Splunk Updated SPLK-2002 Exam Questions and Answers by huda

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

A search head cluster is a group of Splunk Enterprise search heads that share configurations, job scheduling, and search artifacts1. The deployer is a Splunk Enterprise instance that distributes apps and other configurations to the cluster members1. The local folder of each Splunk app contains the custom configurations that override the default settings2. The default folder of each Splunk app contains the default configurations that are provided by the app2.

By default, when the deployer pushes an app to the search head cluster, it merges the local folder of the app into the default folder and deploys the merged folder to the search heads3. This means that the custom configurations in the local folder will take precedence over the default settings in the default folder. However, this also means that the local folder of the app on the search heads will be empty, unless the app is modified through the search head UI3.

Option B is the correct answer because it reflects the default behavior of the deployer when pushing apps to the search head cluster. Option A is incorrect because the local folder is not copied to the local folder on the search heads, but merged into the default folder. Option C is incorrect because all the .conf files in the local folder are deployed to the search heads, not only certain ones. Option D is incorrect because the local folder is not ignored, but merged into the default folder.

According to Splunk Enterprise administrative documentation, the btool utility is used to troubleshoot configuration settings by merging and displaying effective configurations from all configuration files (system, app, and local levels). When diagnosing license master configuration issues on a search peer or any cluster node, Splunk recommends using the command that specifically lists the license-related stanzas from server.conf.

The correct command is:

splunk cmd btool server list license --debug

This command reveals all configuration parameters under the [license] stanza, including those related to license master connections such as master_uri, pass4SymmKey, and disabled flags. The --debug flag ensures full path tracing of each configuration file, making it easy to identify conflicting or missing parameters that cause communication or validation errors between a search peer and the license master.

Other commands listed, such as btool server list clustering, are meant for diagnosing cluster configuration issues (like replication or search factors), not licensing. The check --debug command only validates syntax and structure, not specific configuration errors tied to licensing. Therefore, the correct and Splunk-documented method for diagnosing license configuration problems on a search peer is to inspect the license stanza using the btool server list license --debug command.

References (Splunk Enterprise Documentation):

• btool Command Reference – Troubleshooting Configuration Issues

• server.conf – License Configuration Parameters

• Managing Distributed License Configurations in Search Peer Clusters

• Troubleshooting License Master and Peer Connectivity

 To reduce the captain’s work load in a search head cluster, the setting that will prevent scheduled searches from running on the captain is captain_is_adhoc_searchhead = true (on the current captain). This setting will designate the current captain as an ad hoc search head, which means that it will not run any scheduled searches, but only ad hoc searches initiated by users. This will reduce the captain’s work load and improve the search head cluster performance. The adhoc_searchhead = true (on all members) setting will designate all search head cluster members as ad hoc search heads, which means that none of them will run any scheduled searches, which is not desirable. The adhoc_searchhead = true (on the current captain) setting will have no effect, as this setting is ignored by the captain. The captain_is_adhoc_searchhead = true (on all members) setting will have no effect, as this setting is only applied to the current captain. For more information, see Configure the captain as an ad hoc search head in the Splunk documentation.