Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Practice Test

At search time, which directory is indexed last in the precedence order?

1. App local directories

2. System directories

3. App default directories

4. Current user directory for app

The correct answer is: System directories

The directory that is indexed last in the precedence order is the system directories. In Splunk, the precedence of directories is a crucial part of the configuration and data interpretation during the search process. To understand this better, it's important to note how Splunk determines which configurations to apply when searching. App local directories take precedence because they are meant specifically for configurations that are either modified or created for a specific app, ensuring that local changes are prioritized. Following this, the current user directory for the app takes precedence because it may contain user-specific configurations that should override others. App default directories are indexed prior to system directories because they provide default configurations intended for the app. Finally, system directories are treated as the last resort—they contain global settings that apply across all apps, and therefore, they can be overridden by settings in the app-specific directories. This precedence order ensures that more specific and potentially more relevant settings are prioritized during a search, while broader, system-wide settings are considered only when no specific configurations are available. Thus, system directories are indexed last.