Splunk Core Certified Power User Interview Questions

While preparing for an exam like Splunk Core Certified Power User, preparing yourself for the interview is equally important. The most important part while preparing for an interview is to prepare yourself for the questioning round. Candidates should research the company, job roles, and responsibilities, and most importantly look confident while answering any question. The interview round is your only chance to leave a remarkable mark on everyone and you can achieve your desired job. Therefore, for an exam like Splunk Core Certified Power User exam, it is equally important to prepare yourself for the same. We along with our exam experts have researched the past interview questions and studied every aspect carefully and hence, provide our candidates with the best Interview questions. But first, you should be familiar with the basics of what this exam is all about.

Overview

This exam tests a candidate’s foundational competence in Splunk’s core software. This certification provides you with the basic understanding of SPL searching and reporting commands and can create learning objects, use field monikers and calculated fields, create tags and event types, use macros, create workflow actions and data models, and normalize data with the Common Information Model in either the Splunk Enterprise or Splunk Cloud platforms. After completion and accomplishing the certification comes the Interview round. We are familiar with the fact that cracking the interview is not an easy piece of cake, therefore we provide our users with the best and expert-revised Interview questions. Follow us to stay updated.

Now let’s begin with some of the best Splunk Core Certified Power User Interview Questions.

What is Splunk and how does it work?

Splunk is a platform for analyzing, monitoring and visualizing machine-generated big data from websites, applications, servers, and devices in real-time. It collects, indexes, and analyzes log data generated by various sources, allowing organizations to search, analyze and visualize large amounts of data, identify patterns and trends, and troubleshoot issues more effectively. Splunk operates on a distributed architecture, where data is collected and processed by forwarders and indexed by indexers, which can be searched and analyzed using Splunk’s search language or visualizations in the web interface.

How have you used Splunk to perform data analysis and reporting?

Searching and filtering data: Splunk provides a powerful search engine that allows you to quickly and easily find the data you need. You can use the search bar to perform complex searches, and then use the results table to filter the data based on specific fields.
Creating custom dashboards and reports: Splunk allows you to create custom dashboards and reports that present your data in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand manner. You can use a variety of visualizations, such as line charts, bar charts, and pie charts, to represent your data, and you can also create custom reports that can be scheduled to run automatically.
Statistical analysis: Splunk includes a range of built-in statistical functions and algorithms that can be used to perform complex data analysis. For example, you can use Splunk to calculate the average, median, and standard deviation of your data, and you can also use Splunk’s machine learning algorithms to identify patterns and trends in your data.
Alerting: Splunk provides an alerting feature that allows you to receive notifications when specific conditions are met within your data. For example, you can set up an alert to notify you when the number of error messages in your logs exceeds a certain threshold.

By using Splunk’s powerful search, visualization, and analysis capabilities, you can gain valuable insights into your data and make informed decisions based on the data. Whether you are looking to identify trends and patterns, monitor performance and security, or generate reports, Splunk provides a comprehensive solution for data analysis and reporting.

Can you describe the different components of a Splunk deployment, such as indexers, search heads, and forwarders?

A Splunk deployment typically consists of three main components: indexers, search heads, and forwarders.

Indexers: Indexers are the servers responsible for receiving and storing the data collected by Splunk. The data is stored in a highly optimized format that allows for fast searching and retrieval of information. Indexers also perform indexing, which is the process of transforming raw data into a format that can be searched and analyzed.
Search heads: Search heads are the servers responsible for performing searches on the data stored in the indexers. Search heads provide a user-friendly interface for searching and analyzing data, and can be used to create custom dashboards and reports.
Forwarders: Forwarders are the agents responsible for collecting and forwarding data to the indexers. Forwarders can be installed on remote servers or devices, and can be used to collect data from a variety of sources, including log files, syslog servers, and network devices.

These components can be deployed in a variety of configurations, depending on the specific needs of your deployment. For example, a small deployment might consist of a single server running both the indexer and search head components, while a larger deployment might consist of multiple indexers, search heads, and forwarders distributed across multiple locations.

By understanding the different components of a Splunk deployment, you can make informed decisions about how to deploy and configure Splunk to meet the needs of your organization.

How would you perform a search in Splunk to find specific data or events?

In Splunk, you can perform a search to find specific data or events using the search bar located on the Splunk Home page.

Here are the steps to perform a search:

Go to the Splunk Home page.
Type your search query into the search bar. Splunk supports a wide range of search operators and functions, which you can use to build complex search queries.
Click the “Search” button or press the “Enter” key to start the search.
Review the results of the search. Splunk displays the results in a table format, with each row representing an individual event and each column representing a field within that event.
Refine the search, if necessary, by using the search bar to add additional search criteria or using the fields displayed in the results table to filter the data.
Save the search, if desired, by clicking the “Save As” button and entering a name for the saved search.

To optimize your search performance, you can use various techniques such as narrowing your search time range, using relevant search terms, and limiting the number of fields displayed in the results table.

By using the search bar, you can quickly and easily find specific data or events within your Splunk deployment. Whether you are looking for information on a specific issue or generating a report, the search bar provides a flexible and powerful way to access the data you need.

How would you use Splunk’s dashboards and reports to visualize and communicate data insights?

Splunk’s dashboards and reports allow you to visualize and communicate data insights in a clear and concise manner.

Dashboards are customizable interfaces that allow you to display real-time data from one or more searches in a single view. You can add visualizations such as charts, tables, and gauges to a dashboard, as well as text and images, to effectively communicate insights. For example, you could create a dashboard that displays the number of events over time, the number of events by source type, and the number of events by priority.

Reports are saved searches that are run on a schedule and used to display data over a specific time range. Reports can be customized using the same visualizations as dashboards and can be saved in PDF or CSV format for sharing or further analysis. For example, you could create a report that displays the number of events over the past week and send it to a distribution list every Monday.

By using dashboards and reports, you can effectively communicate data insights to stakeholders, making it easier for them to understand and act on the information. Additionally, you can use these features to automate routine tasks, such as generating reports on a regular basis, and save time by not having to manually run searches and create visualizations.

Have you worked with Splunk’s alerting and scheduling features? If so, can you provide an example of how you used them?

Splunk provides alerting and scheduling features that allow you to automatically notify users and schedule searches to run at specific times.

For example, you can create an alert that triggers when a specific search query returns a certain number of results. The alert can be configured to send an email, run a script, or perform another action when triggered.

Another example is scheduling a search to run at a specific time. For example, you could schedule a search that runs every day at midnight and saves the results to a report. This allows you to automatically generate reports on a regular basis and keep track of changes in your data over time.

The alerting and scheduling features in Splunk are useful for automating routine tasks and ensuring that important information is delivered to the right people at the right time. By using these features, you can save time and ensure that your data is being analyzed and acted upon in a timely and efficient manner.

Can you explain the process of creating custom fields, tags, and event types in Splunk?

In Splunk, you can create custom fields, tags, and event types to extend the functionality and improve the organization of your data.

Creating custom fields involves extracting information from your event data and transforming it into a new field. This can be done using field extraction rules, which are defined in the Splunk web interface or in configuration files. For example, you could extract the user ID from an event and create a custom field named “user_id”.

Tags are used to categorize and label events in Splunk. You can create custom tags in the Splunk web interface and apply them to events using tagging rules. For example, you could create a tag named “security_event” and apply it to all events related to security.

Event types are used to categorize and organize events in Splunk. You can create custom event types in the Splunk web interface and define search queries to match events to the event type. For example, you could create an event type named “error_event” and define a search query that matches events with the string “error” in the message field.

By creating custom fields, tags, and event types in Splunk, you can improve the organization and categorization of your data, making it easier to search, analyze, and visualize. Additionally, custom fields and tags can be used to enhance the functionality of existing Splunk features such as alerting, dashboards, and reports.

How have you used Splunk’s built-in statistical functions and charting options to analyze and present data?

Splunk provides a wide range of statistical functions and charting options to help you analyze and visualize data. The built-in statistical functions allow you to perform calculations such as sum, average, count, and standard deviation on data stored in Splunk.

One example of using these functions is to create a bar chart that displays the total number of events for each source type in your data. You could use the count function to count the number of events for each source type and then use the charting options to display the results in a bar chart.

Another example is using the statistical functions to calculate the average response time for a set of events. You could use the avg function to calculate the average response time and then use the charting options to display the results in a line chart.

By using the built-in statistical functions and charting options in Splunk, you can gain valuable insights into your data and communicate those insights effectively to others. The visualizations created with Splunk can help identify trends and patterns in the data, which can be used to make informed decisions.

Have you worked with the Splunk API or Splunk SDK? If so, can you give an example of how you integrated Splunk with other systems?

The Splunk API is a set of RESTful web services that provide access to Splunk data and functionality. The API can be used to extract data from Splunk, manage saved searches, and automate many other tasks.

The Splunk SDK provides a set of libraries and tools that make it easier to develop custom applications that integrate with Splunk. The SDK is available for several programming languages, including Python, Java, and C#.

One example of how Splunk can be integrated with other systems is by using the API to extract data from Splunk and push it into another system. For example, you could use the API to extract data from Splunk and push it into a data warehouse for analysis.

Another example is using the Splunk SDK to build a custom application that integrates with Splunk. For example, you could build a custom application that retrieves data from Splunk, performs some analysis, and then presents the results in a custom dashboard.

By using the Splunk API and SDK, you can extend the functionality of Splunk and integrate it with other systems to deliver a more comprehensive solution.

Can you discuss your experience with troubleshooting and maintaining a Splunk deployment, including issues related to performance, data volume, and security?

I can discuss the general process for troubleshooting and maintaining a Splunk deployment.

Troubleshooting in Splunk involves identifying and resolving issues related to performance, data volume, and security. To address performance issues, it’s important to monitor Splunk’s resource utilization and identify any bottlenecks in the deployment. Common performance issues include low disk space, high CPU utilization, and slow search performance.

To address data volume issues, it’s important to have a good understanding of the data that is being indexed and the size of the data. This will help you make informed decisions about data retention policies, disk space allocation, and data management.

For security, it’s important to understand the security features that are available in Splunk, such as role-based access control, encrypted data transmission, and secure authentication. You should also be familiar with best practices for securing a Splunk deployment, such as implementing a secure network architecture, regularly monitoring and auditing security logs, and ensuring that all systems are up-to-date with the latest security patches.

In addition to troubleshooting, it’s also important to maintain a Splunk deployment by regularly performing tasks such as upgrading to new versions of Splunk, tuning search performance, and monitoring disk space utilization. This will help ensure that the deployment continues to perform well and meet the needs of the business.

1. What is Chart?

The chart command is used as a transforming command that returns your results in a table format. The results can then be used to visualize the data as a chart, such as a column, line, area, or pie chart.

2. List the arguments used in Chart command?

Firstly, stats-agg-term
Secondly, sparkline-agg-term
Lastly, eval-expression

3. What is eval-expression?

An eval-expression is a combination of literals, fields, operators, and functions that represent the value of your destination field.

4. List the Optional arguments?

agg
chart-options
column-split
dedup_splitvals
Lastly, row-split

5. Mention the Chart options?

cont
Format
Limit
Lastly, Sep

6. Define the Sparkline options?

Sparkline are defined as the inline charts that appear within table cells in search results and display time-based trends associated with the primary key of each row.

7. What is the use of Bin options?

The bin options are use to control the number and size of the bins that the search results are separated, or discretized, into.

8. What are the tc options?

The timechart options are part of the <column-split> argument and control the behavior of splitting search results by a field.

9. What is the most common use of the “where clause option”?

The most common use of the “where clause” option is to select for spikes rather than overall mass of distribution in series selection.

10. Define a Timechart?

A timechart is a statistical aggregation applied to a field to produce a chart, with time used as the X-axis. You can specify a split-by field, where each distinct value of the split-by field becomes a series in the chart.

11. What is the use of eval command?

The eval command calculates an expression and puts the resulting value into a search results field. Moreover, this command is use to evaluates mathematical, string, and boolean expressions.

12. What is the difference between eval and stats commands?

The stats command calculates statistics based on fields in your events. Whereas, the eval command creates new fields in your events by using existing fields and an arbitrary expression.

13. List the Operators that produce numbers?

The plus ( + ) operator accepts two numbers for addition, or two strings for concatenation.
Lastly, the subtraction ( – ), multiplication ( * ), division ( / ), and modulus ( % ) operators accept two numbers.

14. Mention the Operators that produce strings?

The period ( . ) operator concatenates both strings and number. Numbers are concatenated in their string represented form.

15. List the Operators that produce booleans?

The AND, OR, and XOR operators accept two Boolean values.
The <, >, <=, >=, !=, =, and == operators accept two numbers or two strings.
In expressions, the single equal sign ( = ) is a synonym for the double equal sign ( == ).
The LIKE operator accepts two strings.

16. How to specify a field name with multiple words?

To specify a field name with multiple words, you can either concatenate the words, or use single quotation marks when you specify the name.

17. When are Calculated fields used?

One can use calculated fields to move the commonly used eval statements out of your search string and into props.conf, where they will be processed behind the scenes at search time.

18. Describe the Search command?

The search command is use to retrieve events from indexes or filter the results of a previous search command in the pipeline. You can retrieve events from your indexes, using keywords, quoted phrases, wildcards, and field-value expressions. Moreover, there is no need to specify the search command at the beginning of your search criteria.

19. List the Boolean expression?

Expressions within parentheses
NOT clauses
OR clauses
AND clauses

20. List some examples of search terms?

keywords
quoted phrases
boolean operators
wildcards
Lastly, field-value pairs.

21. What is the use of backslash character?

The backslash character is used to escape quotes, pipes, and itself. Backslash escape sequences are still expanded inside quotation marks.

22. Explain fillnull?

Null values are field values that are missing in a particular result but present in another result. Use the fillnull command to replace null field values with a string.

23. What do you understand by transaction?

The transaction command finds transactions based on events that meet various constraints. Moreover, transactions are made up of the raw text of each member, the time and date fields of the earliest member, as well as the union of all other fields of each member.

24. List the two raw events added to the transaction?

Firstly, Duration
Lastly, Eventcount

25. What is the difference between duration and eventcount?

The values in the duration field show the difference between the timestamps for the first and last events in the transaction. Whereas, the values in the eventcount field show the number of events in the transaction.

26. Define an event?

An event is not the same thing as an event type. An event is a single instance of data a single log entry, for example. Moreover, an event type is a classification used to label and group events.

27. List the three post-search entry points to the field extractor?

Firstly, Bottom of the fields sidebar
Secondly, All Fields dialog box
Lastly, Any event in the search results

28. What are Field aliases?

Field aliases are an alternate name that is assigned to a field. One can use that alternate name to search for events that contain that field. A field can have multiple aliases, but a single alias can only apply to one field.

29. How to create calculated fields with Splunk Web?

Select Settings > Fields.
On the row for Calculated Fields, click Add new.
Select the Destination app that will use the calculated field.
Select a host, source, or source type to apply to the calculated field. Provide the name of the host, source, or source type.
Name the resultant calculated field.
Provide the eval expression used by the calculated field,

30. How to add tags to event types using Splunk Web?

Navigate to Settings > Event types.
Locate the event type you want to tag and click on its name to go to its detail page.
On the detail page for the event type, add or edit tags in the Tags field.
Click Save to confirm your changes.

31. Define search macros in Settings?

Search macros are reusable chunks of Search Processing Language (SPL) that can insert into other searches. Search macros can be any part of a search, such as an eval statement or search term, and do not need to be a complete command.

32. List some of the shortcuts to Check the contents of your search macro from the Search bar?

Command-Shift-E (Mac OSX)
Control-Shift-E (Linux or Windows)

33. What is the use of workflow actions in Splunk Web?

It enable a wide variety of interactions between indexed or extracted fields and other web resources with workflow actions. Workflow actions have a wide variety of applications.

34. Define Filters?

Filters restrict the events that will be processed by the pivot. They are added by invoking either the addFilter() or addLimitFilter() method.

35. What are Row splits?

Row splits divide the data in a pivot table into rows before aggregates are calculated for each cell.

36. What do you understand by Column splits?

Column splits are the complement to row splits. They divide events that pass through the filters into sets before aggregates are calculated for each cell.

37. Expand and explain CIM?

The CIM stands for Common Information Model (CIM). It is a shared semantic model focused on extracting value from data. The CIM is implemented as an add-on that contains a collection of data models, documentation, and tools that support the consistent, normalized treatment of data for maximum efficiency at search time.

38. What is a data model?

A data model is a hierarchically structured search-time mapping of semantic knowledge about one or more datasets. It encodes the domain knowledge necessary to build a variety of specialized searches of those datasets. These specialized searches are used by Splunk software to generate reports for Pivot users.

39. Define Estimation?

The process of agreeing on a size measurement for the stories or tasks in a product backlog. On agile projects, estimation is done by the team responsible for delivering the work, usually using a planning game or planning poker.

40. How to add tags to a event type?

In Splunk Web, click Settings > Event types.
Locate the event type that you want to tag and click its name.
On the detail page for the event type, add or edit tags in the Tags field. Separate tags with spaces or commas.
Click Save.