Splunk Fundamentals 1 Practice Exam

Which component in Splunk is responsible for collecting and sending data to indexers?

1. Search Head

2. Forwarder

3. Indexer

4. Deployment Server

The correct answer is: Forwarder

The correct answer is the Forwarder. In Splunk's architecture, the forwarder plays a crucial role in collecting data from various sources within an organization's infrastructure and sending that data to indexers for processing and storage. Forwarders come in two types: the Universal Forwarder and the Heavy Forwarder. The Universal Forwarder is a lightweight agent that efficiently collects data and sends it directly to the indexers without performing any heavy processing. In contrast, the Heavy Forwarder has more capabilities, allowing it to process data before forwarding it, such as filtering or routing data to different indexers based on specified criteria. The Search Head is primarily used for search and reporting purposes and does not handle data collection. The Indexer is responsible for indexing the data but does not collect it. The Deployment Server is used for managing Splunk configurations and deploying apps and configurations to other Splunk components, rather than collecting and sending data. Therefore, the Forwarder is specifically designed to handle the task of data collection and transmission to indexers effectively.