SPLK-2002 Premium Exam Questions

 In a distributed environment, knowledge object bundles are replicated from the search head to the SPLUNK_HOME/var/run/searchpeers directory on the search peer(s). A knowledge object bundle is a compressed file that contains the knowledge objects, such as fields, lookups, macros, and tags, that are required for a search. A search peer is a Splunk instance that provides data to a search head in a distributed search. A search head is a Splunk instance that coordinates and executes a search across multiple search peers. When a search head initiates a search, it creates a knowledge object bundle and replicates it to the search peers that are involved in the search. The search peers store the knowledge object bundle in the SPLUNK_HOME/var/run/searchpeers directory, which is a temporary directory that is cleared when the Splunk service restarts. The search peers use the knowledge object bundle to apply the knowledge objects to the data and return the results to the search head. The SPLUNK_HOME/var/lib/searchpeers, SPLUNK_HOME/var/log/searchpeers, and SPLUNK_HOME/var/spool/searchpeers directories are not the locations where the knowledge object bundles are replicated, because they do not exist in the Splunk file system

According to the Splunk documentation1, increasing the current deployment client phone home interval can minimize performance issues by reducing the frequency of communication between the clients and the deployment server. This can also reduce the network traffic and the load on the deployment server. The other options are false because:

Modifying deploymentclient.conf to change from a Pull to Push mechanism is not possible, as Splunk does not support a Push mechanism for deployment server2.

Reducing the number of apps in the Manager Node repository will not affect the performance of the deployment server, as the apps are only downloaded when there is a change in the configuration or a new app is added3.

Decreasing the current deployment client phone home interval will increase the performance issues, as it will increase the frequency of communication between the clients and the deployment server, resulting in more network traffic and load on the deployment server1.

Three peers can fail. This is the maximum number of search peers that can fail before data becomes unsearchable in the indexer cluster with the given characteristics. The searchability of the data depends on the Search Factor, which is the number of searchable copies of each bucket that the cluster maintains across the set of peer nodes1. In this case, the Search Factor is 3, which means that each bucket has three searchable copies distributed among the 10 search peers. If three or fewer search peers fail, the cluster can still serve the data from the remaining searchable copies. However, if four or more search peers fail, the cluster may lose some searchable copies and the data may become unsearchable. The other options are not correct, as they either underestimate or overestimate the number of search peers that can fail before data becomes unsearchable. Therefore, option C is the correct answer, and options A, B, and D are incorrect.

1: Configure the search factor

Intermediate forwarders are forwarders that receive data from other forwarders and then send that data to indexers. They can be useful in some scenarios, such as when network bandwidth or security constraints prevent direct forwarding to indexers, or when data needs to be routed, cloned, or modified in transit. However, intermediate forwarders also introduce additional complexity and overhead to the data pipeline, which can affect the performance and reliability of data ingestion. Therefore, intermediate forwarders should be avoided when possible, and used only when there is a clear benefit or requirement for them. Some of the drawbacks of intermediate forwarders are:

They increase the number of hops and connections in the data flow, which can introduce latency and increase the risk of data loss or corruption.

They consume more resources on the hosts where they run, such as CPU, memory, disk, and network bandwidth, which can affect the performance of other applications or processes on those hosts.

They require additional configuration and maintenance, such as setting up inputs, outputs, load balancing, security, monitoring, and troubleshooting.

They can create data duplication or inconsistency if they are not configured properly, such as when using cloning or routing rules.

Some of the references that support this answer are:

Configure an intermediate forwarder, which states: “Intermediate forwarding is where a forwarder receives data from one or more forwarders and then sends that data on to another indexer. This kind of setup is useful when, for example, you have many hosts in different geographical regions and you want to send data from those forwarders to a central host in that region before forwarding the data to an indexer. All forwarder types can act as an intermediate forwarder. However, this adds complexity to your deployment and can affect performance, so use it only when necessary.”

Intermediate data routing using universal and heavy forwarders, which states: “This document outlines a variety of Splunk options for routing data that address both technical and business requirements. Overall benefits Using splunkd intermediate data routing offers the following overall benefits: … The routing strategies described in this document enable flexibility for reliably processing data at scale. Intermediate routing enables better security in event-level data as well as in transit. The following is a list of use cases and enablers for splunkd intermediate data routing: … Limitations splunkd intermediate data routing has the following limitations: … Increased complexity and resource consumption. splunkd intermediate data routing adds complexity to the data pipeline and consumes resources on the hosts where it runs. This can affect the performance and reliability of data ingestion and other applications or processes on those hosts. Therefore, intermediate routing should be avoided when possible, and used only when there is a clear benefit or requirement for it.”

Use forwarders to get data into Splunk Enterprise, which states: “The forwarders take the Apache data and send it to your Splunk Enterprise deployment for indexing, which consolidates, stores, and makes the data available for searching. Because of their reduced resource footprint, forwarders have a minimal performance impact on the Apache servers. … Note: You can also configure a forwarder to send data to another forwarder, which then sends the data to the indexer. This is called intermediate forwarding. However, this adds complexity to your deployment and can affect performance, so use it only when necessary.”