topic Re: Finding the file path of a deleted file input in Getting Data In

Finding the file path of a deleted file input

Tyrian01 — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 04:14:05 GMT

Hi Brains Trust,

I'm trying to find the location of a CSV file that used to be a file input in 2019 but the file input (Files & directories) has been removed from the HF.

Is there a way to search for the file path? The only info I have is the index & source file name but need to know the details on the file input to see if the file in question still exists in that location.

index=nessus source="2019_04_17_CRIT_HIGH.csv"

Thanks in advance!

Re: Finding the file path of a deleted file input

gcusello — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 07:44:27 GMT

Hi @Tyrian01 ,

it's a very slow search, but try:

index=nessus source="*2019_04_17_CRIT_HIGH.csv"

if you still have these logs, you should be able to find them.

The problem could be the retention: how long do you maintain logs in your system?

Ciao.

Giuseppe

Re: Finding the file path of a deleted file input

Tyrian01 — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 07:04:15 GMT

Thanks Giuseppe,

The wildcard in the search returns the same information. There's no retention issues on that index (no maximum on index size).

I'd assume the information is available in a Splunk log file, not the indexed data.

Thanks again

Simon

Re: Finding the file path of a deleted file input

gcusello — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 07:23:23 GMT

Hi @Tyrian01 ,

if you indexed that file and there were some content and you didn't exceeded the retention time, the log should be in your index.

If there isn't check the three above conditions.

I don't think that this information is in the Splunk log file, because they surely have a much minor retention then the other data.

let me know if I can help you more, or, please, accept one answer for the other people of Community.

Ciao and happy splunking.

Giuseppe

P.S.: Karma Points are appreciated 😉

Re: Finding the file path of a deleted file input

PickleRick — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 07:43:53 GMT

If you don't have any retention parameters explicitly set Splunk uses defaults so you always have some lifetime limits. 🙂

But to the point.

Unless you enable some form of input debugging, Splunk doesn't log every single input file read. And even if it did, it would go to the _internal index which is by default kept for only 30 days.

So your best bet would be probably to find what host the events came from and look in its forwarder's config.

But that's not a 100% foolproof solution since all metadata fields can be arbitrarily manipulated so theoretically, your data could have been, for example pushed via HEC by some external mechanism.

Re: Finding the file path of a deleted file input

Tyrian01 — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 09:41:25 GMT

Thanks for the clarification on the _internal index retention.

It was certainly a File & directories input. The person that created the input/index has since left & I need the source file to replicate the regex/indexing.

I'll see what I can dig up outside of Splunk. Appreciate the input!