Getting Data In

Which forwarder to use?

rahiparikh
Explorer

Hi,

I wish to tag basic information in source data before I send it to Indexer. I wish to tag the host, sourcetype and such similar basic information. What forwarder should I use?

( I tried to read the docs but it got me confused! 😞 )

Thanks!

0 Karma
1 Solution

IT_Bullgod
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

Based on the current version of Splunk, there are 3 types of Forwarder configuration:

The universal forwarder is a streamlined, dedicated version of Splunk that contains only the essential components needed to forward data to receivers.

A heavy forwarder is a full Splunk instance, with some features disabled to achieve a smaller footprint.

A light forwarder is also a full Splunk instance, with most features disabled to achieve as small a footprint as possible.

The lightweight forwarder type is typically used to support previous versions of Splunk, and likely should not be needed in new installations. Now you simply need to decide if you need a heavy or Universal forwarder, and that decision usually comes down to whether or not you need to filter or route data from the forwarder.

In your example above, tagging source and hostname are actually part of the Splunk metadata - these elements are typically attached to your event data by default. In this case, you can use the Universal Forwarder.

If you plan to route event data to multiple hosts, or if you want to limit (filter) the data from the Forwarder to the indexer, then you'll need a heavy forwarder.

View solution in original post

IT_Bullgod
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

Based on the current version of Splunk, there are 3 types of Forwarder configuration:

The universal forwarder is a streamlined, dedicated version of Splunk that contains only the essential components needed to forward data to receivers.

A heavy forwarder is a full Splunk instance, with some features disabled to achieve a smaller footprint.

A light forwarder is also a full Splunk instance, with most features disabled to achieve as small a footprint as possible.

The lightweight forwarder type is typically used to support previous versions of Splunk, and likely should not be needed in new installations. Now you simply need to decide if you need a heavy or Universal forwarder, and that decision usually comes down to whether or not you need to filter or route data from the forwarder.

In your example above, tagging source and hostname are actually part of the Splunk metadata - these elements are typically attached to your event data by default. In this case, you can use the Universal Forwarder.

If you plan to route event data to multiple hosts, or if you want to limit (filter) the data from the Forwarder to the indexer, then you'll need a heavy forwarder.

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!

Manage Edge Processor pipelines end to end with APIs

This guide uses the Data Management APIs to create an Edge Processor, onboard one instance, deploy a pipeline ...

Splunk Brings Proof of Control to Digital Asset Transfers

Digital assets now sit inside the core of financial services. HSBC launched its Tokenized Deposit Service in ...

Manage Ingest Processor pipelines end to end with APIs

This guide uses the Data Management APIs to create an Ingest Processor pipeline, deploy it to the ...