Splunk Search

Am I using the transaction command correctly?

Craigrow
Explorer

I have a log which is tracking objects as they get moved around by a state machine. The log records a timestamp, the GUID of the object that was moved and the to and from states for the object.

When the state machine moves object to state=foo, this is the beginning of the transaction I want to see. Then the object will then cycle between states foo and bar for some time. Eventually they leave state=foo and go to a state other than foo or bar. That is the end of the transaction.

This is the search that I wrote. When I look at these transactions I'm not seeing what I expected. Am I doing this correctly?

transaction ObjectGUID startswith(ToState=foo AND FromState!=bar) endswith(FromState=foo AND ToState!=bar)

Tags (1)

Craigrow
Explorer

Got it. Thanks!

0 Karma

_d_
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

You're missing equal signs. startswith and endswith options need to be followed by =

Example dataset:

Tue Nov 26 19:25:51 EST 2013 ToState=foo FromState=qux objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:52 EST 2013 ToState=bar objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:53 EST 2013 ToState=foo objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:54 EST 2013 ToState=bar objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:55 EST 2013 ToState=foo objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:56 EST 2013 ToState=baz FromState=foo objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:57 EST 2013 ToState=qux objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:58 EST 2013 ToState=baz objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:59 EST 2013 ToState=qux objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:26:00 EST 2013 ToState=baz objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:26:01 EST 2013 ToState=qux objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:26:02 EST 2013 ToState=baz objectGUID=abc

index=main | transaction objectGUID startswith=(ToState=foo AND FromState!=bar) endswith=(FromState=foo AND ToState!=bar)

Results:

Tue Nov 26 19:25:51 EST 2013 ToState=foo FromState=qux objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:52 EST 2013 ToState=bar objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:53 EST 2013 ToState=foo objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:54 EST 2013 ToState=bar objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:55 EST 2013 ToState=foo objectGUID=abc
Tue Nov 26 19:25:56 EST 2013 ToState=baz FromState=foo objectGUID=abc

yannK
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

Hi Craig, it your question was answered, please check the "accept" icon, it will help the other user to find useful information and reward the person that answered.

0 Karma

Craigrow
Explorer

Got it. Thanks!

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!

Enriching Signals with the OTel Lookup Processor

Introduction Raw telemetry is often incomplete. A log line might record an IP address, but what you really ...

Meet the .conf26 AI Agent Buildathon Winners

At the .conf26 AI Agent Buildathon, Splunk users turned their operational expertise into working AI agents ...

Painting a Clearer Picture: Unifying Your Investigations with Cisco AI Canvas

Painting a Clearer Picture: Unifying Your Investigations with Cisco AI Canvas  We’ve all been there. You’re ...