Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Practice Test

Which Splunk component is responsible for data ingestion?

1. Indexer

2. Search Head

3. Forwarder

4. Deployment Server

The correct answer is: Forwarder

The component responsible for data ingestion in Splunk is the Forwarder. This is the critical element that collects and sends log data from various sources to the indexer for processing and indexing. Forwarders come in two types: universal forwarders, which are lightweight agents installed on the source machines to collect data, and heavy forwarders, which can parse and index data before sending it on to the indexer. In the context of data ingestion, the forwarder's role is vital as it directly interfaces with the data source, ensuring that logs and other unstructured data are captured and transferred to the indexer efficiently. The forwarder’s ability to handle data from diverse environments allows Splunk to gather comprehensive data insights across a network. While the indexer plays a crucial role in processing and storing the ingested data, and the search head facilitates data retrieval through user queries, it is the forwarder that initiates the ingestion process. The deployment server manages and deploys configurations to forwarders but is not directly involved in collecting data.