Install the Splunk Add-on for Google Cloud Platform

1. Get the Splunk Add-on for Google Cloud Platform by downloading it from http://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/3088 or browsing to it using the app browser within Splunk Web.
2. Determine where and how to install this add-on in your deployment, using the tables on this page.
3. Perform any prerequisite steps before installing, if required and specified in the tables below.
4. Complete your installation.

If you need step-by-step instructions on how to install an add-on in your specific deployment environment, see the installation walkthroughs section at the bottom of this page for links to installation instructions specific to a single-instance deployment, distributed deployment, or Splunk Cloud.

Distributed deployment

Use the tables below to determine where and how to install this add-on in a distributed deployment of Splunk Enterprise or any deployment for which you are using forwarders to get your data in. Depending on your environment, your preferences, and the requirements of the add-on, you may need to install the add-on in multiple places.

Where to install this add-on

Unless otherwise noted, all supported add-ons can be safely installed to all tiers of a distributed Splunk platform deployment. See Where to install Splunk add-ons in Splunk Add-ons for more information.

This table provides a reference for installing this specific add-on to a distributed deployment of the Splunk platform.

Splunk platform component	Supported	Required	Action Required/Comments
Search Heads	Yes	Yes	Install this add-on to all search heads where Google Cloud Platform knowledge management is required. As a best practice, turn visibility off on your search heads to prevent data duplication errors. These errors can result from running inputs on your search heads instead of, or in addition to, on your data collection node.
Indexers	Yes	Conditional	Not required, because the parsing operations occur on the heavy forwarders. But while using the HEC token, indexer build installation is required on indexers.
Heavy Forwarders	Yes	Yes	This add-on requires heavy forwarders to perform data collection via modular inputs and to perform the setup and authentication with Google Cloud Platform in Splunk Web.
Universal Forwarders	No	No	This add-on requires heavy forwarders.

Distributed deployment compatibility

This table provides a quick reference for the compatibility of this add-on with Splunk distributed deployment features.

Distributed deployment feature	Supported	Comments
Search Head Clusters	Yes	Disable add-on visibility on search heads. You can install this add-on on a search head cluster for all search-time functionality, but configure inputs on forwarders to avoid duplicate data collection. Before installing this add-on to a cluster, remove the inputs.conf file.
Indexer Clusters	Yes	Before installing this add-on to a cluster, remove the inputs.conf file.
Deployment Server	No	Supported for deploying unconfigured add-ons only. Using a deployment server to deploy the configured add-on to multiple forwarders acting as data collectors causes duplication of data. The add-on uses the credential vault to secure your credentials, and this credential management solution is incompatible with the deployment server.

Installation walkthrough

Refer to Installing add-ons in Splunk Add-ons for detailed instructions describing how to install a Splunk add-on in the following deployment scenarios:

• Single-instance Splunk Enterprise
• Distributed Splunk Enterprise
• Splunk Cloud