Splunk® DB Connect

Deploy and Use Splunk DB Connect

This documentation does not apply to the most recent version of Splunk® DB Connect. For documentation on the most recent version, go to the latest release.

Share data in Splunk DB Connect

Splunk DB Connect includes the opt-in ability to send anonymized usage data to Splunk to help improve the add-on in future releases.

How Splunk DB Connect collects data

If you opt in, the add-on enables an internal library to track basic usage and crash information. The library uses browser cookies to track add-on user visitor uniqueness and sessions and sends events to Splunk using XMLHttpRequest (XHR) in JSON format.

Data Splunk DB Connect collects

If you opt in, Splunk DB Connect sends the following information to Splunk:

  • The number of identities you defined on the Splunk platform instance.
  • The number of connections you defined on the instance.
  • The number of connections associated with each identity on the instance.
  • Each connection's database type, whether SSL is enabled, and the connection's associated number of database inputs, outputs, and lookups
  • The number of database inputs defined on the instance.
  • Each input's type (batch mode or rising column).
  • The number of database outputs you defined on the instance.
  • The number of database lookups you defined on the instance.
  • Whether you enabled search head clustering.
  • Each search head's search head cluster mode.
  • The daily license usage for each source type that DB Connect defines. DB Connect uses to send daily license usage. You can disable the saved search without harming DB Connect operations.
  • The Splunk Enterprise license size.
  • The name and version number of every JDBC driver you installed.
  • The server roles you defined (provided by the server-roles attribute of the /services/server/info endpoint).


Event Source type Description Data sent includes common fields, plus
Field Type Description
Session start mint:ping Each ping event indicates that a new session has started. fsEncrypted N/A Not used, always "NA"
rooted N/A Not used, always false
Session end mint:gnip Each gnip event indicates that a session has ended. ses_duration int How long the session lasted
Page views mint:view Triggered once per page view in the app. current string The URL of the current web page, without the hostname.
currentView string Not used. Hardcoded to 'examples'.
domProcessingTime int Time spent to process the domain.
domLookupTime int Time spent to look up the domain name.
elapsedTime int Time spent to render the page.
host string The hostname in the URL.
loadTime int Time spent to load the page.
previous string The referrer URL.
serverTime int Time spent to get a response from the server.
App performance
and configuration
mint:log Usage and performance logs for the DB Connect that track dashboard memory usage, dashboard loading times, the number of accounts, inputs, and regions configured in the app, and non-sensitive input configuration parameters. level int Log level. For example, 60 means 'error'.
log_name any Log content. See examples below.
API calls mint:network XMLHTTPRequest calls, usually HTTP API calls from client side (browser) to the Splunk server. failed boolean Indicates if the request failed or not.
latency int Time spent before response received.
protocol string Network protocol: either http or https.
requestLength string N/A. Not used.
responseLength int The size of the response.
statusCode string HTTP response code.
url string The request URL, without the hostname.

Common fields

The data that the DB Connect sends to Splunk, if enabled, includes the following common fields. This set of fields includes several fields that are disabled or deliberately not used for the DB Connect for purposes of anonymization.

Field Type Description Example value
apiKey string MINT API key for the DB Connect


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appRunningState Field is unused by the SDK. Shows a value of "NA" in all events.
appVersionCode Field is unused by the SDK. Shows a value of "NA" in all events.
appVersionName string The version name of the app sending data. 4.1.0
browser string The browser name. Chrome
browserVersion string The browser version. 47.0.2526.111
carrier Field is unused by the SDK. Shows a value of "NA" in all events.
connection Field is unused by the SDK. Shows a value of "NA" in all events.
device string The device making the request. MacIntel
extraData JSON object This field stores custom information for the app. This app uses extraData.splunk_version to store the version number of the Splunk platform instance. 6.3.1511
locale string The user locale set in the browser. en-US
osVersion string The version code of the underlying operating system. OS X 10.11.2
packageName string The package name of the DB Connect. splunk_app_db_connect
platform Not used for the DB Connect. Shows a value of "web" in all events.
remoteIP Not used for the DB Connect. Shows a value of "3.0.0.0" in all events.
sdkVersion string The version of the SDK. 4.3
screenOrientation Field is unused by the SDK. Shows a value of "NA" in all events.
session_id string A unique string to identify a session. a5026251
state string Indicator of whether the browser is online or not. Can be either CONNECTED or DISCONNECTED. CONNECTED
uuid UUID A random identifier to track the user's uniqueness 837227ea-4569-4675-9a17-ccb39ca69505

Example app performance and configuration events

DB Connect sends performance and configuration information using the log_name field in the mint:log source type. This log_name field contains two sub-fields, name, which indicates which type of logs are being transmitted, and data, the content of the tracking log.

There are three possible options for name:

  • track_performance. When a user accesses a dashboard in the app, DB Connect sends performance logs for dashboard memory usage and loading times.
  • track_configuration. When a Splunk admin visits the Configure page, DB Connect sends a log of the number of accounts, inputs, and regions configured in the app, and non-sensitive input configuration parameters.
  • track_usage. When a Splunk admin visits the Configure page, DB Connect sends a log of the data volume that each input is responsible for.

The following examples demonstrate what data the DB Connect sends for each type of event.

log_name.name Example JSON object
track_performance
{ 
 "memory":{ 
   "totalJSHeapSize":72200000,
   "usedJSHeapSize":39600000,
   "jsHeapSizeLimit":1620000000
 },
 "timing":{ 
   "navigationStart":1453273923766,
   "unloadEventStart":1453273923929,
   "unloadEventEnd":1453273923930,
   "redirectStart":0,
   "redirectEnd":0,
   "fetchStart":1453273923766,
   "domainLookupStart":1453273923766,
   "domainLookupEnd":1453273923766,
   "connectStart":1453273923766,
   "connectEnd":1453273923766,
   "secureConnectionStart":0,
   "requestStart":1453273923773,
   "responseStart":1453273923927,
   "responseEnd":1453273923929,
   "domLoading":1453273923939,
   "domInteractive":1453273923975,
   "domContentLoadedEventStart":1453273923975,
   "domContentLoadedEventEnd":1453273923975,
   "domComplete":1453273926985,
   "loadEventStart":1453273926985,
   "loadEventEnd":1453273926987
 }
}
track_configuration
{
	"identities": {
		"count": 7,
		"data": [
			{
				"connections_count": 1
			},
			{
				"connections_count": 1
			},
			{
				"connections_count": 0
			},
			{
				"connections_count": 1
			},
			{
				"connections_count": 2
			},
			{
				"connections_count": 6
			},
			{
				"connections_count": 1
			}
		]
	},
	"connections": {
		"count": 12,
		"data": [
			{
				"connection_type": "db2",
				"jdbcUseSSL": false,
				"inputs_count": 0,
				"outputs_count": 0,
				"lookups_count": 0
			},
			{
				"connection_type": "informix",
				"jdbcUseSSL": false,
				"inputs_count": 0,
				"outputs_count": 0,
				"lookups_count": 0
			},
			{
				"connection_type": "memsql",
				"jdbcUseSSL": false,
				"inputs_count": 0,
				"outputs_count": 0,
				"lookups_count": 0
			},
			{
				"connection_type": "generic_mssql",
				"jdbcUseSSL": false,
				"inputs_count": 0,
				"outputs_count": 0,
				"lookups_count": 0
			},
			{
				"connection_type": "mssql_jtds_win_auth",
				"jdbcUseSSL": false,
				"inputs_count": 0,
				"outputs_count": 0,
				"lookups_count": 0
			},
			{
				"connection_type": "mysql",
				"jdbcUseSSL": false,
				"inputs_count": 4,
				"outputs_count": 2,
				"lookups_count": 3
			},
			{
				"connection_type": "mysql",
				"jdbcUseSSL": false,
				"inputs_count": 0,
				"outputs_count": 0,
				"lookups_count": 0
			},
			{
				"connection_type": "mysql",
				"jdbcUseSSL": false,
				"inputs_count": 0,
				"outputs_count": 0,
				"lookups_count": 0
			},
			{
				"connection_type": "mysql",
				"jdbcUseSSL": false,
				"inputs_count": 0,
				"outputs_count": 0,
				"lookups_count": 0
			},
			{
				"connection_type": "oracle",
				"jdbcUseSSL": false,
				"inputs_count": 0,
				"outputs_count": 1,
				"lookups_count": 1
			},
			{
				"connection_type": "oracle",
				"jdbcUseSSL": true,
				"inputs_count": 0,
				"outputs_count": 0,
				"lookups_count": 0
			},
			{
				"connection_type": "postgres",
				"jdbcUseSSL": false,
				"inputs_count": 0,
				"outputs_count": 0,
				"lookups_count": 0
			}
		]
	},
	"drivers": {
		"count": 0,
		"data": []
	},
	"inputs": {
		"count": 4,
		"data": [
			{
				"mode": "batch"
			},
			{
				"mode": "rising"
			},
			{
				"mode": "batch"
			},
			{
				"mode": "rising"
			}
		]
	},
	"outputs": {
		"count": 3,
		"data": [
			{
				"transactional": true,
				"is_saved_search": false
			},
			{
				"transactional": true,
				"is_saved_search": false
			},
			{
				"transactional": true,
				"is_saved_search": false
			}
		]
	},
	"lookups": {
		"count": 4,
		"data": [
			{
				"input_fields_count": 0,
				"output_fields_count": 0
			},
			{
				"input_fields_count": 0,
				"output_fields_count": 0
			},
			{
				"input_fields_count": 0,
				"output_fields_count": 0
			},
			{
				"input_fields_count": 0,
				"output_fields_count": 0
			}
		]
	},
	"serverstatus": {
		"count": 1,
		"data": [
			{
				"isSHCluster": false,
				"javaVersion": "1.8.0_92"
			}
		]
	}
}
track_usage
{
	"usage": [
		{
			"time": "2017-06-21",
			"volumes": {
				"sakila_city_rising_input": "0"
			}
		},
		{
			"time": "2017-06-22",
			"volumes": {
				"sakila_city_rising_input": "0"
			}
		},
		{
			"time": "2017-06-23",
			"volumes": {
				"sakila_city_rising_input": "0.001021385"
			}
		},
		{
			"time": "2017-06-24",
			"volumes": {
				"sakila_city_rising_input": "0"
			}
		},
		{
			"time": "2017-06-25",
			"volumes": {
				"sakila_city_rising_input": "0"
			}
		},
		{
			"time": "2017-06-26",
			"volumes": {
				"sakila_city_rising_input": "0"
			}
		},
		{
			"time": "2017-06-27",
			"volumes": {
				"sakila_city_rising_input": "0"
			}
		}
	]
}

Data DB Connect does not collect

DB Connect does not collect or send the following kinds of data:

  • Sensitive data such as usernames or passwords.
  • Identifying information such as addresses, phone numbers, IP addresses, or hostnames.
  • Indexed data that you ingest into your Splunk platform instance.

DB Connect does not collect any data that is not explicitly described in the Data Splunk DB Connect collects section above.

How to opt in or out

Splunk DB Connect presents an opt-in request the first time that you launch the app. You can also opt in at any time. In Settings, check the box under the Usage Collection tab.

To opt out, leave the box unchecked when the app presents the Help us improve Splunk products and services box. If you previously opted in but want to change your response, uncheck the box at the bottom of the Configure page, and then click Stop sending data. If you opt out after having previously opted in, the app immediately stops sending data to Splunk.

For more information about how Splunk collects and uses data, please refer to the Splunk Privacy Policy.

Last modified on 08 May, 2023
About Splunk DB Connect   How Splunk DB Connect works

This documentation applies to the following versions of Splunk® DB Connect: 3.11.0, 3.11.1


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