Splunk Search

Search issue: Error in Surrounding

sreynolds30
Explorer

On event actions under show source my users are getting the following error:

Streamed search execute failed because: Error in 'surrounding': Too many events (> 10000) in a single second.
No search results for surrounding search where targetId=239:112912518

I have two search heads and this error only occurs on one search head and I can't find anything different in the two. I only have one indexer at this point.

Tags (2)
0 Karma

geneoshaughness
Explorer

I ran into the same issue today. I was able to find a parameter in limits.conf
When I bumped it up, the problem was solved. I don't know how it will affect performance, so I'll probably take it out. I'm pretty sure it only occurred because we have temporarily put some logs in debug.

I created /opt/splunk/etc/system/local/limits.conf with this.

[show_source]
#maximum events retriveable by show source
max_count = 50000
0 Karma

rkilen
Explorer

I have some users getting this same error, but others who don't for the same event. I set max_count = 50000 in limits.conf and restarted Splunk, but the error message still happens, and still says 10000. I looked through the logs to see if I could verify that the setting took, but haven't been able to find it yet.

Any suggestions for how I can verify the higher limit? Are there perhaps some capabilities that would make show source behave differently for users in different roles?

0 Karma

rkilen
Explorer

I have found my answer in the following:
https://answers.splunk.com/answers/351000/streamed-search-execute-failed-because-error-in-su.html

The max_count setting in [show_source] must be set on the Search Peers, as the Search Head doesn't push that value when requesting the search.

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!

Monitoring AI Agents with Splunk Observability Cloud

Let’s say I’m running a travel planning AI app in production. A user asks for three concise hotel options in ...

[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 ...