How to upgrade the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure

This topic discusses supported upgrade scenarios for the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure.

The commands shown in this topic are PowerShell. If you use *nix, substitute the PowerShell directives with their *nix counterparts. If you use different directories for Splunk Enterprise and deployment server, substitute the directories shown with your specific directories.

Upgrade overview

There is one supported upgrade scenario available for the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure:

• From version 1.0.x to this version.

If you run a previous version of the Splunk App for Windows, follow the setup instructions as if it were a new install. You will be given the opportunity to resolve any data location issues as part of the new setup.

How to upgrade If you have a deployment server

To upgrade the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure, use your deployment server to update all of the deployment clients in the environment:

Upgrade Splunk Enterprise if necessary

1. Upgrade Splunk Enterprise and universal forwarders on all hosts in the deployment to version 6.2 or later.

Download and unpack apps and add-ons

1. Download the following apps and add-ons from Splunk Apps and save them to an accessible location:

• The latest version of the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure.
• The Splunk Add-on for Windows version 4.7.3 or later.
• The Splunk Supporting Add-on for Active Directory version 2.0.1 or later.
• The Splunk Modular Input for PowerShell.

2. Use WinZip or another archive utility to unarchive the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure and Splunk Add-on for Windows packages.

Configure and deploy add-ons to the deployment server

1. Configure the Splunk Add-on for Windows, as described in "Download and configure the Splunk Add-on for Windows."

2. Copy the following updated add-ons from the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure installation package to the deployment apps directory on the deployment server:

• The Splunk Add-on for Windows (Splunk_TA_windows)
• The Splunk Add-ons for Active Directory: TA-DomainController-NT5/TA-DomainController-NT6
• The Splunk Add-ons for Windows DNS: TA-DNSServer-NT5/TA-DNSServer_NT6

PS > $winfra_apps="C:\Downloads\splunk_app_windows_infrastructure\appserver\addons"
PS > foreach ( $source in @("C:\Downloads\Splunk_TA_windows","$winfra_apps\TA-DomainController*","$winfra_apps\TA-DNSServer*") ) { Copy-Item -Path $source -Destination "C:\Program Files\Splunk\etc\deployment-apps" -Recurse }

3. Log into Splunk Enterprise the deployment server.

4. Go to Forwarder Management and deploy the add-ons to the appropriate Windows, and Active Directory deployment clients:

Active Directory add-ons

If the server:	and it runs:	then install or deploy:
does not have a role in Active Directory	any supported version of Windows Server	Splunk_TA_Windows
is a domain controller	Windows Server 2003 or Server 2003 R2	Splunk_TA_Windows TA-DomainController-NT5
	Windows Server 2008, Server 2008 R2, Server 2008 R2 Core, or Server 2012	Splunk_TA_Windows TA-DomainController-NT6
	Windows Server 2012 R2	Splunk_TA_Windows TA-DomainController-2012r2 SA-ModularInput-PowerShell
is a DNS server	Windows Server 2003 or Server 2003 R2	Splunk_TA_Windows TA-DNSServer-NT5
	Windows Server 2008, Server 2008 R2, Server 2008 R2 Core, Server 2012, or Server 2012 R2	Splunk_TA_Windows TA-DNSServer-NT6
is a domain controller and a DNS server	Windows Server 2003 or Server 2003 R2	Splunk_TA_Windows TA-DomainController-NT5 TA-DNSServer-NT5
	Windows Server 2008, Server 2008 R2, Server 2008 R2 Core, or Server 2012	Splunk_TA_Windows TA-DomainController-NT6 TA-DNSServer-NT6
	Windows Server 2012 R2	Splunk_TA_Windows TA-DomainController-2012r2 TA-DNSServer-NT6 SA-ModularInput-PowerShell

3. Install the updated Splunk Add-on for Windows onto all hosts in the central Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure instance.

4. Install the updated Splunk Supporting Add-on for Active Directory onto all search heads in the central Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure instance.

5. Install the updated Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure into all search heads in the central Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure instance.

6. Restart all hosts in the central Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure instance.

Log in and run the first time experience

1. Log into Splunk Enterprise on a search head in the central Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure instance. This activates the first-time setup experience.

2. Proceed through the first-time setup experience. Address any missing data issues by following the on-screen prompts.

3. Wait. As part of the upgrade, the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure builds an accelerated data model which, depending on the size of your environment, can take some time. You can check the progress of the data model build by following the instructions in "Check data model build progress."

4. After the accelerated data model build is complete, use the app and confirm that all of the data is present and the pages show data as you expect.

How to upgrade if you do not have a deployment server

If you do not have a deployment server, you will set up one now as part of the upgrade process.

A deployment server reduces deployment complexity and room for errors due to typos in configuration files. Once you complete setup, you then only need to make app and configuration changes in one place.

Read more about deployment server

See the following topics to learn more about deployment server:

• "About deployment server and forwarder management" in the core Splunk Enterprise platform documentation.
• "Set up a deployment server and create a server class" in this manual.

Upgrade Splunk Enterprise if necessary

1. Upgrade Splunk Enterprise and universal forwarders on all hosts in the deployment to version 6.2 or later.

Download and unpack apps and add-ons

1. Download the following apps and add-ons from Splunk Apps and save them to an accessible location:

• The latest version of the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure.
• The Splunk Add-on for Windows version 4.7.3 or later.
• The Splunk Supporting Add-on for Active Directory version 2.0.1 or later.
• The Splunk Modular Input for PowerShell.

2. Use WinZip or another archive utility to unarchive the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure and Splunk Add-on for Windows packages.

Activate a deployment server and define server classes

1. Configure the Splunk Add-on for Windows, as described in "Download and configure the Splunk Add-on for Windows."

2. Choose a host in your deployment that does not regularly experience high CPU or disk utilization and note the host name or IP address of the host.

• If the host does not already have Splunk Enterprise installed on it, perform the installation.

3. On this host, log into Splunk Enterprise.

4. Create the "Send to indexer" app, as described in "Create the 'send to indexer' app."

5. Activate deployment server on the host by copying the following objects to the deployment apps directory:

• The Splunk Add-on for Windows (Splunk_TA_windows).
• The "Send to Indexer" app (sendtoindexer).
• The Splunk Add-ons for Active Directory (TA-DomainController-*).
• The Splunk Add-ons for Windows DNS (TA-DNSServer-*)

PS > $winfra_apps="C:\Downloads\splunk_app_windows_infrastructure\appserver\addons"
PS > foreach ( $source in @("C:\Downloads\Splunk_TA_windows","C:\Program Files\Splunk\etc\apps\sendtoindexer","$winfra_apps\TA-DomainController*","$winfra_apps\TA-DNSServer*","$winfra_apps\TA-SMTP-Reputation") ) { Copy-Item -Path $source -Destination "C:\Program Files\Splunk\etc\deployment-apps" -Recurse }

6. In Splunk Enterprise on the deployment server, define server classes:

• A "universal forwarders" server class for all hosts in the deployment with a universal forwarder installed.
• A server class for Active Directory.
• A server class for Windows DNS.

7. Assign apps to the server classes according to the following table:

Server Class Name	Add-ons to Add to the Server Class
Universal Forwarder	Splunk_TA_windows sendtoindexer
Active Directory	TA-DomainController-NT5 (on Windows Server 2003) TA-DomainController-NT6 (on Windows Server 2008 R2) TA-DomainController-2012r2 and SA-ModularInput-PowerShell (on Windows Server 2012 R2)
Windows DNS	TA-DNSServer-NT5 (on Windows Server 2003) TA-DNSServer-NT6 (on Windows Server 2008 R2)

8. Restart Splunk Enterprise on the deployment server.

Reconfigure universal forwarders as deployment clients

1. On every universal forwarder in the deployment, issue the following command to turn the forwarder into a deployment client:

PS > cd <Splunk Directory>\bin
PS > .\splunk set deploy-poll <host name or ip address of deployment server>:<port>

• In the above example: <port> is the management port on the deployment server, and defaults to 8089.

2. On every universal forwarder in the deployment, remove the following add-ons from the Splunk apps directory (%SPLUNK_HOME%\etc\apps):

• The Splunk Add-on for Windows.
• The Splunk Add-ons for Active Directory (on Active Directory hosts).
• The SMTP Reputation add-on (from the host with the outbound connection to the Internet)

3. Restart the universal forwarders.

Confirm that the deployment server sees the universal forwarders

1. Log back into the deployment server.

2. Use Forwarder Management to confirm that universal forwarders have phoned in to the deployment server.

3. Assign the clients to the server classes you defined earlier.

• Assign all clients to the "Universal Forwarder" class.
• Assign AD hosts to the AD server classes based on the version of Windows Server they run.
• Assign DNS hosts to the DNS server classes based on the version of Windows Server they run.

4. In Forwarder Management, confirm that the apps deploy to the correct hosts.

5. Log into Splunk Enterprise on a search head in the deployment.

6. Load the Search App

7. Confirm that you see new data coming in from the deployment clients.

Log in and run the first time experience

1. Continuing on the search head, choose Apps > Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure. This activates the first-time setup experience.

2. Proceed through the first-time setup experience.

• Address any missing data issues by following the prompts on-screen.

3. Wait. As part of the upgrade, the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure builds an accelerated data model which, depending on the size of your environment, can take some time. You can check the progress of the data model build by following the instructions in "Check data model build progress."

4. After the accelerated data model build is complete, use the app and confirm that all of the data is present.

Troubleshoot permissions issues after an upgrade

When you upgrade the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure to version 3.1, the app installs a new user role, winfra-admin. The Splunk user that uses the Splunk App for Windows Infrastructure must have this role, otherwise the app will not function correctly.

If, during the first time process, you see that the app does not find any data and you know that the data exists (such as in the case of an upgrade), be sure to add the winfra-admin role to the user that uses the app, as described in the troubleshooting page.