Getting Data In

Attempting to run Splunk, why am I getting "Problem parsing indexes.conf: Cannot create index 3rdIndex: path of homePath must be absolute"?

athoma31
Explorer
[volume:primary]
path = opt/splunk/splunk_data
maxVolumeDataSizeMB = 2000000

[3rdIndex]
homePath   = volume:primary/3rdIndex/db
coldPath   = volume:cold/3rdIndex/colddb
thawedPath = $SPLUNK_DB/3rdIndex/thaweddb
maxDataSize = auto_high_volume

When attempting to run splunk, it results in the message:

Problem parsing indexes.conf: Cannot create index 3rdIndex: path of homePath must be absolute ('opt/splunk/splunk_data/3rdIndex/db') 

What's strange is that I have other indexers with the same stanzas in indexes.conf, except that on those, the volume definitions were split to a separate indexes.conf. Any ideas?

0 Karma
1 Solution

martin_mueller
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

Prepend a slash to your primary volume path and try again.

View solution in original post

0 Karma

martin_mueller
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

Prepend a slash to your primary volume path and try again.

0 Karma

athoma31
Explorer

There's no telling how many times I overlooked that simple mistake. Thanks!

Got questions? Get answers!

Join the Splunk Community Slack to learn, troubleshoot, and make connections with fellow Splunk practitioners in real time!

Meet up IRL or virtually!

Join Splunk User Groups to connect and learn in-person by region or remotely by topic or industry.

Get Updates on the Splunk Community!

SOK it to Me: Top 3 Benefits of Using Splunk Operator on Kubernetes that’ll Make ...

    Thursday, July 9, 2026  |  11:00AM–12:00PM PDT Duration: 1 hour (includes Q&A) Managing can feel like a ...

Upgrade Prep for 10.4, Network Observability Deep Dives, and More from Splunk Lantern

Splunk Lantern is Splunk’s customer success center that provides practical guidance from Splunk experts on key ...

Splunk Developer Day announcements: AI agents, MCP tools, Forecasting, and Custom ...

Splunk Developer Day was packed with product and platform updates for developers building in the AI ...