How does the number of forwarder connections to an indexer impact search and indexing performance?

[pramit46]

I want to know how does the number of connections to an indexer impact the search and indexing performance (e.g.: how connecting to 5000 forwarders performs over having 1000 forwarders)? Is there any max limit to optimize the performance (connection per indexer OR indexers to connections ratio)?

Also, how to check the current number of connections to an indexer?

Any idea?

[mtranchita · Accepted solution]

It really depends on your specific data and configurations. You can find some discussion in the capacity planning manual. You can also get aggregate details from the DMC.

That said you can examine your data directly. This search should give the number of connections per minute:
index="_internal" group=tcpout_connections | bucket _time span=1m | stats c(host) by splunk_server

Not sure if that helps but I hope it gets you pointed in the right direction for what you are looking for.