Deployment Architecture

What is the compatibility of versions when using distributed search?

Simeon
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

I have multiple indexers on various versions of Splunk and want to know if I can intermix the versions. Is there a compatibility matrix for distributed searching?

1 Solution

Simeon
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

Distributed searching between Splunk instances on different major releases is not supported. For example, the following combinations will not work:

  • Splunk 3.4 >> Splunk 4.1
  • Splunk 3.4 >> Splunk 4.0
  • Splunk 4.0 >> Splunk 4.1
  • Splunk 4.0 >> Splunk 3.4

However, you can perform basic search functionality from a Splunk 4.1.x search head to a Splunk 4.0.x search peer. Real-time searches will not work in this configuration. Additionally, this is not a recommended or supported architecture.

View solution in original post

Simeon
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

Distributed searching between Splunk instances on different major releases is not supported. For example, the following combinations will not work:

  • Splunk 3.4 >> Splunk 4.1
  • Splunk 3.4 >> Splunk 4.0
  • Splunk 4.0 >> Splunk 4.1
  • Splunk 4.0 >> Splunk 3.4

However, you can perform basic search functionality from a Splunk 4.1.x search head to a Splunk 4.0.x search peer. Real-time searches will not work in this configuration. Additionally, this is not a recommended or supported architecture.

Simeon
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

Splunk 4.3 >> 4.2 with limited functionality

Simeon
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

I believe 4.1.x and 4.2.x can search peer between eachother, with limited functionality.

Splunk 4.1 >> 4.2

Splunk 4.2 >> 4.1

0 Karma
Get Updates on the Splunk Community!

Data Management Digest – December 2025

Welcome to the December edition of Data Management Digest! As we continue our journey of data innovation, the ...

Index This | What is broken 80% of the time by February?

December 2025 Edition   Hayyy Splunk Education Enthusiasts and the Eternally Curious!    We’re back with this ...

Unlock Faster Time-to-Value on Edge and Ingest Processor with New SPL2 Pipeline ...

Hello Splunk Community,   We're thrilled to share an exciting update that will help you manage your data more ...