Splunk Enterprise Certified Architect SPLK-2002 Reddit Questions

inputs.conf is a configuration file that contains settings for various types of data inputs, such as files, directories, network ports, scripts, and so on1.

initCrcLength is a setting that specifies the number of characters that the input uses to calculate the CRC (cyclic redundancy check) of a file1. The CRC is a value that uniquely identifies a file based on its content2.

crcSalt is another setting that adds a string to the CRC calculation to force the input to consume files that have matching CRCs1. This can be useful when files have identical headers or when files are renamed or rolled over2.

When troubleshooting a situation where some files within a directory are not being indexed, the ignored files are discovered to have long headers, the first thing that should be added to inputs.conf is to increase the value of initCrcLength. This is because by default, the input only performs CRC checks against the first 256 bytes of a file, which means that files with long headers may have matching CRCs and be skipped by the input2. By increasing the value of initCrcLength, the input can use more characters from the file to calculate the CRC, which can reduce the chances of CRC collisions and ensure that different files are indexed3.

Option C is the correct answer because it reflects the best practice for troubleshooting this situation. Option A is incorrect because decreasing the value of initCrcLength would make the CRC calculation less reliable and more prone to collisions. Option B is incorrect because adding a crcSalt with a static string would not help differentiate files with long headers, as they would still have matching CRCs. Option D is incorrect because adding a crcSalt with the attribute would add the full directory path to the CRC calculation, which would not help if the files are in the same directory2.

 The Splunk instance with the given settings in SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/server.conf is missing the master_uri attribute and needs to be restarted. The master_uri attribute is required for the master node to communicate with the peer nodes and the search head cluster. The master_uri attribute specifies the host name and port number of the master node. Without this attribute, the master node cannot function properly. The Splunk instance also needs to be restarted for the changes in the server.conf file to take effect. The replication_factor setting determines how many copies of each bucket are maintained across the peer nodes. The search factor is a separate setting that determines how many searchable copies of each bucket are maintained across the peer nodes. The search factor is not specified in the given settings, so it defaults to the same value as the replication factor, which is 2. This is not a multi-site cluster, because the site attribute is not specified in the clustering stanza. A multi-site cluster is a cluster that spans multiple geographic locations, or sites, and has different replication and search factors for each site.

To activate replication for an index in an indexer cluster, the repFactor attribute must be configured in indexes.conf on all peer nodes. This attribute specifies the replication factor for the index, which determines how many copies of raw data are maintained by the cluster. Setting the repFactor attribute to auto will enable replication for the index. The replicate attribute in indexes.conf is not a valid Splunk attribute. The repFactor attribute in outputs.conf and the replicate attribute in deploymentclient.conf are not related to replication for an index in an indexer cluster. For more information, see Configure indexes for indexer clusters in the Splunk documentation.

According to the Splunk documentation1, multi-site clustering is an indexer cluster that spans multiple physical sites, such as data centers. Each site has its own set of peer nodes and search heads. Each site also obeys site-specific replication and search factor rules. The use cases that are made possible by multi-site clustering are:

Greatly reduce WAN traffic by preferentially searching assigned site (search affinity). This means that if you configure each site so that it has both a search head and a full set of searchable data, the search head on each site will limit its searches to local peer nodes. This eliminates any need, under normal conditions, for search heads to access data on other sites, greatly reducing network traffic between sites2.

Seamlessly route searches to a redundant site in case of a site failure. This means that by storing copies of your data at multiple locations, you maintain access to the data if a disaster strikes at one location. Multisite clusters provide site failover capability. If a site goes down, indexing and searching can continue on the remaining sites, without interruption or loss of data2.

The other options are false because:

Use blockchain technology to audit search activity from geographically dispersed data centers. This is not a use case of multi-site clustering, as Splunk does not use blockchain technology to audit search activity. Splunk uses its own internal logs and metrics to monitor and audit search activity3.

Enable a forwarder to send data to multiple indexers. This is not a use case of multi-site clustering, as forwarders can send data to multiple indexers regardless of whether they are in a single-site or multi-site cluster. This is a basic feature of forwarders that allows load balancing and high availability of data ingestion4.