Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Practice Test

If you want to use the host value instead of UP for a TCP input, what should be set in the monitor stanza of inputs.conf?

1. connection_host = host

2. host = $ip

3. connection_host = none

4. host = $hostname

The correct answer is: connection_host = none

To use the host value instead of "UP" for a TCP input in Splunk, the correct setting in the monitor stanza of inputs.conf is to designate the connection_host as none. This instructs Splunk to disregard the default behavior of using the connection's upstream or server hostname as the host value when receiving TCP data. When you set connection_host to none, it allows the data to be indexed with the value specified in the host attribute or the default host value assigned by the receiving system. As a result, the host attribute operates independently of the source of the incoming connections, ensuring that the value of the host field reflects your chosen configuration rather than defaulting to "UP." In contrast, specifying connection_host as host or using specific values like $ip or $hostname would direct Splunk to use those values based on the incoming connection characteristics rather than your intended configuration. Thus, the configuration to set connection_host to none effectively achieves the goal of utilizing your desired host value rather than the upstream connection source's host designation.