Does splunk support running a standalone search head next to a search head cluster?

[chustar]

While reading the guide for upgrading stand alone search heads to a cluster, I noticed that you cannot add an existing search head.

It must be a new instance, or cleaned using splunk clean all,

Because our one instance had many custom scripts and settings, I don't want to wipe and upgrade this cluster yet, could this existing instance be used alongside (but separate from) the search head cluster?

[splunkreal]

Hello,

we want to migrate our existing SH (also deployment server for UF) and standalone IDX to SHC / clustered indexers by adding new VMs.

This looks good idea to setup the new cluster first then how to add old SH/IDX?

Thanks for your help.

[cpetterborg · Accepted solution]

You should be able to keep the standalone SH a standalone SH and search off the existing Index cluster. Just point the searchhead at the cluster. We have a standalone SH apart from our SHC for apps like DBConnect and the Service Now app.