SPLK-1002 Advanced Searching and Statistics Practice Question
A Splunk administrator is troubleshooting a search that uses the transaction command to group login and logout events. The search runs but returns no results even though both types of events exist. The events are separated by at most 5 minutes. The current transaction command is:
`index=auth (action=login OR action=logout) | transaction action maxspan=10m maxpause=2s`
What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Splunk often tests the distinction between maxspan (total transaction duration) and maxpause (gap between events), leading candidates to incorrectly assume that a large maxspan is the problem when the real issue is an overly restrictive maxpause.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The maxpause value is too small; events may be more than 2 seconds apart.
The maxpause=2s parameter defines the maximum allowed gap between consecutive events in a transaction. If the actual time between a login and its corresponding logout event exceeds 2 seconds, the transaction command will close the transaction prematurely, treating the logout as the start of a new transaction. Since the events are separated by at most 5 minutes but could be more than 2 seconds apart, the maxpause value is too restrictive, causing the transaction to never complete with both events.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The maxspan value is too large, causing events to be grouped incorrectly.
Why it's wrong here
maxspan is the maximum total duration; 10 minutes is reasonable.
- ✗
The transaction command requires the connected=true argument to group events.
Why it's wrong here
connected=true is the default; changing it would affect ordering but not grouping.
- ✗
The transaction command requires keepevents=true to retain all events.
Why it's wrong here
keepevents only affects whether raw events are appended; missing events is not the issue.
- ✓
The maxpause value is too small; events may be more than 2 seconds apart.
Why this is correct
maxpause sets the maximum time between events in a transaction; 2 seconds may be too restrictive.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SPLK-1002 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Splunk certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SPLK-1002 exam.