The answer kind of depends on the deployment. First, it's correct that you would need one master node for each indexer cluster. Second, you may have only one deployer for multiple SH clusters. This is only possible if all of your Search Heads get the same apps/configurations. Otherwise you need one deployer for each Search Head cluster. Reference: http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.5.0/DistSearch/PropagateSHCconfigurationchanges#Deploy_to_multiple_clusters Third, your explanation is correct. You could set the master and the deployer to a deployment client and push configurations from the deployment server to the master and deployer. And from there, to the SHs and indexers. Edit: If you are not using SH clusters at all, deploying the configurations with the deployment server to the standalone Search Heads is alright then. ... View more