Platform management overview
The best practices in the platform functional area support the availability, scalability, and maintainability of your Splunk deployment. They help establish an optimized Splunk platform architecture and systems for continuity planning, capacity planning, and incident management.
Follow these best practices according to the foundational, standard, intermediate, or advanced goals you have set.
| Activities | Foundational | Standard | Intermediate | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EDUCATION
How the Splunk engineering team (not users) stays current on how to administer Splunk software. |
Users are encouraged and given resources to self-educate (see Helpful links to Splunk resources) Leverage Splunk Documentation Leverage Splunk Answers |
Everything outlined in Foundational Splunk learning paths by role (see Setting roles and responsibilities) |
Everything outlined in Standard Establish sandboxes as a regular practice for development and innovation (see Using a Splunk sandbox) |
Everything outlined in Intermediate Splunk certification paths by role (see Setting roles and responsibilities) |
| ARCHITECTURE
Optimizations to your platform architecture that support performance and scale. |
Deploy software using recommended system requirements (see Reference hardware) Automate Splunk deployments (see Streamlining Splunk deployments: A guide to automation strategies) |
Everything outlined in Foundational Set up a Splunk lab (see Setting up a lab environment) |
Everything outlined in Standard Make use of the Splunk Validated Architectures Deploy environment for existing capacity and future growth (see Platform capacity considerations) Define clear data retention policies (see Creating data retention policies) |
Everything outlined in Intermediate Deploy a Universal Forwarder as part of the standard OS build (see The universal forwarder) |
| CONTINUITY PLANNING
Product features or other solutions that facilitate high availability or disaster recovery scenarios. |
Set up a backup policy (see Managing backup and restore processes) Set up system snapshots (Refer to your server vendor infrastructure vendor for more information) |
Everything outlined in Foundational Set up data replication (see Data replication and Preparing for failures in the Splunk utility tier) Set up search head clustering (see About search head clustering) |
Everything outlined in Standard Generate backups of configuration and user knowledge objects (see Managing backup and restore processes) Set up automated failover of the utility tier (see Preparing for failures) |
Everything outlined in Intermediate Set up multi-site data replication (see Multisite indexer cluster deployment and Indexing and search architecture) Implement source control for configuration and user knowledge objects (see Managing backup and restore processes) |
| SUPPORT AND INCIDENT MANAGEMENT
Procedures to track and mitigate issues with the Splunk deployment. |
Process issue reporting via email or vocal request (see Establishing and communicating with your user community) | Implement a ticketing system, or incorporate into existing ticketing system (see Proactive monitoring) |
Everything outlined in Standard Create Splunk runbooks to provide procedures for support to follow (unique to your environment) |
Everything outlined in Intermediate Set up a 24/7 live help desk (unique to your environment) |
| CAPACITY MANAGEMENT
Practices for staying informed about resource usage and staying ahead of demand on the Splunk platform. |
Use the Splunk monitoring console (see Platform capacity considerations) Learn how to correctly size your Splunk architecture (see Sizing your Splunk architecture) Define clear data retention policies (see Creating data retention policies) |
Everything outlined in Foundational Develop linear usage projection to estimate growth (see Platform capacity considerations) |
Everything outlined in Standard Discuss anticipated growth needs with stakeholders (see Managing stakeholders) |
Everything outlined in Intermediate
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