SPLUNK

• Splunk is a unified data platform that allows teams to work together or individually to ensure machine critical digital system stay secure and reliable.
• Splunk is a software platform designed for searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine-generated data.
• Whether in IT-Ops, DevOps, SecOps, Splunk can provide the key to enterprise resilience and help to build a safer digital world.
• Primary features of Splunk makes machine data available, accessible, usable to everyone in organization.

• Splunk is a software platform designed for searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine-generated data. It is widely used for log analysis, security information and event management.
• It enables organizations to gain insights into their data through a user-friendly interface, making it easier to visualize, correlate, and extract valuable information from large datasets.
• It provides a scalable and versatile solution for collecting, indexing, and correlating data from various sources, such as logs, events, and metrics, in real-time.
• Splunk is widely used for various purposes, including IT operations, monitoring and troubleshooting IT infrastructure, security, business analytics etc.

Data Summary

Filtering the Searches

• In filters we can use terms of keywords.
• Not case sensitive.
• Booleans can be used [Parenthesis() should be used].

Advantages of Splunk

• Centralized Platform: Splunk serves as a centralized platform for collecting, indexing, and analyzing data from diverse sources.

• User-Friendly Interface: The platform offers an intuitive interface that allows users to navigate and interact with data easily, can also filter for easy use and save time.

• Customizable: Splunk is highly customizable, allowing users to configure settings, create dashboards, and define data inputs according to their requirements.

• Integration Capabilities: It integrates seamlessly with various data sources, applications, and external systems.

• Data Ingestion: Users can ingest data from logs, applications, databases, cloud services, and more, providing a comprehensive view of the entire infrastructure.

• Search and Reporting: Splunk's search and reporting functionalities empower users to extract valuable information and generate reports for analysis.

• Enterprise-Ready: Splunk is designed to meet the needs of large enterprises, providing scalability and high-performance capabilities.

• Role-Based Access Control: It offers role-based access control, allowing organizations to manage user permissions and access to data.

• Community and Support: Splunk has a vibrant community and offers support resources, including documentation, forums, and training.

• Regular Updates: Splunk regularly releases updates and new features, ensuring that users have access to the latest capabilities and improvements.

commands

a. search term - Foundation of search query.

b. commands - Commands is used to customize the log as per the need like charts, statistics and formatting.

c. functions - How we need to display the charts and evaluate the results.

d. arguments - It is the variables which we want to apply in the functions.

e. clauses - It will group the result as per the requirement.

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Knowledge objects are components within Splunk that aid in the interpretation, organization, enrichment, and normalization of data, facilitating its analysis and visualization. They are grouped into five main categories, each serving a specific purpose:

a. Data Interpretation: This category includes tools and components that help interpret and understand the data. This may involve extracting fields, transforming raw data into meaningful information, and identifying patterns or trends.

b. Data Classification: These tools assist in classifying or categorizing data based on specific criteria. This could involve tagging events, assigning labels, or categorizing data into predefined groups.

c. Data Enrichment: Enrichment tools enhance the data by adding additional context or information to it. This could involve augmenting events with metadata, enriching data with lookup tables, or correlating events with external sources.

d. Data Normalization: Normalization tools standardize and normalize the data, ensuring consistency and uniformity across different sources or formats. This may involve transforming data into a common format, standardizing timestamps, or normalizing field values.

e. Data Model: Data modeling tools help organize and structure the data for analysis. This includes defining data models, creating relationships between different data sources, and building hierarchies or data models that represent the underlying data structure.

Knowledge objects are valuable because they can be created by one user and shared with others, with appropriate permissions granted. They serve as powerful tools for enhancing the capabilities of a Splunk deployment, enabling users to extract actionable insights from their data more effectively.

An example of a specific knowledge object within the Data Interpretation category is Fields, which allows users to define and extract specific fields from raw data, making it easier to analyze and visualize.

Fields

• In Splunk, FIELDS are key pieces of information extracted from the raw data.

• Users can define fields using regular expressions or other extraction methods.

• Fields make it easier to analyze and visualize specific elements within the data, allowing users to focus on relevant information during searches and reporting.

Dashboard

Splunk, a dashboard is a visual representation of data that allows users to monitor, analyze, and interact with their data in a meaningful way. Dashboards typically consist of various visualizations, such as charts, tables, and maps, that provide insights into the underlying data.

• Search for Data: Start by searching for the data you want to visualize. You can use Splunk's search interface, SPL (Search Processing Language), to retrieve the relevant data from your indexes.

• Create Visualizations: Once you have your search results, you can create visualizations to represent the data. Splunk provides a variety of visualization options, including line charts, bar charts, pie charts, tables, maps, and more. You can create these visualizations using the Visualization Editor or by manually writing SPL commands.

• Arrange Visualizations on a Dashboard: After creating your visualizations, you can arrange them on a dashboard. Dashboards allow you to organize and display multiple visualizations on a single page. You can customize the layout, size, and position of each visualization to create a cohesive dashboard design.

• Add Interactivity: Splunk dashboards support interactivity features that allow users to drill down into the data, filter results, and dynamically update visualizations based on user input. You can add interactive elements such as time range pickers, dropdown menus, and clickable buttons to enhance the user experience.

• Save and Share the Dashboard: Once you've created your dashboard, you can save it for future use and share it with other users. Splunk allows you to save dashboards to your user profile, share them with specific users or groups, or publish them to a wider audience.

• Monitor and Analyze: After deploying the dashboard, you can use it to monitor key metrics, analyze trends, and gain insights into your data. You can interact with the dashboard in real-time to explore the data and make informed decisions based on the insights provided.

Scheduling reports and alerts

Scheduling reports and alerts in Splunk allows you to automate the process of generating and distributing reports or triggering notifications based on predefined conditions.

• Start by creating a search query or report that captures the data you want to monitor or analyze. You can create reports using the Splunk Search interface or by writing SPL (Search Processing Language) queries.
• Save the Report: Once you've created the report, save it to Splunk. Give it a descriptive name and specify the search criteria and visualization options.
• Schedule the Report:

After saving the report, you can schedule it to run at specific intervals (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly) or on a custom schedule. To schedule a report, go to the Reports section in Splunk, select the report you want to schedule, and choose the "Schedule PDF delivery" option. Configure the schedule settings, including the frequency, time, and recipients for the report delivery.

• Configure Alert Conditions: If you want to create an alert based on specific conditions, configure the alert settings. Define the alert conditions, such as threshold values, comparison operators, and time windows. Specify the actions to take when the alert conditions are met, such as sending an email notification, running a script, or triggering a webhook.

• Save and Enable the Alert: Once you've configured the alert settings, save the alert and enable it to start monitoring for the specified conditions. You can view and manage your alerts in the Alerts section of Splunk.

• Monitor and Manage: After scheduling reports and setting up alerts, you can monitor their execution and manage them as needed. Splunk provides monitoring tools and dashboards to track the status of scheduled reports and active alerts.

Alerts

Visualization

• Chart Types: Splunk supports various chart types, including line charts, bar charts, pie charts, and more, for diverse visualization needs.

• Dynamic Dashboards: Visualizations can be embedded in dynamic dashboards for a comprehensive and interactive view of data.

• Time Series Visualization: Splunk excels in time-series data visualization, allowing users to analyze trends and patterns over time.

• Custom Coloring and Styling: Users can customize the appearance of visualizations, including color-coding and styling options.

• Overlaying Data: Splunk enables the overlaying of multiple data sets on a single visualization for comparative analysis.

• Thresholds and Annotations: Users can set thresholds and add annotations to visualizations, highlighting significant data points.

• Drilldown Capabilities: Visualizations support drilldown capabilities, allowing users to explore detailed data by clicking on specific elements.

• Data Labeling: Users can add data labels to visualizations, providing context and clarity to the displayed information.

• Statistical Analysis: Splunk visualizations can display statistical measures such as averages, sums, and percentiles.

• Exporting Visualizations: Visualizations can be exported for use in reports, presentations, or external documentation.

Getting Data In

• Data Input Methods: Splunk supports various data input methods, including file monitoring, APIs, scripted inputs, and forwarders.

• Universal Forwarder: The Splunk Universal Forwarder is a lightweight agent for forwarding data to a Splunk instance.

• Data Input Configuration: Users can configure data inputs to specify the type and format of the data being ingested.

• Data Source types: Splunk assigns source types to incoming data, helping to categorize and structure the information.

• Indexing and Punctuation: Splunk indexes ingested data, enabling fast and efficient search capabilities.

• Source and Host Information: Data inputs can include source and host information, providing context for the origin of the data.

• Event Parsing: Splunk parses events during data ingestion, extracting relevant fields for better search and analysis.

• Forwarding and Clustering: Data forwarding and clustering configurations support distributed and scalable data collection.

• Data Onboarding Apps: Splunk provides apps for specific data sources, streamlining the onboarding process for common integrations.

• Data Preview and Validation: Users can preview and validate data during the onboarding process to ensure accurate indexing and extraction.

Splunk Enterprise licensing

• Volume-based Licensing:

Splunk Enterprise typically uses a volume-based licensing model, where the cost is determined by the amount of data ingested into the system per day (perpetual license) or on a term basis (term license). Data volume is measured in terms of daily indexing volume, which refers to the amount of data that Splunk indexes each day, measured in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB). Splunk offers different licensing tiers based on the daily indexing volume, ranging from small to very large environments, to accommodate the needs of different organizations.

• User-based Licensing:

In addition to volume-based licensing, Splunk Enterprise may also offer user-based licensing options for organizations that require a specific number of named users accessing the system. User-based licensing allows organizations to control access to Splunk Enterprise and manage user permissions and roles effectively.

• Additional Features and Functionality:

Splunk Enterprise may offer additional features and functionalities beyond core indexing and search capabilities, such as machine learning, advanced analytics, security features, and premium apps and add-ons. Some of these features may require separate licensing or subscription fees, depending on the specific requirements of the organization.

• License Enforcement and Compliance:

Splunk Enterprise employs license enforcement mechanisms to ensure that organizations adhere to their licensing agreements and usage limits. Organizations are responsible for monitoring their license usage and ensuring compliance with their licensing agreements to avoid penalties or service interruptions.

• Flexible Licensing Options:

Splunk Enterprise offers flexible licensing options to accommodate the needs of different organizations, including perpetual and term licenses, as well as cloud-based subscription models. Organizations can choose the licensing model and pricing plan that best aligns with their budget, usage requirements, and deployment preferences.