SPLK-1001 Basic Searching and Transforming Commands Practice Question
A network operations team uses Splunk to monitor netflow data stored in index='net' and sourcetype='netflow'. The events contain fields: src_ip, dest_ip, bytes, and protocols. The team needs to identify the top 5 source IPs by total bytes transferred (based on the bytes field). For each of those top source IPs, they also want to list the destination IPs and the number of times they communicated. The data volume is large, so performance is important. Which SPL approach returns the desired results efficiently?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers choose option B, mistakenly thinking that sorting by total_bytes after a stats command that groups by both src_ip and dest_ip will correctly identify the top source IPs, but it actually ranks pairs, not individual source IPs.
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
✓
index=net sourcetype=netflow [ search index=net sourcetype=netflow | stats sum(bytes) as total_bytes by src_ip | sort -total_bytes | head 5 | fields src_ip ] | stats count by src_ip, dest_ip
It uses a subsearch to first identify the top 5 source IPs by total bytes, then passes those IPs to the outer search to efficiently compute the count of communications per destination IP. This approach minimizes the data processed in the outer search by filtering only the relevant source IPs, which is critical for performance on large netflow datasets.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
index=net sourcetype=netflow | eventstats sum(bytes) as total_bytes by src_ip | stats count by src_ip, dest_ip
Why it's wrong here
This adds total_bytes to each event but does not limit to top IPs; it would count all IPs.
- ✗
index=net sourcetype=netflow | stats sum(bytes) as total_bytes, count by src_ip, dest_ip | sort -total_bytes | head 5
Why it's wrong here
This returns the top 5 combinations of src_ip and dest_ip by total_bytes, not the top 5 source IPs with all their destinations.
- ✓
index=net sourcetype=netflow [ search index=net sourcetype=netflow | stats sum(bytes) as total_bytes by src_ip | sort -total_bytes | head 5 | fields src_ip ] | stats count by src_ip, dest_ip
Why this is correct
The subsearch calculates top IPs by total bytes; the outer search then counts destinations for those IPs.
- ✗
index=net sourcetype=netflow | top limit=5 src_ip by bytes | fields src_ip | search index=net sourcetype=netflow | stats count by src_ip, dest_ip
Why it's wrong here
The 'top' command with 'by bytes' is invalid; 'top' sorts by count, not by a numeric field.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SPLK-1001 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-1001 exam.