I am going to install a search head and a indexer on different boxes, how to configure to enable them to talk to each other, any CLI or configuration file for it? Thanks
It is not entirely necessary to do this through the GUI; you can manually configure a search peer as follows:
On your Search Head, get a copy of this file:
$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/auth/distServerKeys/trusted.pem
Also modify this file and add in the new Indexer (it might be in a different location so poke around):
$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/distsearch.conf
Also get the hostname of the Search Head with this command:
hostname
On your Indexer(s), go to this directory:
$SPLUNK_HOME/etc/auth/distServerKeys/
Create a directory there named with the name of your Search Head's hostname and put the trusted.pem
file from the Search Head there.
P.S. This is copied from a related Q&A that I just answered: