Splunk Enterprise Host Setup

Prerequisites

Tool or access	Purpose	Verify
Bash and Python 3	Run bundled setup and validation helpers	bash --version && python3 --version
Required product/platform access	Inspect or configure the selected target	Complete the documented preflight
Credential files for live modes	Keep secrets out of chat	Verify paths only

Workflow Overview

┌───────────┐   ┌───────────────┐   ┌───────────────┐   ┌─────────────────┐
│ Preflight │ → │ Render/review │ → │ Apply/handoff │ → │ Validate evidence │
└───────────┘   └───────────────┘   └───────────────┘   └─────────────────┘

When to Activate

• Bootstrap a Splunk host, install a heavy forwarder, build a search/index/forwarder tier, or configure clustered Splunk Enterprise nodes.
• Preview and review the splunk enterprise host setup workflow before any live apply phase.
• Diagnose failed prerequisites, generated assets, configuration, or validation evidence.

Scope

Follow the documented read-only or render-first path whenever it is available. This skill does not imply permission to mutate live systems. Require explicit apply flags, protected credentials, and operator review for state changes.

Examples

Inspect the supported setup modes before selecting one:

bash skills/splunk-enterprise-host-setup/scripts/setup.sh --help

Expected output: usage, supported modes, and required arguments are displayed without changing the target environment.

Inspect validation modes before running completion checks:

bash skills/splunk-enterprise-host-setup/scripts/validate.sh --help

Expected output: offline, live, and completion options are displayed when the skill supports them; help exits without mutation.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Resolution
Preflight fails	A required tool or access path is missing	Resolve it before rendering or applying
Rendered assets are incomplete	Required non-secret inputs are absent	Complete intake and render again
Apply is blocked	Review, credentials, or explicit acceptance is missing	Use the documented handoff
Validation is incomplete	Live evidence is unavailable	Record the gap and keep completion open

Bootstraps Linux hosts that should run full Splunk Enterprise.

Architecture First

• A heavy forwarder is not a separate package. It is a full Splunk Enterprise install with forwarder-style configuration.
• This skill is for self-managed Splunk Enterprise hosts only.
• The CLI takes the canonical role names below via --host-bootstrap-role:
  • standalone-search-tier
  • standalone-indexer
  • heavy-forwarder
  • cluster-manager
  • indexer-peer
  • shc-deployer
  • shc-member
• The "standalone-" prefix marks single-instance roles; clustered indexer and search-head-cluster control-plane roles use the unprefixed names above.

Agent Behavior — Credentials

Never ask for passwords or shared secrets in chat.

• Use skills/splunk-enterprise-host-setup/template.example as the intake worksheet for non-secret values.
• Keep secrets in temporary files only, for example:

bash skills/shared/scripts/write_secret_file.sh /tmp/splunk_admin_password
bash skills/shared/scripts/write_secret_file.sh /tmp/splunk_idxc_secret
bash skills/shared/scripts/write_secret_file.sh /tmp/splunk_shc_secret

• Reuse the project credentials file or ~/.splunk/credentials for SSH and REST defaults when possible. SSH execution additionally requires either an operator-reviewed SPLUNK_SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS_FILE or a verified SPLUNK_SSH_HOST_KEY_FINGERPRINT. The warned SPLUNK_SSH_ALLOW_TOFU=true escape hatch is for disposable labs only.

Package Model

Supported package sources:

1. --source splunk-auth for official Splunk download URLs that should use the stored Splunk.com credentials
2. --source remote for public or internal direct download URLs
3. --source local for packages already present on disk

If --url is omitted, or set to latest, remote and authenticated download flows resolve the latest official Linux package URL from Splunk's Enterprise download page at runtime. When --package-type auto is left in place for latest resolution, the skill prefers .deb or .rpm based on the target OS family and falls back to .tgz. Latest official downloads also require successful verification against Splunk's official SHA512 checksum. If live latest resolution fails, rerun with --allow-stale-latest to use the most recent cached official metadata when it is younger than 30 days.

Supported package formats:

• .tgz / .tar.gz
• .rpm
• .deb

The skill caches downloaded packages in the repo-local splunk-ta/ directory.

Install behavior:

• If the target host does not already have SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk, install performs a fresh install.
• If Splunk is already present and the package version differs, install performs an in-place upgrade for .rpm, .deb, or .tgz.
• If the installed version already matches the requested package version, install succeeds as a no-op and skips package replacement.
• Install-only upgrades do not require --admin-password-file. Password-based auth is still required for later configure or cluster work that uses authenticated Splunk CLI commands.

Scripts

setup.sh

Main bootstrap entrypoint:

bash skills/splunk-enterprise-host-setup/scripts/setup.sh \
  --phase all \
  --execution ssh \
  --host-bootstrap-role heavy-forwarder \
  --source remote \
  --package-type tgz \
  --admin-password-file /tmp/splunk_admin_password \
  --cluster-manager-uri https://cm01.example.com:8089 \
  --discovery-secret-file /tmp/splunk_idxc_secret

Useful phases:

• download — fetch and checksum-verify the package into splunk-ta/
• install — fresh-install, upgrade, or same-version no-op; fresh installs seed the admin user, upgrades stop Splunk before package replacement, and all successful install paths start Splunk and can enable boot-start
• configure — apply role-local configuration such as receiving or forwarding
• cluster — apply clustered settings such as manager, peer, or SHC membership
• all — run the full workflow

Clustered-role upgrades still execute through the per-host setup.sh path, but the skill can now render a rolling plan with one host per wave, pre/post validation commands, and cluster health gates:

python3 skills/splunk-enterprise-host-setup/scripts/rolling_upgrade_plan.py \
  --role indexer-peer \
  --hosts idx01.example.com,idx02.example.com,idx03.example.com \
  --cluster-manager-host cm01.example.com \
  --cluster-manager-uri https://cm01.example.com:8089 \
  --admin-password-file /tmp/splunk_admin_password

The planner is render-only. It does not SSH, restart Splunk, or modify hosts; operators still run the generated per-host commands after each health gate is green.

validate.sh

Checks package install state, service health, role-specific config, and clustered status where relevant.

bash skills/splunk-enterprise-host-setup/scripts/validate.sh \
  --execution ssh \
  --host-bootstrap-role indexer-peer \
  --admin-password-file /tmp/splunk_admin_password

smoke_latest_resolution.sh

Quick live smoke for the latest official package resolver without downloading the full package payload:

bash skills/splunk-enterprise-host-setup/scripts/smoke_latest_resolution.sh \
  --package-type auto

Key Defaults

• SPLUNK_HOME=/opt/splunk
• Linux + systemd only
• single-site clustering only
• heavy forwarders default to indexAndForward=false
• clustered heavy forwarders default to indexer discovery
• standalone-search-tier roles enable Splunk Web by default
• SHC member adds require --current-shc-member-uri unless --bootstrap-shc is used to create a brand-new cluster

Enterprise upgrade ladder (10.4)

Splunk Enterprise has no 10.3 release train. Supported paths to 10.4 include 10.2 → 10.4, 10.0 → 10.2 → 10.4, and fresh installs on 10.4.1 (default in this repo).

Invalid or high-risk jumps this skill should warn about during planning:

• 9.x → 10.4 without an intermediate 10.0 or 10.2 stop (KV Store MongoDB 7+ prerequisite).
• Any upgrade target below the SVD floor for the selected train (see splunk-enterprise-public-exposure-hardening or skills/shared/references/splunk_platform_versions.json).

Enterprise 10.4 also removes TLS 1.0/1.1 negotiation and applies KV Store MongoDB 8 automatically when upgrading from 10.x. Route PKI and KV Store preflight work to splunk-platform-pki-setup and splunk-kvstore-admin-setup before executing host upgrades.

References

• reference.md for role placement, ports, and topology notes
• template.example for the non-secret intake worksheet