Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Practice Test

What determines the precedence of app directories in Splunk during index time?

1. File size

2. Lexicographical order

3. Modification date

4. User permissions

The correct answer is: Lexicographical order

The precedence of app directories in Splunk during index time is determined by lexicographical order. This means that when multiple app directories are involved in the indexing process, Splunk evaluates their names in alphabetical order to establish which app should take precedence. Lexicographical ordering is a common method used in computer science for comparing and sorting strings. In Splunk, this order affects how configurations and data inputs are processed when multiple apps may define similar configurations. Specifically, if two or more apps specify the same configuration setting, the one that appears first in a lexicographical sense will be the one that is applied. This ordering takes into consideration the character values of the directory names, meaning that names beginning with numbers or letters come first based on standard ASCII values. Hence, understanding this order is crucial for Splunk administrators to ensure that the correct configurations are applied and to avoid conflicts between app settings. The other options do not apply to how precedence is determined within Splunk. File size, modification date, and user permissions could influence file access and operation but do not affect the order in which app configurations are processed during index time.