Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Practice Test

Which field determines the path of the input file in metadata?

1. Host

2. Sourcetype

3. Source

4. Index

The correct answer is: Source

The field that determines the path of the input file in metadata is the "Source." In Splunk, when data is ingested, the "Source" field captures the specific location of the file from which that data was sourced. This means it identifies the exact path of the file or the data stream, which is crucial for managing and organizing data effectively within Splunk. Understanding this helps in monitoring and troubleshooting data inputs, as well as in accurately searching and querying the data later. The "Source" field can point to file paths, URLs, or other identifiers that are essential for data ingestion processes. In contrast, the other fields serve different purposes: the "Host" field typically identifies the originating host of the data, the "Sourcetype" defines the format or type of data being ingested, and the "Index" specifies where the data resides in Splunk's index storage. Each of these fields plays a vital role in data organization and retrieval, but it is the "Source" that is specifically concerned with the input file's path.