SPLK-1001 Basic Searching and Transforming Commands Practice Question
A Splunk administrator is troubleshooting a slow search on firewall logs. The index is 'firewall', sourcetype is 'cisco:asa', and there is about 500 GB of data per day. The search is: index=firewall sourcetype=cisco:asa action=block | stats count by src_ip | where count > 1000. This search takes over 5 minutes to return results. The administrator needs the same results faster. The index has a data model named 'firewall_dm' that is accelerated with a summary range of 7 days. Which change to the search will improve performance the most while still returning the same results?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often think `fields` or moving the filter to `| search` reduces data volume, but only `tstats` with an accelerated data model avoids scanning raw events entirely.
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
✓
Change to | tstats count from datamodel=firewall_dm where action=block by src_ip | where count > 1000
It uses `tstats` against an accelerated data model, which pre-aggregates data in the summary range (7 days). This avoids scanning raw 500 GB/day of firewall logs, drastically reducing I/O and CPU. The `where` clause in `tstats` filters on the `action` field directly from the accelerated index, returning the same results much faster.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Add | stats count by src_ip, _time to the search
Why it's wrong here
Adding _time increases the number of groups and slows down the search.
- ✓
Change to | tstats count from datamodel=firewall_dm where action=block by src_ip | where count > 1000
Why this is correct
tstats uses the accelerated data model, drastically reducing the amount of data scanned.
- ✗
Add | fields src_ip before the stats command
Why it's wrong here
Limiting fields can help, but the main bottleneck is scanning raw data; this provides minimal improvement.
- ✗
| search action=block instead of placing action=block in the base search
Why it's wrong here
This is a syntax change; it does not affect performance significantly.
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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.