Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Practice Test

What function does the Forwarder License serve in Splunk?

1. It enables full indexing and searching capabilities

2. It sets the server up as a heavy forwarder with no indexing

3. It restricts feature access to basic functionality

4. It allows for clustering and distributed searching

The correct answer is: It sets the server up as a heavy forwarder with no indexing

The Forwarder License serves a specific role within the Splunk ecosystem by establishing the server as a heavy forwarder. A heavy forwarder is a type of Splunk forwarder that has the capability to perform data parsing and indexing before forwarding data to another Splunk instance. It does not index the data itself when a forwarder license is in place, instead focusing on sending pre-processed data to another Splunk instance for indexing. This licensing setup is important for scenarios where you'd like to manage where and how data is indexed and stored. By using a forwarder license, it ensures the server will not act as a full indexing instance but rather as a specialized node for data processing and distribution, effectively transferring tasks to reduce the load on other Splunk indexers and allowing for better resource management. As for the other options, while they describe various functionalities within Splunk, they do not align with the specific role of a Forwarder License. The full indexing and searching capabilities are associated with primary indexers, while clustering and distributed searching pertain to Splunk's architecture for managing multiple instances. Additionally, restricting feature access is not a characteristic of the Forwarder License but relates more to Splunk's licensing tiering.