Splunk Core Certified User 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

In Splunk deployments, forwarders play a crucial role as the primary method for data supply for indexing. Their primary function is to collect and send data to indexers, which then store and index the data for searching and analysis. Forwarders can be configured to send logs and data from various sources, such as servers or applications, directly to the Splunk indexers.

Forwarders come in two types: universal forwarders, which are lightweight and efficient for streaming data to indexers, and heavy forwarders, which can parse and index data before sending it. This makes them essential for ensuring that relevant data is captured and sent to the indexers in a timely and organized manner.

In contrast, indexers are responsible for storing and indexing the data, making them critical components in the Splunk architecture, but they do not supply data themselves. Search heads are used primarily for searching indexed data and performing data analysis, rather than as data sources. Data models are abstractions built on top of indexed data to enable easier searching and reporting, but they rely on the data supplied by forwarders and indexed by indexers rather than serving as data sources themselves.