iSplunker - Splunk for pros

Many at times, when you add a new indexer or scale up the system, there could be mistakes of not remembering to change the default admin password. Also there might be genuine requirement to reset to original password for admin. You need to have access to backend filesystem access to do this (For cloud customers, you need to request Splunk support).  shutdown Splunk ( $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk stop ) Take backup of your passwd file.  ( mv $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/passwd /tmp/passwd.bkup ) Start splunk (if you need another passwd, get the file and replace the file) The new file will be generated. if it is default, you can use " admin/changeme " to login again

Syslog (rsyslog or syslog-ng) is used by almost 99% of Linux based Splunk installations for collection of data especially from network devices where the data is transient. Key things to remember while collecting these logs are To store the log using syslog and forward to other systems if required. Store them in a well formatted directory structure. Direct streaming to Splunk is not preferred as restart of Splunk causes problem This leads to storing  the data and hence managing the data (store for 1 day and delete etc.). We use "logrotate" extensively for this purpose Link to git code:  logrotate.d Loading .... Delaycompress is required, so that log files are NOT rotated while splunk is reading it While collecting into splunk discard any .gz extensions Ensure size is specified to a feasible value

Most of the companies want to integrate their Splunk installation to centralised authentication system. The main article in Splunk docs describe it in concise manner, but this article is to do the integration in a practical manner including the code. LDAP/Active Directory : Purpose of Integration To authenticate users via Active Directory (AD) To associate users to roles To centralise management of users/roles  To collect Identity list from Active Directory subsystems Modular App(s) I always tend to create specific apps for every functionality. For integration of Splunk, the app I would create is something like A_prod_ldap_auth  (the naming convention implies the integration into PROD, ldap for authorisation purposes) Contents of the app Authorization mainly is done using two conf files authentication .conf  - configuring authentication with LDAP authorize .conf  - configure roles and granular access controls Both these files...

Every software architect or developer would know the importance of "naming conventions". But this may not be the case with the business users, admins or Project Managers. Hence as a Splunk Administrator my first job is to define the naming conventions of Splunk Objects Splunk Objects What do you mean by Splunk objects? Splunk object refers to any configuration item(s) that are under the control of your team. For example, a dashboard you created, a custom splunk app, a report etc. For the splunk objects you may not have direct control, the naming conventions may not apply. So the conventions can be applied only to the objects that are created by you/your team and which you have FULL control. Ensure you are well familiar with Splunk configuration file precedence   to understand the object precedence as the naming convention should be built upon it. Naming Conventions and Methodology Ensure if your organisation have a naming convention methodology? Use camelCase (not underscores...

I have been thinking to create a blog for quite some time with my experiences with Splunk. The aim of this blog is to share my experience with Splunk and other big data tools. This blog is NOT intended for beginners, but would urge them to use " answers.splunk.com " or " docs.splunk.com " to read and understand basics. I would love to invite others to share their experience and post to this blog. Please feel free to "comment" so I could provide you edit access to this blog. Key Points to Note: This site has NOTHING to do with Splunk Inc and hence opinion expressed here are purely personal Code snippets should be hosted in github preferably as "gist" Images can be self hosted or uploaded to this blog Ensure that you don't copy any of your company's or client's details in this blog.