Splunk® Enterprise

Installation Manual

Splunk Enterprise version 7.2 is no longer supported as of April 30, 2021. See the Splunk Software Support Policy for details. For information about upgrading to a supported version, see How to upgrade Splunk Enterprise.
This documentation does not apply to the most recent version of Splunk® Enterprise. For documentation on the most recent version, go to the latest release.

Install on Mac OS X

You can install Splunk Enterprise on Mac OS X with a DMG package or a tar file.

To install the Splunk universal forwarder, see Install a *nix universal forwarder in the Universal Forwarder manual. The universal forwarder is a separate executable, with its own set of installation procedures.

Upgrading?

If you are upgrading, review "How to upgrade Splunk Enterprise" for instructions and migration considerations before proceeding.

Installation options

The Mac OS installation package comes in two forms: a DMG package and a tar file.

If you require two installations in different locations on the same host, use the tar file. The DMG installer cannot install a second instance. If one exists, it removes that instance upon successful install of the second.

Graphical installation

  1. Double-click on the DMG file. A Finder window containing splunk.pkg opens.
  2. In the Finder window, double-click on splunk.pkg. The installer opens and displays the Introduction, which lists version and copyright information.
  3. Click Continue. The Select a Destination window opens.
  4. Choose a location to install Splunk Enterprise.
    • To install in the default directory, /Applications/splunk, click on the harddrive icon.
    • To select a different location, click Choose Folder...
  5. Click Continue. The pre-installation summary displays. If you need to make changes:
    • Click Change Install Location to choose a new folder, or
    • Click Back to go back a step.
  6. Click Install.
  7. A window appears that prompts you for the credentials you used to log into your Mac. These are not your Splunk Enterprise instance or splunk.com credentials. Type in the password and click OK or Install software.
  8. The installation begins. It might take a few minutes to complete.
  9. When the install completes, click Finish. The installer places a shortcut on the Desktop.

Command line installation

To install Splunk Enterprise on Mac OS X from the command line, you must use the root user, or elevate privileges using the sudo command. If you use sudo, your account must be an Administrator-level account.

  1. To mount the DMG file, run: 
    sudo hdid splunk_package_name.dmg

    The Finder mounts the disk image onto the desktop. The image is available under /Volumes/SplunkForwarder <version> (note the space).

  2. To Install the software:
    • To the root volume:
    cd /Volumes/SplunkForwarder\ <version>
sudo installer -pkg .payload/splunk.pkg -target /

    There is a space in the disk image name. Use a backslash to escape the space or wrap the disk image name in quotes.

    • To a different disk of partition:
    cd /Volumes/SplunkForwarder\ <version>
sudo installer -pkg .payload/splunk.pkg -target /Volumes\ Disk

    There is a space in the disk image name. Use a backslash to escape the space or wrap the disk image name in quotes.

    -target specifies a target volume, such as another disk, where Splunk will be installed in /Applications/splunk.

To install into a directory other than /Applications/splunk on any volume, see the graphical installation instructions.

tar file install

The tar file is a manual form of installation. When you install Splunk Enterprise with a tar file:

  • Splunk Enterprise does not create the splunk user automatically. If you want it to run as a specific user, you must create the user manually before installing.
  • Ensure that the disk partition has enough space to hold the uncompressed volume of the data you plan to keep indexed.

To install Splunk Enterprise on Mac OS X, expand the tar file into an appropriate directory using the tar command: 

tar xvzf splunk_package_name.tgz

The default install directory is splunk in the current working directory. To install into /Applications/splunk, use the following command: 

tar xvzf splunk_package_name.tgz -C /Applications

Next steps

Now that you have installed Splunk Enterprise:

Uninstall Splunk Enterprise

To learn how to uninstall Splunk Enterprise, see Uninstall Splunk Enterprise in this manual.

Last modified on 28 February, 2020
Install on Linux   Run Splunk Enterprise as a different or non-root user

This documentation applies to the following versions of Splunk® Enterprise: 7.0.0, 7.0.1, 7.0.2, 7.0.3, 7.0.4, 7.0.5, 7.0.6, 7.0.7, 7.0.8, 7.0.9, 7.0.10, 7.0.11, 7.0.13, 7.1.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 7.1.3, 7.1.4, 7.1.5, 7.1.6, 7.1.7, 7.1.8, 7.1.9, 7.1.10, 7.2.0, 7.2.1, 7.2.2, 7.2.3, 7.2.4, 7.2.5, 7.2.6, 7.2.7, 7.2.8, 7.2.9, 7.2.10

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