Getting Data In

Can Timestamp Assignement Precedence Be Altered?

pdurrer
Loves-to-Learn

Is there a way to override the timestamp assignment precedence rules, as described here:

http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.4.3/Data/HowSplunkextractstimestamps

Specifically, I'd like to disable #3 ... assignment based on the last event time. The reason this is causing me a problem is in some of my events I use TIME_PREFIX to override _time with a timestamp in the event data. In some cases, this event data is very old. So when other data arrives which does not have the specified TIME_PREFIX, rather than getting assigned the current date/time, it sometimes gets recorded with one of these historical dates.

Thanks.

0 Karma

dmaislin_splunk
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

You need DATETIME_CONFIG. Read a blog entry I wrote on this very thing: http://blogs.splunk.com/2014/04/23/its-that-time-again

0 Karma

pdurrer
Loves-to-Learn

Thanks, but I must be missing something. How can a DATETIME_CONFIG file be configured to set the event timestamp to the current date/time when no timestamp is detected in the event data?

0 Karma
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!

[Puzzles] Solve, Learn, Repeat: Tiling

This puzzle (first published here) is based on finding groups of tessellated tiles (inspired by floor tiles I ...

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 ...