Knowledge Manager Manual

 


Rename source types

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Rename source types

Splunk gives you two ways to expand the range of values that you can use when searching for events with a specific source type.


Configure source type renaming

When you configure a source type in props.conf, you can rename the source type. This method enables you to give multiple source types the same name, which can be useful if you want to group a set of source types together for searching purposes.

Note: This method does not apply to events that have already been indexed. You can rename the source type of indexed events by using tags. See "Rename indexed events with tags", below.

To rename the source type, add the following into your source type stanza in props.conf in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/, or your own custom application directory in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/:

[<$SOURCETYPE>]
rename = <string>

After renaming, you can search for the source type with:

sourcetype=<string>

For example, if you wanted to rename the access_combined source type to webaccess:

[access_combined]
rename = webaccess

Then, to search for events with the new source type name:

sourcetype=webaccess

Note: If the source type in question has its indexing properties set in props.conf , you must use the actual stored source type value from sourcetypes.conf.

Renaming a source type doesn't remove its original name. You can search on the source type's original name using the _sourcetype attribute. For example, if you wanted to search for the access_combined source type (after you've renamed it to webaccess), you would use:

_sourcetype=access_combined

Rename indexed events with tags

If you want to rename the source type in indexed events, use tags. Tags enable you to expand the range of values that you can use to search on a source type (or set of source types, since multiple source types can be given the same tag). For more information about tagging, see "About tags and aliases" in this manual.

This documentation applies to the following versions of Splunk: 4.0 , 4.0.1 , 4.0.2 , 4.0.3 , 4.0.4 , 4.0.5 , 4.0.6 , 4.0.7 , 4.0.8 , 4.0.9 , 4.0.10 , 4.0.11 View the Article History for its revisions.


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