After an app is downloaded, it resides under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps on the deployment clients. But it resided in the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps location in the deployment server.

URLhttps://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.2.2/DistSearch/Configuredistributedsearch

" To activate distributed search, you add search peers, or indexers, to a Splunk Enterprise instance that you desingate as a search head. You do this by specifying each search peer manually. "

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.5/Admin/Inputsconf

[tcp:// < remote server > : < port > ]

*Configures the input to listen on a specific TCP network port.

*If a < remote server > makes a connection to this instance, the input uses this stanza to configure itself.

*If you do not specify < remote server > , this stanza matches all connections on the specified port.

*Generates events with source set to " tcp: < port > " , for example: tcp:514

*If you do not specify a sourcetype, generates events with sourcetype set to " tcp-raw "

The Splunk indexing process consists of three main phases: Input, Parsing, and Indexing. Understanding these phases is crucial for configuring data inputs and managing data flow within Splunk.

Input Phase: Splunk receives data from various sources, such as files, network ports, or scripted inputs.

Parsing Phase: Splunk breaks the data into individual events, applies transformations, and extracts timestamps.

Indexing Phase: Splunk writes the parsed events to disk and creates indexes for efficient searching.

From the official Splunk documentation:

" The data pipeline consists of three main phases: input, parsing, and indexing. "

— How the Splunk platform indexes data - Splunk Documentation

Therefore, the correct order of the indexing process is: Input phase → Parsing phase → Indexing phase.

This is because the input type is UDP, which is an unreliable protocol that does not guarantee delivery, order, or integrity of the data packets. UDP does not have any mechanism to resend or acknowledge the data packets, so if Splunk is restarted, any data that was in transit or in the buffer may be dropped and not indexed.

A modular input script that belongs to a Splunk app is placed inside that app’s bin directory. The app directory is located under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/ < app_name > /, and executable scripts for the app are stored in the bin subdirectory.

Therefore, for an app named cisco_collector, the correct modular input script location is:

$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/cisco_collector/bin/cisco_collector.py

Option B is incorrect because $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/deployment-apps/ is used on a deployment server to store deployment apps before they are distributed to deployment clients. It is not the runtime app path used by Splunk for executing the modular input.

Option C is incorrect because the script must be inside the app’s bin directory, not directly under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/.

Option D is incorrect because Splunk does not use $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/mod_input/ as the standard location for modular input scripts.

The acceptFrom setting controls which remote hosts are allowed or denied for a network input. It supports IP addresses and CIDR notation. A deny rule is represented with an exclamation mark !.

To allow all hosts in the 10.0.0.0/8 network but deny hosts in the 10.1.0.0/16 network, the configuration must include both:

10.0.0.0/8 to allow the broader network

!10.1.0.0/16 to deny the excluded subnet

The best matching option is:

acceptFrom = !10.1.0.0/16, 10.0.0.0/8

Option A is incorrect because it only accepts the 10.1.0.0/16 network, which is the network that should be excluded.

Option B is incorrect because it accepts all 10.x.x.x hosts and does not exclude 10.1.x.x.

Option C is incorrect because it repeats the acceptFrom setting on separate lines. In Splunk configuration files, repeated attributes in the same stanza can override earlier values, so this is not the correct way to express the allow/deny list.

Option D is correct because it defines the exclusion and the allowed network in one acceptFrom list.

A bucket is the object that stores events inside of an index. According to the Splunk documentation1, “An index is a collection of directories, also called buckets, that contain index files. Each bucket represents a specific time range.” A bucket can be in one of several states, such as hot, warm, cold, frozen, or thawed1. Buckets are managed by indexers or clusters of indexers1.