Time-based lookup

Answer

Subsearch

Answer

Calculated field

Question 8

An analyst needs to calculate the average response time for each web server, but only for requests that returned status code 200. The field 'response_time' is numeric. Which search correctly achieves this?

Accepted Answer

index=web status=200 | stats avg(response_time) by server. Option D is correct because it first filters the data to only include events with status=200 using a search-time field filter, then uses the `stats` command with `avg(response_time) by server` to compute the average response time per server. This ensures that only successful requests are included in the aggregation, and the `by server` clause correctly groups the results by each web server.

Answer

index=web | transaction server maxspan=1m | stats avg(response_time) by server

Answer

index=web status=200 | eventstats avg(response_time) as avg_time by server

Answer

index=web | eval avg_time = avg(response_time) by server | search status=200

Question 9

Which THREE of the following are valid Splunk search commands for determining the number of distinct values of a field?

Accepted Answer

| stats dc(field). Option B is correct because `| stats dc(field)` uses the `dc` (distinct count) function to return the exact number of unique values for the specified field. This is the direct and most efficient command for counting distinct values in Splunk.

Answer

| stats count(field)

Answer

| stats distinct_count(field)

Question 10

A search returns events with fields 'user', 'action', and 'count'. The analyst wants to create a timechart showing the number of distinct users performing 'login' actions per hour. Which search is correct?

Accepted Answer

`... | timechart span=1h dc(user)`. Option C is correct because `timechart span=1h dc(user)` computes the distinct count of the 'user' field per 1-hour time bucket, which directly answers the requirement of showing the number of distinct users performing 'login' actions per hour. The `dc()` function in Splunk is the distinct count function, and `timechart` automatically groups events by `_time` into the specified span.

Answer

`... | stats dc(user) by _time span=1h`

Answer

`... | timechart span=1h dc(by user)`

Answer

`... | eval user=user | timechart span=1h count by user`

Answer

`... | timechart span=1h sum(count) by user`

Question 11

A security analyst wants to create a saved search that triggers an alert when more than 100 failed login attempts occur within a 5-minute window from the same source IP. The search should run every 5 minutes and alert only once per window. Which setting should be configured?

Accepted Answer

Enable 'Throttle' and set the throttle window to 5 minutes, throttling on the source IP field.. Option D is correct because enabling Throttle with a 5-minute window on the source IP field ensures that once an alert fires for a given source IP, subsequent alerts from that same IP are suppressed for the duration of the throttle window. This matches the requirement to alert only once per 5-minute window per source IP, preventing alert fatigue while still detecting the threshold breach.

Answer

Enable 'Digest mode' with a time window of 5 minutes.

Answer

Configure the search to use a 'Real-time' window of 5 minutes and set 'Alert on' to 'Result count'.

Answer

Set the 'Alert condition' to 'Number of results > 100' and use a rolling time window of 5 minutes.

Question 12

An analyst runs `index=web status=500 | top 10 uri` and gets results. Which statement is true about the 'top' command's behavior?

Accepted Answer

It counts the number of events per URI and displays the 10 with the highest count.. The `top` command in Splunk counts the occurrences of each distinct value of a specified field (here, `uri`) and returns the values with the highest counts. By default, it returns the top 10 results, so option E correctly describes that it counts events per URI and displays the 10 with the highest count.

Answer

It returns the 10 URIs that appeared most recently.

Answer

It computes the average latency per URI and shows the top 10.

Answer

It sums a numeric field per URI and shows the top 10 sums.

Answer

It requires a 'by' clause to specify the field to group by.

Question 13

A Splunk admin notices that a saved search scheduled to run every 10 minutes is consistently taking 15 minutes to complete, causing overlapping runs. The search aggregates data across multiple indexes and uses a large time window. What is the best way to prevent overlap and ensure the search completes?

Accepted Answer

Configure the search to 'Skip the next scheduled run if the previous run is still in progress'.. Option D is correct because the 'Skip the next scheduled run if the previous run is still in progress' setting is specifically designed to prevent overlapping executions of a saved search. This ensures that if a search takes longer than its scheduled interval, the next scheduled run is skipped, avoiding resource contention and incomplete results.

Answer

Set the search to 'Run on a timer' and increase the schedule interval to 20 minutes.

Answer

Enable the 'Schedule Priority' setting to 'Higher' and set 'Schedule Window' to 0.

Answer

Reduce the search time window to 5 minutes to decrease execution time.

Question 14

A Splunk administrator notices that a scheduled saved search `Daily Summary` fails every day at 2:00 AM with the error "Search job expired due to inactivity." The search runs against a large index and takes about 30 minutes to complete. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The scheduled search is configured with a time limit shorter than 30 minutes.. The error 'Search job expired due to inactivity' indicates that the scheduled search was terminated before it could complete. In Splunk, saved searches have a configurable time limit (default 10 minutes) that specifies the maximum runtime before the search is killed. Since the search takes 30 minutes, the time limit must be set to less than 30 minutes, causing the premature termination.

Answer

The user who owns the saved search does not have permissions to run it at that time.

Answer

The indexer has reached its license quota and stops processing.

Answer

The search is consuming too much disk space.

Question 15

Which TWO of the following are valid ways to reference a macro in a search?

Accepted Answer

`macro_name(arg1, arg2)`. Option C is correct because in Splunk, a macro is invoked using backticks with parentheses around its arguments, as in `macro_name(arg1, arg2)`. This syntax tells the search processor to expand the macro definition with the provided arguments before executing the search.

Answer

$macro_name(arg1, arg2)$

Answer

macro_name:arg1, arg2

Answer

| macro_name(arg1, arg2)

Question 16

Which THREE of the following are components of the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM)? (choose three)

Accepted Answer

Endpoint. Option B (Endpoint) is correct because the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) includes the Endpoint data model, which normalizes data from endpoint security solutions such as antivirus, EDR, and host-based intrusion detection. This data model covers processes, file system changes, registry modifications, and other host-level activities, making it a core component of the CIM.

Answer

Application State

Answer

Change Analysis

Question 17

Which TWO of the following are valid methods to create a lookup table in Splunk?

Accepted Answer

Upload a CSV file through the Splunk Web interface. Option C is correct because Splunk Web provides a direct interface to upload a CSV file and define it as a lookup table, automatically creating the lookup definition and file. Option D is correct because the `outputlookup` command in a search writes search results to a CSV file in the lookups directory, effectively creating a lookup table from dynamic data.

Answer

Use the eval command to create a lookup definition

Answer

Use the stats command to aggregate data into a lookup

Answer

Use the inputlookup command in a search

Question 18

Which THREE are best practices for creating lookups in Splunk?

Accepted Answer

Use case-insensitive matching by default for user-facing lookups.. Option A is correct because using case-insensitive matching by default in user-facing lookups ensures that users do not need to worry about the case of the lookup key, which improves usability and reduces errors. In Splunk, this is configured via the `LOOKUP` command or in transforms.conf with the `case_sensitive_match = false` setting, which is the default behavior for most lookup types. This best practice avoids confusion when users query data with varying case formats, such as user names or hostnames.

Answer

Use wildcard matching in lookups for better performance.

Answer

Use a time-based lookup for static reference data.

Question 19

Which TWO of the following are valid ways to create a macro in Splunk? (choose two)

Accepted Answer

Navigate to Settings > Advanced search > Search macros and click 'New'.. Option C is correct because Splunk provides a GUI-based method to create macros via Settings > Advanced search > Search macros, which is a standard and supported approach. Option D is correct because manually creating a macros.conf file in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/ is a valid configuration method that Splunk reads at startup to define macros.

Answer

Add a macro definition to props.conf under a [source] stanza.

Answer

Use the CLI command `splunk add macro` with the macro definition.

Answer

Edit the macros.conf file in the app's default directory.

Question 20

An organization uses Splunk CIM to normalize data from multiple sources. They have a custom data source that logs firewall events with a field 'action' containing values 'accept', 'deny', 'drop'. They want to map this to the CIM field 'action'. Which configuration is required?

Accepted Answer

Define a field alias in props.conf: `FIELDALIAS-action = action as action`. Option A is correct because the CIM field 'action' already exists in the CIM data model with the same name as the vendor field. A field alias in props.conf using `FIELDALIAS-action = action as action` simply creates an alias so that the vendor's 'action' field is recognized as the CIM 'action' field, allowing the CIM to normalize the data without any transformation. This is the simplest and most efficient method when the vendor field name and values already match the CIM field name and expected values.

Answer

Use the 'calculatedfields' field in props.conf: `CALCULATED_action = if(action=="accept","allowed",if(action=="deny","blocked","dropped"))`

Answer

Create a custom data model that includes the field 'action' with the vendor values.

Answer

Add a tag 'action=accept' to events with action=accept, and similarly for deny and drop.