Splunk Search

Subsearch timeout SPL

mwdbhyat
Builder

Hi guys,

I have a search with subsearch that times out before it can complete. The subsearch doesnt finalise, so then then main search gets no results. Can anyone think of a better way to write this search so that perhaps that subsearch will perform better and I will not have to increase limits.conf? Are there any issues with increasing limits.conf?

index=bla [search index=bla(subject="Test*")|dedup x | table x]
|stats values(*) As * by x,filter_instance
|table _time,from,ip,recipient,subject,x

Thanks!

0 Karma
1 Solution

DalJeanis
Legend

Try this for your subsearch...

 [search index=bla (subject="Test*") x=* | stats first(index) by x | fields - index]

stats first(blah) should require less resources than dedup.

View solution in original post

0 Karma

woodcock
Esteemed Legend

Try setting a shorter static timerange that overrides the TimePicker for the subsearch like this:

 index=bla [search index=bla(subject="Test*") earliest=-1h | stats first(host) BY x | table x ]
 |stats values(*) As * by x,filter_instance
 |table _time,from,ip,recipient,subject,x
0 Karma

DalJeanis
Legend

Try this for your subsearch...

 [search index=bla (subject="Test*") x=* | stats first(index) by x | fields - index]

stats first(blah) should require less resources than dedup.

0 Karma

mwdbhyat
Builder

Thanks this worked

kmaron
Motivator

I think you may have simplified your example a little too much or maybe I'm just not following.

You're looking for the values of x that only exist when subject="Test*" but then you want to do a stats by x? I'm not seeing the purpose of the subsearch. Could you try either explaining it or maybe simplify it better?

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!

Make Your Machine Data AI-Ready in Splunk

Every team is getting ready for AI agents.   Thursday, November 12, 2026  |  11AM  PST / 2PM EST   ...

Splunk Asynchronous Forwarding Explained

Splunk asynchronous forwarding is often misunderstood as simply setting autoLBVolume. That is not quite right. ...

How to Monitor AI Agents with Splunk Agent Observability

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