What is the correct syntax to count the number of events containing a vendor_action field?
- A . count stats vendor_action
- B . count stats (vendor_action)
- C . stats count (vendor_action)
- D . stats vendor_action (count)
C
Explanation:
The stats command calculates statistics based on fields in the events. The count function counts the number of events that match the criteria. The syntax is stats count (field_name), where field_name is the name of the field that contains the value to be counted. In this case, vendor_action is the field name, so stats count (vendor_action) is the correct syntax.
Reference: Splunk Core User Certification Exam Study Guide, page 23.
By default, which of the following fields would be listed in the fields sidebar under interesting Fields?
- A . host
- B . index
- C . source
- D . sourcetype
D
Explanation:
The fields sidebar in Splunk shows the default fields and the interesting fields for the events that match your search. The default fields are host, source, and sourcetype, which are extracted for every event at index time. The interesting fields are fields that appear in at least 20% of the events in your search results. You can also select additional fields to display in the fields sidebar1.
By default, the index field is not listed in the fields sidebar, because it is not a default field nor an interesting field. The index field is a metadata field that indicates which index the event belongs to. Metadata fields are not extracted from the event data, but are added by the indexer as part of the indexing process. Metadata fields are not shown in the fields sidebar, but you can use them in your search queries2.
Therefore, among the four options, only sourcetype would be listed in the fields sidebar under interesting fields by default.
Reference
Use fields to search
About default fields
When looking at a dashboard panel that is based on a report, which of the following is true?
- A . You can modify the search string in the panel, and you can change and configure the visualization.
- B . You can modify the search string in the panel, but you cannot change and configure the visualization.
- C . You cannot modify the search string in the panel, but you can change and configure the visualization.
- D . You cannot modify the search string in the panel, and you cannot change and configure the visualization.
C
Explanation:
When looking at a dashboard panel that is based on a report, you cannot modify the search string in the panel, but you can change and configure the visualization. This is because the dashboard panel inherits the search string from the report, and any changes to the search string will affect the report as well. However, you can customize the visualization settings for the dashboard panel without affecting the report.
Reference: Splunk Core User Certification Exam Study Guide, page 37.
Which of the following is a best practice when writing a search string?
- A . Include all formatting commands before any search terms
- B . Include at least one function as this is a search requirement
- C . Include the search terms at the beginning of the search string
- D . Avoid using formatting clauses as they add too much overhead
C
Explanation:
A best practice when writing a search string is to include the search terms at the beginning of the search string. This helps Splunk narrow down the events that match your search criteria and improve the search performance. Formatting commands and functions can be added later in the search pipeline to manipulate and display the results.
Reference: Splunk Core User Certification Exam Study Guide, page 13.
What type of search can be saved as a report?
- A . Any search can be saved as a report
- B . Only searches that generate visualizations
- C . Only searches containing a transforming command
- D . Only searches that generate statistics or visualizations
A
Explanation:
In Splunk, the capability to save a search as a report is not restricted to the type of search. Whether it is a simple search, a search that generates statistics, or one that involves transforming commands, any of these can be saved as a report.
The purpose of saving a search as a report in Splunk is to enable easy access to frequently run searches, to schedule these searches to run at specific times, and to use the results in dashboards or alerts. This functionality is not limited to searches that produce visualizations or statistical outputs; it applies to all searches.
The option to save a search as a report is a fundamental feature in Splunk, offering flexibility and efficiency in managing and reusing searches, regardless of their complexity or output format.
What can be included in the All Fields option in the sidebar?
- A . Dashboards
- B . Metadata only
- C . Non-interesting fields
- D . Field descriptions
What syntax is used to link key/value pairs in search strings?
- A . action+purchase
- B . action=purchase
- C . action | purchase
- D . action equal purchase
When viewing the results of a search, what is an Interesting Field?
- A . A field that appears in any event
- B . A field that appears in every event
- C . A field that appears in the top 10 events
- D . A field that appears in at least 20% of the events
What syntax is used to link key/value pairs in search strings?
- A . Parentheses
- B . @ or # symbols
- C . Quotation marks
- D . Relational operators such as =, <, or >
When a Splunk search generates calculated data that appears in the Statistics tab.
in what formats can the results be exported?
- A . CSV, JSON, PDF
- B . CSV, XML JSON
- C . Raw Events, XML, JSON
- D . Raw Events, CSV, XML, JSON
Which of the following are functions of the stats command?
- A . count, sum, add
- B . count, sum, less
- C . sum, avg, values
- D . sum, values, table
In a deployment with multiple indexes, what will happen when a search is run and an index is not specified in the search string?
- A . No events will be returned.
- B . Splunk will prompt you to specify an index.
- C . All non-indexed events to which the user has access will be returned.
- D . Events from every index searched by default to which the user has access will be returned.
Which search matches the events containing the terms "error" and "fail"?
- A . index=security Error Fail
- B . index=security error OR fail
- C . index=security “error failure”
- D . index=security NOT error NOT fail
B
Explanation:
In Splunk, search queries are case-insensitive by default, meaning that it doesn’t matter whether you use uppercase or lowercase letters for the terms you’re searching for. In this case, searching for "error" or "fail" will match events containing these terms in any case (like "Error," "ERROR," "fail," or "FAIL").
The operator OR in Splunk is used to specify that you want to find events that contain at least one of the specified terms. So, error OR fail will match events that contain either "error," "fail," or both.
Option A (index=security Error Fail) would only match events that contain both "error" and "fail" since, by default, Splunk treats space-separated terms as an AND operation.
Option C (index=security “ error failure ” ) would be looking for the exact phrase "error failure," which is not the requirement here.
Option D (index=security NOT error NOT fail) is incorrect as it would exclude events containing either "error" or "fail," which is the opposite of what is needed.
Which of the following is an option after clicking an item in search results?
- A . Saving the item to a report
- B . Adding the item to the search.
- C . Adding the item to a dashboard
- D . Saving the search to a JSON file.
When placed early in a search, which command is most effective at reducing search execution time?
- A . dedup
- B . rename
- C . sort –
- D . fields +
In the Splunk interface, the list of alerts can be filtered based on which characteristics?
- A . App, Owner, Severity, and Type
- B . App, Owner, Priority, and Status
- C . App, Dashboard, Severity, and Type
- D . App, Time Window, Type, and Severity
When displaying results of a search, which of the following is true about line charts?
- A . Line charts are optimal for single and multiple series.
- B . Line charts are optimal for single series when using Fast mode.
- C . Line charts are optimal for multiple series with 3 or more columns.
- D . Line charts are optimal for multiseries searches with at least 2 or more columns.
A collection of items containing things such as data inputs, UI elements, and knowledge objects is known as what?
- A . An app
- B . JSON
- C . A role
- D . An enhanced solution
Which of the following fields is stored with the events in the index?
- A . user
- B . source
- C . location
- D . sourcelp
Which of the following is the recommended way to create multiple dashboards displaying data from the same search?
- A . Save the search as a report and use it in multiple dashboards as needed
- B . Save the search as a dashboard panel for each dashboard that needs the data
- C . Save the search as a scheduled alert and use it in multiple dashboards as needed
- D . Export the results of the search to an XML file and use the file as the basis of the dashboards
What must be done in order to use a lookup table in Splunk?
- A . The lookup must be configured to run automatically.
- B . The contents of the lookup file must be copied and pasted into the search bar.
- C . The lookup file must be uploaded to Splunk and a lookup definition must be created.
- D . The lookup file must be uploaded to the etc/apps/lookups folder for automatic ingestion.
What is a suggested Splunk best practice for naming reports?
- A . Reports are best named using many numbers so they can be more easily sorted.
- B . Use a consistent naming convention so they are easily separated by characteristics such as group and object.
- C . Name reports as uniquely as possible with no overlap to differentiate them from one another.
- D . Any naming convention is fine as long as you keep an external spreadsheet to keep track.
Which of the following Splunk components typically resides on the machines where data originates?
- A . Indexer
- B . Forwarder
- C . Search head
- D . Deployment server
What does the following specified time range do?
earliest=-72h@h latest=@d
- A . Look back 3 days ago and prior
- B . Look back 72 hours up to one day ago
- C . Look back 72 hours, up to the end of today
- D . Look back from 3 days ago up to the beginning of today
Which of the following is true about user account settings and preferences?
- A . Search & Reporting is the only app that can be set as the default application.
- B . Full names can only be changed by accounts with a Power User or Admin role.
- C . Time zones are automatically updated based on the setting of the computer accessing Splunk.
- D . Full name, time zone, and default app can be defined by clicking the login name in the Splunk bar.
Which of the following are common constraints of the top command?
- A . limit, count
- B . limit, showpercent
- C . limits, countfield
- D . showperc, countfield
What is the purpose of using a by clause with the stats command?
- A . To group the results by one or more fields.
- B . To compute numerical statistics on each field.
- C . To specify how the values in a list are delimited.
- D . To partition the input data based on the split-by fields.
Which events will be returned by the following search string?
host=www3 status=503
- A . All events that either have a host of www3 or a status of 503.
- B . All events with a host of www3 that also have a status of 503
- C . We need more information: we cannot tell without knowing the time range
- D . We need more information a search cannot be run without specifying an index
Which of the following searches would return events with failure in index netfw or warn or critical in index netops?
- A . (index=netfw failure) AND index=netops warn OR critical
- B . (index=netfw failure) OR (index=netops (warn OR critical))
- C . (index=netfw failure) AND (index=netops (warn OR critical))
- D . (index=netfw failure) OR index=netops OR (warn OR critical)
Select the answer that displays the accurate placing of the pipe in the following search string:
index=security sourcetype=access_* status=200 stats count by price
- A . index=security sourcetype=access_* status=200 stats | count by price
- B . index=security sourcetype=access_* status=200 | stats count by price
- C . index=security sourcetype=access_* status=200 | stats count | by price
- D . index=security sourcetype=access_* | status=200 | stats count by price
What does the stats command do?
- A . Automatically correlates related fields
- B . Converts field values into numerical values
- C . Calculates statistics on data that matches the search criteria
- D . Analyzes numerical fields for their ability to predict another discrete field
Which is a primary function of the timeline located under the search bar?
- A . To differentiate between structured and unstructured events in the data
- B . To sort the events returned by the search command in chronological order
- C . To zoom in and zoom out. although this does not change the scale of the chart
- D . To show peaks and/or valleys in the timeline, which can indicate spikes in activity or downtime
Which statement is true about Splunk alerts?
- A . Alerts are based on searches that are either run on a scheduled interval or in real-time.
- B . Alerts are based on searches and when triggered will only send an email notification.
- C . Alerts are based on searches and require cron to run on scheduled interval.
- D . Alerts are based on searches that are run exclusively as real-time.
What can be configured using the Edit Job Settings menu?
- A . Export the results to CSV format
- B . Add the Job results to a dashboard
- C . Schedule the Job to re-run in 10 minutes
- D . Change Job Lifetime from 10 minutes to 7 days.
Which command is used to validate a lookup file?
- A . | lookup products.csv
- B . inputlookup products.csv
- C . I inputlookup products.csv
- D . | lookup definition products.csv
Which stats command function provides a count of how many unique values exist for a given field in the result set?
- A . dc(field)
- B . count(field)
- C . count-by(field)
- D . distinct-count(field)
What user interface component allows for time selection?
- A . Time summary
- B . Time range picker
- C . Search time picker
- D . Data source time statistics
When an alert action is configured to run a script, Splunk must be able to locate the script.
Which is one of the directories Splunk will look in to find the script?
- A . $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/scripts
- B . $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/scripts
- C . $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/etc/scripts
- D . $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/scripts/bin
When editing a dashboard, which of the following are possible options? (select all that apply)
- A . Add an output.
- B . Export a dashboard panel.
- C . Modify the chart type displayed in a dashboard panel.
- D . Drag a dashboard panel to a different location on the dashboard.
Which of the following index searches would provide the most efficient search performance?
- A . index=*
- B . index=web OR index=s*
- C . (index=web OR index=sales)
- D . *index=sales AND index=web*
At index time, in which field does Splunk store the timestamp value?
- A . time
- B . _time
- C . EventTime
- D . timestamp
Which statement is true about the top command?
- A . It returns the top 10 results
- B . It displays the output in table format
- C . It returns the count and percent columns per row
- D . All of the above
What determines the scope of data that appears in a scheduled report?
- A . All data accessible to the User role will appear in the report.
- B . All data accessible to the owner of the report will appear in the report.
- C . All data accessible to all users will appear in the report until the next time the report is run.
- D . The owner of the report can configure permissions so that the report uses either the User role or the owner’s profile at run time.
What is the main requirement for creating visualizations using the Splunk UI?
- A . Your search must transform event data into Excel file format first.
- B . Your search must transform event data into XML formatted data first.
- C . Your search must transform event data into statistical data tables first.
- D . Your search must transform event data into JSON formatted data first.
How can another user gain access to a saved report?
- A . The owner of the report can edit permissions from the Edit dropdown
- B . Only users with an Admin or Power User role can access other users’ reports
- C . Anyone can access any reports marked as public within a shared Splunk deployment
- D . The owner of the report must clone the original report and save it to their user account
What is the primary use for the rare command1?
- A . To sort field values in descending order
- B . To return only fields containing five or fewer values
- C . To find the least common values of a field in a dataset
- D . To find the fields with the fewest number of values across a dataset
What happens when a field is added to the Selected Fields list in the fields sidebar’?
- A . Splunk will re-run the search job in Verbose Mode to prioritize the new Selected Field
- B . Splunk will highlight related fields as a suggestion to add them to the Selected Fields list.
- C . Custom selections will replace the Interesting Fields that Splunk populated into the list at search time
- D . The selected field and its corresponding values will appear underneath the events in the search results
By default, which of the following is a Selected Field?
- A . action
- B . clientip
- C . categoryld
- D . sourcetype
According to Splunk best practices, which placement of the wildcard results in the most efficient search?
- A . f*il
- B . *fail
- C . fail*
- D . *fail*
Which command automatically returns percent and count columns when executing searches?
- A . top
- B . stats
- C . table
- D . percent
Which of the following describes lookup files?
- A . Lookup fields cannot be used in searches
- B . Lookups contain static data available in the index
- C . Lookups add more fields to results returned by a search
- D . Lookups pull data at index time and add them to search results
When running searches command modifiers in the search string are displayed in what color?
- A . Red
- B . Blue
- C . Orange
- D . Highlighted
How do you add or remove fields from search results?
- A . Use field +to add and field -to remove.
- B . Use table +to add and table -to remove.
- C . Use fields +to add and fields Cto remove.
- D . Use fields Plus to add and fields Minus to remove.
What are the steps to schedule a report?
- A . After saving the report, click Schedule.
- B . After saving the report, click Event Type.
- C . After saving the report, click Scheduling.
- D . After saving the report, click Dashboard Panel.
By default, how long does Splunk retain a search job?
- A . 10 Minutes
- B . 15 Minutes
- C . 1 Day
- D . 7 Days
Which Boolean operator is implied between search terms, unless otherwise specified?
- A . OR
- B . AND
- C . NOT
- D . NAND
What is a primary function of a scheduled report?
- A . Auto-detect changes in performance
- B . Auto-generated PDF reports of overall data trends
- C . Regularly scheduled archiving to keep disk space use low
- D . Triggering an alert in your Splunk instance when certain conditions are met
When sorting on multiple fields with the sort command, what delimiter can be used between the field names in the search?
- A . |
- B . $
- C . !
- D . ,
Which search string is the most efficient?
- A . "failed password"
- B . ”failed password"*
- C . index=* "failed password"
- D . index=security "failed password"
Which search string matches only events with the status_code of 4:4?
- A . status_code !=404
- B . status_code>=400
- C . status_code<=404
- D . status code>403 status_code<405
This function of the stats command allows you to return the sample standard deviation of a field.
- A . stdev
- B . dev
- C . count deviation
- D . by standarddev
Which of the following commands will show the maximum bytes?
- A . sourcetype=access_* | maximum totals by bytes
- B . sourcetype=access_* | avg (bytes)
- C . sourcetype=access_* | stats max(bytes)
- D . sourcetype=access_* | max(bytes)
This search will return 20 results. SEARCH: error | top host limit = 20
- A . True
- B . False
Which of the following searches will show the number of categoryld used by each host?
- A . Sourcetype=access_* |sum bytes by host
- B . Sourcetype=access_* |stats sum(categorylD) by host
- C . Sourcetype=access_* |sum(bytes) by host
- D . Sourcetype=access_* |stats sum by host
This clause is used to group the output of a stats command by a specific name.
- A . Rex
- B . As
- C . List
- D . By
This function of the stats command allows you to return the middle-most value of field X.
- A . Median(X)
- B . Eval by X
- C . Fields(X)
- D . Values(X)
When a search returns __________, you can view the results as a list.
- A . a list of events
- B . transactions
- C . statistical values
Clicking a SEGMENT on a chart, ________.
- A . drills down for that value
- B . highlights the field value across the chart
- C . adds the highlighted value to the search criteria
Use this command to use lookup fields in a search and see the lookup fields in the field sidebar.
- A . inputlookup
- B . lookup
In automatic lookup definitions, the _____ fields are those that are not in the event data.
- A . input
- B . output
In automatic lookup definitions, the _____ fields are those that are not in the event data.
- A . input
- B . output
In automatic lookup definitions, the _____ fields are those that are not in the event data.
- A . input
- B . output
In automatic lookup definitions, the _____ fields are those that are not in the event data.
- A . input
- B . output
The command shown here does witch of the following: Command: |output lookup products.csv
- A . Writes search results to a file named products.csv
- B . Returns the contents of a file named products.csv
Which of the following are not true about lookups? (Select all that apply.)
- A . Lookups can be time based
- B . Search results can be used to populate a lookup table
- C . Splunk DB Connect can be used to populate a lookup table from relational databases
- D . Output from a script can be used to populate a lookup table
- E . Lookup have a 10mg maximum size limit
It is mandatory for the lookup file to have this for an automatic lookup to work.
- A . Source type
- B . At least five columns
- C . Timestamp
- D . Input filed
By default, all users have DELETE permission to ALL knowledge objects.
- A . True
- B . False
These users can create global knowledge objects. (Select all that apply.)
- A . users
- B . power users
- C . administrators
All users by default have WRITE permission to ALL knowledge objects.
- A . True
- B . False
Creating Data Models:
Object ATTRIBUTES do not define ___________.
- A . a base search for the object
- B . fields for the object
Creating Data Models:
Fields associated with a data set are known as ______.
- A . Attributes
- B . Constraints
Splunk Components:
Which of the following are responsible for reducing search results?
- A . search heads
- B . indexers
- C . forwarders
Splunk Components:
Which of the following are responsible for parsing incoming data and storing data on disc?
- A . forwarders
- B . indexers
- C . search heads
This is what Splunk uses to categorize the data that is being indexed.
- A . sourcetype
- B . index
- C . source
- D . host
This is what Splunk uses to categorize the data that is being indexed.
- A . Host
- B . Sourcetype
- C . Index
- D . Source
It is no possible for a single instance of Splunk to manage the input, parsing and indexing of machine data.
- A . True
- B . False
It is not possible for a single instance of Splunk to manage the input, parsing and indexing of machine.
- A . True
- B . False
By default search results are not returned in ________ order.
- A . Chronological
- B . Reverser chronological
- C . ASCIE
- D . Alphabetical
The stats command will create a _____________ by default.
- A . Table
- B . Report
- C . Pie chart
Which is not a comparison operator in Splunk
- A . <=
- B . =
- C . !=
- D . >
- E . ?=