SPLK-3002 Splunk IT Service Intelligence Certified Admin Exam Questions and Answers

A Multi-KPI alert in Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI) is designed to trigger based on the conditions of multiple Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This type of alert is particularly useful when a single KPI's state is not sufficient to indicate an issue, but the correlation between multiple KPIs can provide a clearer picture of an emerging problem. The best use case for a Multi-KPI alert is therefore when comparing the values of two or more KPIs indicates an unusual condition is occurring. This allows for more nuanced and context-rich alerting mechanisms that can identify complex issues not detectable by monitoring individual KPIs. This approach isbeneficial in complex environments where the interplay between different performance metrics needs to be considered to accurately detect and diagnose issues.

During the data audit phase of requirements gathering for Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI), it's crucial to identify and record the meta-data for entities, focusing on information (info) and aliases. This step involves understanding and documenting the key attributes and identifiers that describe each entity, such as host names, IP addresses, device types, or other relevant characteristics. These attributes are used to categorize and uniquely identify entities within ITSI, enabling more effective mapping of data to services and KPIs. By meticulously recording this meta-data, organizations ensure that their ITSI implementation is aligned with their specific monitoring needs and infrastructure, facilitating accurate service modeling and event management. This practice is foundational for setting up ITSI to reflect the actual IT environment, enhancing the relevance and effectiveness of the monitoring and analysis capabilities.

In the context of Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI), a Business Service often has Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) but might not have directly associated entities. Business Services represent high-level aggregations of organizational functions or processes and are typically measured by KPIs that reflect the performance of underlying technical services or components rather than direct infrastructure entities. For example, a Business Service might monitor overall transaction completion times or customer satisfaction scores, which are abstracted from the specific technical entities that underlie these metrics. This abstraction allows Business Services to provide a business-centric view of IT health and performance, focusing on outcomes rather than specific technical components.

A realistic troubleshooting workflow in ITSI is:

• B. Service Analyzer –> Notable Event Review –> Deep Dive

This workflow involves using the Service Analyzer dashboard to monitor the health and performance of your services and KPIs, using the Notable Event Review dashboard to investigate and manage the notable events generated by ITSI, and using the Deep Dive dashboard to analyze the historical trends and anomalies of your KPIs and metrics.

The other workflows are not realistic because they involve components that are not part of the troubleshooting process, such as correlation search, aggregation policy, and KPI.These components are used to create and configure the alerts and episodes that ITSI generates, not to investigate and resolve them. References: [Service Analyzer dashboard in ITSI], Overview of Episode Review in ITSI, [Overview of deep dives in ITSI]

In Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI), entities represent infrastructure components, applications, or other elements that are monitored. Each entity is uniquely identified by its entity ID, and entities can be associated with one or more services through the concept of aliases. A problem arises when two or more entities have the same value in a single alias field because aliases are used to match events to entities in ITSI. If multiple entities share the same alias value, ITSI might incorrectly associate data with the wrong entity, leading to inaccurate monitoring and analytics. This scenario requires correction to ensure that each alias uniquely identifies a single entity, thereby maintaining the integrity of the monitoring and analysis process within ITSI. The uniqueness of service IDs, entity IDs, and entity key values in info fields is also important but does not typically present the same level of issue as duplicate values in an alias field.

For Entity Cohesion anomaly detection in Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI), the minimum number of entities a KPI must be split by is 2. Entity Cohesion as a method of anomaly detection focuses on identifying anomalies based on the deviation of an entity's behavior in comparison to other entities within the same group or cohort. By requiring a minimum of only two entities, ITSI allows for the comparison of entities to detect significant deviations in one entity's performance or behavior, which could indicate potential issues. This method leverages the idea that entities performing similar functions or within the same service should exhibit similar patterns of behavior, and significant deviations could be indicative of anomalies. The low minimum requirement of two entities ensures that this powerful anomaly detection feature can be utilized even in smaller environments.

In Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI), a KPI widget on a glass table can be configured to drill down into a variety of destinations based on the needs of the user and the design of the glass table. This flexibility allows users to dive deeper into the data or analysis represented by the KPI widget, providing context and additional insights. The destinations for drill-downs from a KPI widget can include:

A. Another glass table, offering a different perspective or more detailed view related to the KPI. B. A Splunk dashboard that provides broader analysis or incorporates data frommultiple sources. C. A custom deep dive for in-depth, time-series analysis of the KPI and related metrics.

This versatility makes KPI widgets powerful tools for navigating through the wealth of operational data and insights available in ITSI, facilitating effective monitoring and decision-making.

To modify default deep dives in Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI), the least permissive role typically required is theitoa_adminrole. This role is specifically designed within ITSI to provide administrative capabilities, including the ability to configure and customize various aspects of ITSI, such as services, KPIs, and deep dives. Theitoa_adminrole has the necessary permissions to edit and manage default deep dives, enabling users with this role to tailor the deep dives to meet specific operational requirements and preferences. Other roles likeitoa_analyst,admin, orpowermight not have sufficient privileges to modify default deep dives, as these roles are generally more restricted in terms of their ability to make broad changes within ITSI.

One of the recommended best practices for Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI) installation is to avoid installing ITSI on search heads that already have Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) installed. This recommendation stems from potential resource conflicts and performance issues that can arise when both resource-intensive applications are deployed on the same instance. Both ITSI and ES are complex applications that require significant system resources to function effectively, and running them concurrently on the same search head can lead to degraded performance, conflicts in resource allocation, and potential stability issues. It's generally advised to segregate these applications onto separate Splunk instances to ensure optimal performance and stability for both platforms.

Define entities before creating services. When you configure a service, you can specify entity matching rules based on entity aliases that automatically add the entities to your service.

Custom deep dives in Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI) are versatile and highly customizable dashboards that allow users to analyze various types of data in a unified view. One of the key characteristics of custom deep dives is their ability to combine lanes of different data types, such as metrics, events, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and service health scores. This multifaceted approach provides a comprehensive and layered view of the IT environment, enabling analysts and operators to correlate different data types and gain deeper insights into the health and performance of services. By incorporating these diverse data lanes, custom deep dives facilitate a more holistic understanding of the operational landscape, aiding in more effective troubleshooting and decision-making.

The IT Service Intelligence (ITSI) metrics summary index, itsi_summary_metrics, is a metrics-based summary index that stores KPI data.

In the context of troubleshooting KPI search performance in Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI), the search names in the job activity that identify base searches typically follow the pattern "Indicator - Shared - xxxx - ITSI Search." These base searches are fundamental components of the KPI calculation process, aggregating and preparing data for further analysis by KPIs. Identifying these base searches in the job activity is crucial for diagnosing performance issues, as these searches can be resource-intensive and impact overall system performance. Understanding the naming convention helps administrators and analysts quickly pinpoint the base searches related to specific KPIs, facilitating more effective troubleshooting and optimization of search performance within the ITSI environment.

ITSI provides a kvstore_to_json.py script that lets you backup/restore ITSI configuration data, perform bulk service KPI operations, apply time zone offsets for ITSI objects, and regenerate KPI search schedules.

When you run a backup job, ITSI saves your data to a set of JSON files compressed into a single ZIP file.

D is the correct answer because teams allow you to restrict access to service content in UI views such as service analyzers, glass tables, deep dives, and episode review. Teams alsocontrol access to services and KPIs for editing and viewing purposes. Teams do not affect the ability to search against the itsi_summary index, restrict notable event alert actions, or restrict searches against the itsi_notable_audit index. References: Overview of teams in ITSI

C is the correct answer because teams are a feature of ITSI that allow you to restrict access to service content in UI views based on user roles. To create separate teams for finance and sales analysts, you need to create custom roles that inherit from the itoa_analyst role, which has read-only access to ITSI content. For example, you can create itoa_finance_analyst and itoa_sales_analyst roles that inherit from itoa_analyst. Then, you need to create custom teams that include these roles and assign them to the relevant services. For example, you can create a finance team that includes the itoa_finance_analyst role and assign it to the finance services. Similarly, you can create a sales team that includes the itoa_sales_analyst role and assign it to the sales services. This way, analysts in each department can only see their own services and not each other’s. References: Create teams in ITSI, Assign teams to services in ITSI

1. From the ITSI main menu, click Configuration > Notable Event Aggregation Policies.

2. Select a custom policy or the Default Policy.

3. Under Smart Mode grouping, enable Smart Mode.

4. Click Select fields. A dialog displays the fields found in your notable events from the last 24 hours.