Configure the master with the CLI

Read this first

Before reading this topic, see:

• "Configure and manage the indexer cluster with the CLI". This topic explains the basics of indexer cluster configuration with the CLI. It provides details on issues that are common to all cluster node types.

Enable the master node

The following example shows the basic settings that you typically configure when enabling a master node. The configuration attributes correspond to fields on the Enable clustering page of Splunk Web.

splunk edit cluster-config -mode master -replication_factor 4 -search_factor 3 -secret your_key -cluster_label cluster1

splunk restart

The -secret flag modifies the pass4SymmKey setting in the [clustering] stanza of server.conf.

When the master starts up for the first time, it will block indexing on the peers until you enable and restart the full replication factor number of peers. Do not restart the master while it is waiting for the peers to join the cluster. If you do, you will need to restart the peers a second time.

Edit the master settings

You can also use the CLI to edit the configuration later. Use the splunk edit cluster-config command, the same command used to enable the master initially.

Refer to the CLI clustering help, along with the server.conf specification file, for the list of configurable settings.

Warning: Do not increase the replication factor or search factor on the master

Although it is possible to change the settings for the replication factor and search factor, it is inadvisable to increase either of them after your cluster contains significant amounts of data. Doing so will kick off a great deal of bucket activity, which will have an adverse effect on the cluster's performance while bucket copies are being created or made searchable.