Splunk SPLK-4001 Practice Test - Questions Answers
List of questions
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Question 1
What are the best practices for creating detectors? (select all that apply)
Explanation:
The best practices for creating detectors are:
View data at highest resolution. This helps to avoid missing important signals or patterns in the data that could indicate anomalies or issues1
Have a consistent value. This means that the metric or dimension used for detection should have a clear and stable meaning across different sources, contexts, and time periods. For example, avoid using metrics that are affected by changes in configuration, sampling, or aggregation2
View detector in a chart. This helps to visualize the data and the detector logic, as well as to identify any false positives or negatives. It also allows to adjust the detector parameters and thresholds based on the data distribution and behavior3
Have a consistent type of measurement. This means that the metric or dimension used for detection should have the same unit and scale across different sources, contexts, and time periods. For example, avoid mixing bytes and bits, or seconds and milliseconds.
1: https://docs.splunk.com/Observability/gdi/metrics/detectors.html#Best-practices-for-detectors 2: https://docs.splunk.com/Observability/gdi/metrics/detectors.html#Best-practices-for-detectors 3: https://docs.splunk.com/Observability/gdi/metrics/detectors.html#View-detector-in-a-chart : https://docs.splunk.com/Observability/gdi/metrics/detectors.html#Best-practices-for-detectors
Question 2
An SRE came across an existing detector that is a good starting point for a detector they want to create. They clone the detector, update the metric, and add multiple new signals. As a result of the cloned detector, which of the following is true?
Explanation:
According to the Splunk O11y Cloud Certified Metrics User Track document1, cloning a detector creates a copy of the detector that you can modify without affecting the original detector. You can change the metric, filter, and signal settings of the cloned detector. However, the new signals that you add to the cloned detector will not be reflected in the original detector, nor in the original chart that the detector was based on. Therefore, option D is correct.
Option A is incorrect because the new signals will not be reflected in the original detector. Option B is incorrect because the new signals will not be reflected in the original chart. Option C is incorrect because you can monitor all of the new signals that you add to the cloned detector.
Question 3
Which of the following are supported rollup functions in Splunk Observability Cloud?
Explanation:
According to the Splunk O11y Cloud Certified Metrics User Track document1, Observability Cloud has the following rollup functions: Sum: (default for counter metrics): Returns the sum of all data points in the MTS reporting interval. Average (default for gauge metrics): Returns the average value of all data points in the MTS reporting interval. Min: Returns the minimum data point value seen in the MTS reporting interval. Max: Returns the maximum data point value seen in the MTS reporting interval. Latest: Returns the most recent data point value seen in the MTS reporting interval. Lag: Returns the difference between the most recent and the previous data point values seen in the MTS reporting interval. Rate: Returns the rate of change of data points in the MTS reporting interval. Therefore, option A is correct.
Question 4
A Software Engineer is troubleshooting an issue with memory utilization in their application. They released a new canary version to production and now want to determine if the average memory usage is lower for requests with the 'canary' version dimension. They've already opened the graph of memory utilization for their service.
How does the engineer see if the new release lowered average memory utilization?
Explanation:
The correct answer is C. On the chart for plot A, select Add Analytics, then select Mean:Aggregation. In the window that appears, select 'version' from the Group By field.
This will create a new plot B that shows the average memory utilization for each version of the application. The engineer can then compare the values of plot B for the 'canary' and 'stable' versions to see if there is a significant difference.
To learn more about how to use analytics functions in Splunk Observability Cloud, you can refer to this documentation1.
1: https://docs.splunk.com/Observability/gdi/metrics/analytics.html
Question 5
One server in a customer's data center is regularly restarting due to power supply issues. What type of dashboard could be used to view charts and create detectors for this server?
Explanation:
According to the Splunk O11y Cloud Certified Metrics User Track document1, a single-instance dashboard is a type of dashboard that displays charts and information for a single instance of a service or host. You can use a single-instance dashboard to monitor the performance and health of a specific server, such as the one that is restarting due to power supply issues. You can also create detectors for the metrics that are relevant to the server, such as CPU usage, memory usage, disk usage, and uptime. Therefore, option A is correct.
Question 6
To refine a search for a metric a customer types host: test-*. What does this filter return?
Explanation:
The correct answer is A. Only metrics with a dimension of host and a value beginning with test-.
This filter returns the metrics that have a host dimension that matches the pattern test-. For example, test-01, test-abc, test-xyz, etc. The asterisk () is a wildcard character that can match any string of characters1
To learn more about how to filter metrics in Splunk Observability Cloud, you can refer to this documentation2.
1: https://docs.splunk.com/Observability/gdi/metrics/search.html#Filter-metrics 2: https://docs.splunk.com/Observability/gdi/metrics/search.html
Question 7
A customer operates a caching web proxy. They want to calculate the cache hit rate for their service. What is the best way to achieve this?
Explanation:
According to the Splunk O11y Cloud Certified Metrics User Track document1, percentages and ratios are useful for calculating the proportion of one metric to another, such as cache hits to cache misses, or successful requests to failed requests. You can use the percentage() or ratio() functions in SignalFlow to compute these values and display them in charts. For example, to calculate the cache hit rate for a service, you can use the following SignalFlow code:
percentage(counters(''cache.hits''), counters(''cache.misses''))
This will return the percentage of cache hits out of the total number of cache attempts. You can also use the ratio() function to get the same result, but as a decimal value instead of a percentage.
ratio(counters(''cache.hits''), counters(''cache.misses''))
Question 8
Which of the following are correct ports for the specified components in the OpenTelemetry Collector?
Explanation:
The correct answer is D. gRPC (4317), SignalFx (9080), Fluentd (8006).
According to the web search results, these are the default ports for the corresponding components in the OpenTelemetry Collector. You can verify this by looking at the table of exposed ports and endpoints in the first result1. You can also see the agent and gateway configuration files in the same result for more details.
1: https://docs.splunk.com/observability/gdi/opentelemetry/exposed-endpoints.html
Question 9
When writing a detector with a large number of MTS, such as memory. free in a deployment with 30,000 hosts, it is possible to exceed the cap of MTS that can be contained in a single plot. Which of the choices below would most likely reduce the number of MTS below the plot cap?
Explanation:
The correct answer is B. Add a filter to narrow the scope of the measurement.
A filter is a way to reduce the number of metric time series (MTS) that are displayed on a chart or used in a detector. A filter specifies one or more dimensions and values that the MTS must have in order to be included. For example, if you want to monitor the memory.free metric only for hosts that belong to a certain cluster, you can add a filter like cluster:my-cluster to the plot or detector. This will exclude any MTS that do not have the cluster dimension or have a different value for it1
Adding a filter can help you avoid exceeding the plot cap, which is the maximum number of MTS that can be contained in a single plot. The plot cap is 100,000 by default, but it can be changed by contacting Splunk Support2
To learn more about how to use filters in Splunk Observability Cloud, you can refer to this documentation3.
1: https://docs.splunk.com/Observability/gdi/metrics/search.html#Filter-metrics 2: https://docs.splunk.com/Observability/gdi/metrics/detectors.html#Plot-cap 3: https://docs.splunk.com/Observability/gdi/metrics/search.html
Question 10
An SRE creates a new detector to receive an alert when server latency is higher than 260 milliseconds. Latency below 260 milliseconds is healthy for their service. The SRE creates a New Detector with a Custom Metrics Alert Rule for latency and sets a Static Threshold alert condition at 260ms.
How can the number of alerts be reduced?
Explanation:
According to the Splunk O11y Cloud Certified Metrics User Track document1, trigger sensitivity is a setting that determines how long a signal must remain above or below a threshold before an alert is triggered. By default, trigger sensitivity is set to Immediate, which means that an alert is triggered as soon as the signal crosses the threshold. This can result in a lot of alerts, especially if the signal fluctuates frequently around the threshold value. To reduce the number of alerts, you can adjust the trigger sensitivity to a longer duration, such as 1 minute, 5 minutes, or 15 minutes. This means that an alert is only triggered if the signal stays above or below the threshold for the specified duration. This can help filter out noise and focus on more persistent issues.
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