Data management overview
The data lifecycle is the center point of a Splunk implementation. Before you even engage Splunk software, best practices can help you manage and structure your data efficiently to optimize its search-ability and value.
Best practices in the data functional area also help you design effective use cases that are tightly aligned to data, so you can use Splunk to answer questions you know about and reveal answers to questions you didn't know you had.
Follow these best practices according to the standard, intermediate, or advanced goals you have set.
| Activities | Standard | Intermediate | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|
|
REQUEST DATA Processes to bring requests for new use cases or data sources to your team's attention and to track and prioritize them among other requests. |
Accept ad-hoc requests (for example, email, chat, voice). |
Establish a process and templates for requests that include the following:
|
Establish cost chargeback estimates for budget owner (see Showing the value of your Splunk deployment) |
|
DEFINE THE DATA Guidelines to determine where to place line breaks and timestamps on incoming data and to identify the intended use case or value of the data. |
Establish a process for defining baseline data that uses learned source types and little or no source data optimization |
Establish a process for defining technical data that includes the following:
|
Everything outlined in intermediate Establish a process for defining value-oriented data
|
|
IMPLEMENT THE USE CASE Processes to carry out the Splunk configuration and to engage the requestor in implementation. |
Deploy technical add-ons that support getting data in Create a deployment server class that includes search, index, and forwarding and data collection tiers (see Define server class) |
Everything outlined in standard Establish initial use case requirements Apply naming conventions to knowledge objects (see Naming conventions) Utilize the Add-on Builder for custom components (see Add-on Builder) |
Everything outlined in intermediate Create a lab environment for developing system and test automation (see Setting up a lab environment) |
|
VALIDATE THE USE CASE Processes to verify that the use case meets the requester's expectations and needs, and to enable the requester to communicate feedback. |
Validate reactively: requester validates the work after it is completed (see Data onboarding workflow) |
Validate proactively: requester validates the work at regular intervals during development (see Data onboarding workflow) |
Validate demonstratively: requester validates the work in real-time from a hands-on demonstration of the use case (knowledge objects, data, and so on) (see Data onboarding workflow) |
|
COMMUNICATE USE CASE CHANGES Structures to inform the requester that the related work is completed and to enable others to learn about it. |
Communicate with individuals that the work is completed (see Data onboarding workflow) |
Everything outlined in standard Announce to the community that the work is completed (see Data onboarding workflow) |
Everything outlined in intermediate Share final showback calculations with the requester (see Showing the value of your Splunk deployment) Track and communicate the business value of use cases to executive stakeholders (see Engaging with your executive sponsor) |
|
MAINTAIN AND RETIRE USE CASES Processes to maintain Splunk knowledge objects and to remove them and their data sources when a use case is no longer needed. |
Monitor the ongoing need of use cases individually Stop indexing, generating, or forwarding the data when it is no longer needed (see Showing the value of your Splunk deployment) |
Everything outlined in standard Establish a process for regularly evaluating the need for use cases Establish a process for users to request that a use case be retired (see Data onboarding workflow) Establish a process for retiring use cases that includes disabling knowledge objects, purging unnecessary data, and disabling server class(es) on the search, index, and forwarder and data collection tiers |
Everything outlined in intermediate Remove the use case from showback system (see Showing the value of your Splunk deployment) |
Next steps
For more about data ingestion, see GDI - Getting data in and Collecting logs in Splunk.