Platform and hardware requirements

This topic discusses the underlying requirements for running the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange.

What versions of Splunk Enterprise does the app support?

The Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange supports the following versions of Splunk Enterprise:

• Splunk Enterprise 6.2.0 and later.
• Splunk Enterprise 6.3.0 and later.

All indexers and search heads in a Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange deployment must run version 6.2.0 or later. Universal forwarders in the deployment must run version 6.0.0 or later.

Distributed installation of this app

This table provides a quick reference for installing this app onto a distributed deployment of Splunk Enterprise.

Splunk instance type	Supported	Required	Comments
Search Heads	Yes	Yes	Install this app onto all search heads where you require knowledge management.
Indexers	No	No	The Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange does not require installation on indexers, but some components that the app needs to work, such as the Splunk Add-on for Windows, must be installed there.
Heavy Forwarders	No	No	The Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange does not do anything when you install it on a heavy forwarder, but you can install components that the app needs to function on HFs if you want.
Universal Forwarders	No	No	Use universal forwarders to get the data you need for the app. See the following chapters for instructions on how to configure forwarders to get data (each link goes to the first topic in the chapter): Get Windows data Get Active Directory data Get Domain Name Service (DNS) data Get Exchange data
Light Forwarders	No	No	You can use light forwarders to send data to indexers for the app, but remember that: Light forwarders have been deprecated and could be removed in a future version of Splunk Enterprise. Universal forwarders have better performance than light 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	You can install this app on a search head cluster. Follow the procedures that this manual outlines to get the data for the app, then install the app on the cluster. How to deploy the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange Install the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange on a search head cluster
Indexer Clusters	Yes	Before you start the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange installation, configure your indexer cluster.
Deployment Server	Yes	These instructions use a deployment server to set up some of the basic environment for the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange, including the "send to indexer" package, which tells forwarders that connect to the deployment server to send data to indexers or indexer clusters that you have configured for use with the app.

Hardware and Operating System requirements

Hardware requirements

The Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange installs onto a full Splunk Enterprise instance. The app does not install onto a universal forwarder or a light forwarder.

The app has memory, CPU, and disk requirements that are higher than the standard hardware requirements for the core Splunk Enterprise platform. The added resource requirements depend on how you deploy the app. Be sure to deploy hardware that meets or exceeds the hardware requirements listed in the core Splunk Enterprise documentation.

• For additional details about supported versions of Windows for Splunk Enterprise, see "System requirements" in the core Splunk Enterprise documentation.
• For information about estimating hardware requirements for a Splunk deployment, read the following core Splunk Enterprise documentation topics:
  • "Introduction to capacity planning for Splunk Enterprise" in the Capacity Planning Manual.

Additional requirements for dedicated search heads

If you either have or plan to use the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange in a distributed environment with dedicated search heads that host the app, note that there are significantly higher CPU and disk space requirements because the app uses app key value store, extensive lookups, and a data model.

Prepare to have a minimum of the following per host on all dedicated search heads:

• 8 available CPU cores (See "Reference Hardware" in the Capacity Planning manual for additional information on dedicated search heads)
• 40 GB of available disk space (or more, depending on the number of Exchange hosts in your deployment.)

If you plan to upgrade from a previous version of the app, upgrade your hardware infrastructure prior to starting the upgrade process.

Operating system requirements

There are different operating system requirements depending on what components of the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange you install.

Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange

You can install the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange on Splunk Enterprise instances that run on current versions of Windows, including:

• Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 or Server 2012/2012 R2. (64-bit only)

You can also install the app on a Splunk Enterprise instance that runs on other 64-bit operating systems such as Linux. In this scenario, the app displays Windows data coming from external Windows sources.

The app requires a 64-bit operating system because of App Key Value Store.

Splunk Add-ons for Microsoft Exchange

You can install the add-ons that come with the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange on to universal forwarders on many versions of Windows, including:

• Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 8.1 (32-bit or 64-bit)
• Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Server 2008/2008 R2, and Server 2012/2012 R2 (32-bit or 64-bit)

The add-ons collect Windows, Active Directory, and Exchange Server data for the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange and must run only on Windows hosts.

Unsupported operating systems

Splunk Enterprise, the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange, and the Splunk Add-ons for Microsoft Exchange do not run on:

• Windows 95, 98, or Me
• Windows NT Workstation or Server 3.1, 3.5, or 4.0
• Windows 2000 Workstation or Server

What versions of Microsoft Exchange Server does the app support?

• Exchange Server 2007 (requires Windows Server 2003 SP1 or Server 2003 R2 RTM or later)
• Exchange Server 2010 (requires Windows Server 2008 SP2 or Server 2008 R2 SP1 or later)
• Exchange Server 2013 (requires Windows Server 2012 RTM or later)

Caveats

The app does not support Exchange Server 2003 because it does not have the level of logging capabilities that Exchange Server 2007 and Server 2010 do. The logging format for Exchange Server 2003 is also different from later versions of the product.

The app also does not support Exchange Server 2000.

What versions of Splunk does the app support?

• All Splunk indexers and any Splunk search heads (the Splunk servers which index and search data on a distributed central Splunk instance) require Splunk version 6.2 or later.
• All Splunk universal forwarders (which install onto Exchange servers and collect Exchange data) require version 6.0 or later.

What browsers does the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange support?

The Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange supports all browsers that the current version of Splunk Enterprise supports, with the exception of Internet Explorer versions 7 or 8.

What are the other prerequisites?

The Splunk Add-on for Windows v4.7.2 or later

In order to collect data from the Windows and Exchange servers in your environment, you need the Splunk Technology Add-on for Windows version 4.7.2 or later.

This add-on installs into the universal forwarder that you install on the Windows servers from which you want to collect Windows data. Optionally, it also installs onto all indexers in the central Splunk App for Windows instance for data collection (on Windows servers) and to add knowledge for extractions.

You can download the Splunk Add-on for Windows from Splunk Apps.

The Splunk Add-ons for Active Directory

The suite of Splunk Add-ons for Active Directory - including the Splunk Supporting Add-on for Active Directory (SA-Ldapsearch) - must be installed on universal forwarders in the Exchange deployment.

The installation package for the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange includes this suite of add-ons for Active Directory. You can download the Supporting Add-on for Active Directory from Splunk Apps.

The Splunk Supporting Add-on for Active Directory (SA-LDAPsearch) v2.0.1 or later

The Splunk Supporting Add-on for Active Directory (SA-LDAPsearch) version 2.0.1 or later must be installed on the same instance of Splunk Enterprise that the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange resides.

You can download the Splunk Supporting Add-on for Active Directory from Splunk Apps.

PowerShell v2.0 or later

All Windows hosts from which you want to collect data - including those that participate in Exchange and Active Directory - require PowerShell 2.0 or later to be installed.

The Splunk Add-on for PowerShell

All of the add-ons that come with the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange require the Splunk Add-on for PowerShell to function. You install this add-on into universal forwarders on machines that forward Active Directory and DNS data.

You can download the Splunk Add-on for PowerShell from Splunk Apps.

A Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange license

The Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange requires a license for indexing volume in addition to the license you get for Splunk Enterprise. See "Install a license."

A proficient understanding of distributed Splunk deployments

If you plan for your Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange deployment to monitor a large number of Exchange servers, or even a small number, you must understand how distributed Splunk works. You must understand how the instance of Splunk Enterprise that hosts the app interacts with the universal forwarders that send data to the app. You must also understand what you need to do to increase search and indexing performance to make the app run faster. Read the following core Splunk topics for additional information:

• "Distributed overview" - A high level description of distributed Splunk Enterprise.
• "About forwarding and receiving data" - A primer on how data forwarding works.
• "About distributed search" - A primer on how distributed search works.

Time and patience

The Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange is an advanced application that has several components that must be configured correctly in order for the app to run. Depending on the size of your Exchange network, it can take a while to get a Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange deployment up and running correctly.

You will spend time procuring hardware, identifying servers you want to monitor, installing the app and its included add-ons, tweaking configurations, and troubleshooting any issues you come across.

The setup instructions in this manual span several chapters and uses the Splunk Enterprise deployment server for automation wherever possible. Still, expect to spend a minimum of 4 to 8 hours on the project, and longer if you have a large deployment.

If your deployment is large or complex, Splunk is here to help. You can contact Professional Services for assistance if you have an Enterprise support contract with us.