Administration basics

Administration basics

The $SPLUNK_HOME variable refers to the top level directory of your installation. By default, this is /opt/splunk/.

Add Splunk to your shell path

To save a lot of typing, set a SPLUNK_HOME environment variable and add $SPLUNK_HOME/bin to your shell's path. The example below works for bash users who accepted the default installation location. Use the correct syntax and path for your own installation.

# export SPLUNK_HOME=/opt/splunk

# export PATH=$SPLUNK_HOME/bin:$PATH

Splunk's CLI

Splunk's command line interface is located in $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/. If you have exported the path and environment variables (as explained above), you can use the splunk command as follows:

# splunk [action] [object] [-parameter value] ....

If you haven't set an environment variable, navigate to $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/ and run commands as follows:

#./splunk [action] [object] [-parameter value] ....

For general help, type:

# splunk help

For a list of commands and options, type:

# splunk help commands

For Splunk with an Enterprise license, administration commands must be authenticated with a username and password. To authenticate for an entire session, type:

# splunk login

This command prompts you for a Splunk username and password. Use the same username and password for the CLI and Splunk Web. By default, the login is set to admin and the password is changeme.

Logout at any time by typing:

# splunk logout

To authenticate a single command, use the -auth parameter:

# splunk search foo -auth username:password

Note: the -auth string must be the last term in the CLI command.

Start/stop Splunk, check status

Ensure that you have added Splunk to your server host's path (as explained above, in "Adding Splunk to your shell path"). Otherwise you must use the ./splunk command.

Start the Server

From a shell prompt on the Splunk sever host, run this command:

# splunk start

Alternately, start either splunkd (to load back-end configuration) or Splunk Web (to load web configuration):

# splunk start splunkd

# splunk start splunkweb

Or restart Splunk (splunkd or Splunk Web) by running:

# splunk restart

# splunk restart splunkd

# splunk restart splunkweb

Stop the Server

To shut down Splunk, run this command:

# splunk stop

Also available for splunkd and Splunk Web:

# splunk stop splunkd

# splunk stop splunkweb

Check if Splunk is running

To check if Splunk is running, type this command at the shell prompt on the sever host:

# splunk status

You should see this output:

splunkd is running (PID: 3162).
splunk helpers are running (PIDs: 3164).
splunkweb is running (PID: 3216).

Or you can use ps to check for running Splunk processes:

# ps aux | grep splunk | grep -v grep

Solaris users, type -ef instead of aux:

# ps -ef | grep splunk | grep -v grep

Help

Help is available in several forms.

Help Options

• From the CLI:
  • Type # splunk help
• From Splunk Web:
  • Follow the help link in the upper right hand corner of Splunk Web.
  • Click the tutorial link from the Splunk Web landing page.
• Contact Splunk Support:
  • Many options are available on the support portal.
  • Email Splunk support.

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