Pass the Splunk Core Certified Consultant SPLK-3003 Questions and answers with ValidTests

Report acceleration creates a separate summary of the data on the indexer, which is stored in a CSV file. The location of this file is determined by the summaryHomePath attribute in the indexes.conf file. By default, the summaryHomePath is set to $SPLUNK_DB//summary, where $SPLUNK_DB is the root directory for all index data. Therefore, the correct answer is B, summaryHomePath. References :=

Accelerate reports

Indexes.conf.spec

As a best practice, the following should be used to ingest data on clustered indexers: splunktcp, splunktcp-ssl, HTTP Event Collector (HEC). These are the methods that allow data to be sent to the indexers by forwarders or other data sources, without requiring any configuration on the indexers themselves. The indexers can receive the data on specific ports and index it according to the cluster settings. These methods also support load balancing and encryption of the data. Therefore, the correct answer is D. splunktcp, splunktcp-ssl, HTTP Event Collector (HEC). References:

Splunk Core Certified Consultant Test Blueprint

Splunk Documentation: Forward data to an indexer cluster

Splunk Documentation: About forwarding and receiving data

 The user who is assigned to the operations role only will have access to search the operations, network, _internal, and _audit indexes. This is because the srchIndexesAllowed setting of authorize.conf specifies the indexes that a role can search, but it does not restrict the indexes that a role inherits from other roles. The operations role inherits the user role, which by default can search the _internal and _audit indexes. The operations role also inherits the security role, which can search the network index. Therefore, the user who belongs to the operations role can search all these indexes, in addition to the operations index that is specified for the operations role. Therefore, the correct answer is A. operations, network, _internal, _audit. References:

Splunk Core Certified Consultant Test Blueprint

Splunk Documentation: About authorize.conf

Splunk Documentation: Configure user roles with authorize.conf

The most efficient search is the one that retrieves the least amount of data from the indexes and performs the least amount of processing on the search head. Among the four options, the most efficient search is D, (index=www) OR (index=sales) | search (index=www status=200 uri=/cart/checkout) OR (index=sales) | stats count, sum(revenue) as total_revenue by session_id | table total_revenue session_id. This is because:

It uses a base search to limit the data to only two indexes, www and sales, which are relevant for the query.

It uses a subsearch to further filter the data by status and uri for the www index, and by index for the sales index.

It uses a stats command to aggregate the data by session_id and calculate the count and total revenue.

It uses a table command to display only the required fields.

The other options are less efficient for various reasons:

Option A uses an append command, which is expensive and can cause memory issues. It also does not filter the data by status and uri for the www index, which can retrieve more data than needed.

Option B uses a boolean OR operator, which can be slower than a subsearch. It also does not filter the data by status and uri for the www index, which can retrieve more data than needed.

Option C does not use a base search to limit the data to specific indexes, which can retrieve more data than needed. It also uses an append command, which is expensive and can cause memory issues.

Therefore, the correct answer is D, (index=www) OR (index=sales) | search (index=www status=200 uri=/cart/checkout) OR (index=sales) | stats count, sum(revenue) as total_revenue by session_id | table total_revenue session_id. References :=

Quick tips for optimization

About search optimization

The Secret to a Great Splunk Search

How to make efficient and fast searches

The Monitoring Console (MC) health check configuration items are stored in a configuration file called checklist.conf. This file contains the definitions of the health check items, such as the search, description, severity, tags, and categories. You can modify this file to customize the existing health check items or create new ones. You can also download new health check items from the Splunk Health Assistant Add-on on splunkbase. References:

: Splunk Documentation: Monitoring Console: Access and customize health check1

: Splunk Documentation: Monitoring Console: Customize health check items2

 In a large cloud customer environment with many (>100) dynamically created endpoint systems, each with a UF already deployed, the best approach for associating these systems with an appropriate serverclass on the deployment server is to work with the cloud orchestration team to dynamically insert an appropriate clientName setting into each endpoint’s local/deploymentclient.conf which can be matched by whitelist in serverclass.conf. This approach allows the deployment server to easily identify and group the endpoints based on their clientName values, which can be customized according to the customer’s needs. For example, the clientName can be set to include information such as the endpoint’s role, function, location, or owner. The whitelist attribute in serverclass.conf can then use a simple pattern or regular expression to match the clientName values and assign the endpoints to the corresponding serverclass. References:

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.1.1/Admin/Serverclassconf 7

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.1.1/Admin/Deploymentclientconf

 The updated dashboard will not be available to the power user; they will see their modified version. This is because the Splunk App for AWS is a prebuilt app that is installed on the deployer and pushed to the search head cluster members. When a power user modifies a dashboard in the app on one of the search head cluster members, the changes are stored in the local directory of that member. When the app is upgraded to the latest version by following the instructions via the deployer, the changes in the default directory of the app are overwritten, but the changes in the local directory are preserved. Therefore, the power user will still see their modified version of the dashboard, while other users will see the updated version of the dashboard.

The other options are incorrect because they do not reflect what happens when a prebuilt app is upgraded in a search head cluster. Option A is incorrect because the updated dashboard will be deployed globally to all users, except for the power user who modified it. Option B is incorrect because applying the search head cluster bundle will not fail due to the conflict, as the local changes are not pushed back to the deployer. Option C is incorrect because the updated dashboard will not be available to the power user, as their local changes will take precedence over the default changes. References:

Splunk Core Consultant knowledge source documents or study guide: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/resources/splunk-certification-exam-study-guide.html

Splunk Test Blueprint Consultant: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/pdfs/training/splunk-test-blueprint-consultant.pdf

Install a prebuilt app on a search head cluster1

How configuration file precedence works2

 The Monitoring Console (MC) uses a REST endpoint to query the server and determine its role(s) based on the configuration files and processes running on the server. The MC does not rely on manual assignment, distsearch.conf, or default roles to identify the server role(s). References:

: Splunk Documentation: Monitoring Console: Identify roles of Splunk Enterprise instances

: Splunk Documentation: Monitoring Console: How the Monitoring Console identifies instance roles

According to the Splunk Core Consultant study guide, the correct mapping for the deployment of a new environment for a customer is Option D. This is because it follows the PS best practices for mapping, which include the use of the org_cluster_search_base, org_cluster_indexer_base, and org_all_indexes indexes. Additionally, Option D also includes the use of the etc/apps and etc/master-apps directories, which are recommended for the deployment of a new environment. References:

Splunk Core Consultant study guide

Splunk Core Consultant test blueprint

The data retention controls that must be configured to ensure that at least one year of logs are retained for both Windows and Firewall events are maxTotalDataSizeMB and frozenTimePeriodInSecs. These settings are defined in the indexes.conf file, which specifies the index settings and data retention policies for Splunk. The maxTotalDataSizeMB setting determines the maximum size of an index, in megabytes. When the index reaches this size, the oldest data is frozen (deleted or archived). The frozenTimePeriodInSecs setting determines the maximum age of the data in an index, in seconds. When the data exceeds this age, it is frozen. Therefore, by setting these values appropriately for the Windows and Firewall indexes, the customer can ensure that at least one year of logs are retained. References:

Splunk Core Certified Consultant Test Blueprint

Splunk Documentation: Set up multiple indexes

Splunk Documentation: Configure index size and data retention