topic Re: Splunk date going backwards? in Getting Data In

Splunk date going backwards?

johnny21 — Sun, 05 May 2019 12:51:55 GMT

Splunk noobie here - basic install on Centos 7, forwarding syslog from security device and the reported date seems to be going backwards, date in syslog message is correct (example below), where should I be looking/checking?

Re: Splunk date going backwards?

richgalloway — Sun, 05 May 2019 17:14:32 GMT

By default, Splunk displays the most recent events first. That's why dates appear to be going backwards.

However, you appear to have an odd timestamp format in your events. To ensure Splunk processes them properly and as a Best Practice, you should add the following to the [syslog] stanza of the appropriate props.conf file

TIME_PREFIX = >
TIME_FORMAT = %Y:%m%;d-%H:%M:%S
MAX_TIMESTAMP_LOOKAHEAD = 19
SHOULD_LINEMERGE = false

Re: Splunk date going backwards?

johnny21 — Sun, 05 May 2019 19:44:35 GMT

Also as information this unique syslog is coming from a Sophos UTM security appliance.

Re: Splunk date going backwards?

johnny21 — Tue, 14 May 2019 23:58:35 GMT

After making the change when I run splunk btool check --debug I get an error:

Invalid key in stanza [source::syslog] in /opt/splunk/etc/system/local/inputs.conf, line 4-7

Is this the correct location where I am supposed to modify props.conf?
Is this the correct way to specify a syslog stanza?

Re: Splunk date going backwards?

johnny21 — Wed, 22 May 2019 13:31:00 GMT

Follow up resolution that seems to work - I didn't realize I needed to modify the props.conf file AND the inputs.conf files.

props.conf file

[splunk@localhost ~]$ cat /opt/splunk/etc/apps/search/local/props.conf
[sophos:syslog]
TIME_PREFIX = <..>
TIME_FORMAT = %Y:%m:%D-%H:%M:%S
MAX_TIMESTAMP_LOOKAHEAD = 19

inputs.conf file

[splunk@localhost ~]$ cat /opt/splunk/etc/apps/search/local/inputs.conf
[tcp://10.0.100.1:5114]
connection_host = ip
source = UTM Syslog
sourcetype = sophos:syslog

Re: Splunk date going backwards?

richgalloway — Wed, 22 May 2019 13:41:55 GMT

If your problem is resolved, please accept an answer to help future readers.