Splunk Ingest Processor 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

• Configure Ingest Processor, author Ingest Processor pipelines, route or transform data at ingest time, validate Ingest Processor readiness, or compare Ingest Processor with Edge Processor and Data Manager, including Cisco Data Fabric or.
• Preview and review the splunk ingest processor 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-ingest-processor-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-ingest-processor-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

This skill is a render-first workflow for Splunk Cloud Platform Ingest Processor. It prepares the complete operator packet for IP readiness, source-type and destination setup, SPL2 pipeline authoring, monitoring, and post-ingest data usability.

For newer Cisco Data Fabric wording, this is the Splunk Cloud ingest-time pipeline route. Keep native Observability Metrics Pipeline Management requests in splunk-observability-deep-native-workflows unless the user needs source-type, destination, or SPL2 pipeline assets.

Agent Behavior

• Do not claim private or undocumented Ingest Processor CRUD APIs. The apply path is a UI/support handoff unless Splunk publishes a stable public API.
• Keep credentials out of chat and rendered files. Use local chmod 600 files for HEC tokens, Observability access tokens, cloud keys, and private keys.
• Use splunk-spl2-pipeline-kit for SPL2 templates and compatibility linting.
• Hand off Splunk Enterprise destinations to splunk-edge-processor-setup; Ingest Processor destinations are Splunk Cloud, Observability Cloud, metrics indexes, and Amazon S3.
• Hand off post-ingest ES/ITSI/ARI/CIM/OCSF/dashboard validation to splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor when that skill is present.
• Read reference.md before changing coverage, limits, or lifecycle behavior.
• Treat AI-powered Data Management release stages as capability-specific: Automated Field Extraction was announced in Controlled Availability, while Guided Onboarding with Auto-Schematization was announced in Alpha. Both were announced 2026-03-11 and re-checked 2026-08-20 against the Ingest Processor release notes updated 2026-06-16, which promote neither capability; see references/research-ledger.md for the recorded negative evidence. Verify current tenant access before presenting either workflow. The announcement says three capabilities but publicly names only these two; do not infer a third capability.

Quick Start

Render a complete offline packet:

bash skills/splunk-ingest-processor-setup/scripts/setup.sh \
  --phase all \
  --tenant-name acme-prod \
  --stack-url https://acme-prod.scs.splunk.com \
  --source-types "aws:cloudtrail,crowdstrike:fdr,json_app" \
  --destinations "splunk_indexer=type=splunk_cloud;default=true,metrics=type=metrics_index;index=metrics,s3_archive=type=s3;format=parquet;bucket=example-bucket" \
  --pipelines "redact_auth=template=redact;sourcetype=json_app;destination=splunk_indexer,http_metrics=template=metrics;destination=metrics"

--phase accepts render, doctor, status, validate, and all. Because Ingest Processor exposes no public REST API for live status, doctor and status are offline aliases of validate (render plus structural validation); they do not query a live tenant.

--dry-run parses and reports the complete plan without creating, deleting, or rewriting the output directory. Refused destinations (including Splunk Enterprise/HEC targets and S3 Object Lock) emit their concrete handoff and return nonzero in every phase; a rendered handoff is not a successful setup. Normal rendering replaces only an empty directory or one carrying this skill's ownership marker/legacy README; it refuses to recursively delete an unrelated nonempty path.

Validate the skill offline:

bash skills/splunk-ingest-processor-setup/scripts/validate.sh

Outputs

The default output directory is splunk-ingest-processor-rendered/:

• readiness-report.md and coverage-report.json.
• apply-plan.json with ui_handoff actions only.
• source-types/*.json, destinations/*.json, and pipelines/*.spl2.
• spl2-pipeline-kit/ rendered by splunk-spl2-pipeline-kit.
• monitoring/searches.spl and monitoring/usage-summary-handoff.md.
• control-plane-handoffs/ai-powered-data-management.md with current availability, access, review, and no-automation guardrails.
• lifecycle/*.md for apply, edit, remove, refresh, delete, and rollback review.
• handoffs/*.md for HEC, Edge Processor, S3 Federated Search, and data-source readiness workflows.

Coverage Rules

• Ingest Processor is Splunk Cloud Platform Victoria Experience only.
• Verify provisioning, subscription/tier, roles, service account access, indexes, lookups, and connection refresh before authoring pipelines.
• Confirm default destination behavior in the UI before applying a pipeline.
• Validate source-type event breaking, sample data, and preview results before apply.
• Treat Automated Field Extraction as a Controlled Availability, region-gated UI suggestion workflow, not an API automation path. Verify tenant entitlement and current feature visibility before use. Announced 2026-03-11, re-checked 2026-08-20: the release notes updated 2026-06-16 list AFE under February 18, 2026 with no release-stage label, label other features "(Controlled Availability release)" and "(General Availability release)" inline when those stages apply, and never state that AFE is generally available.
• Treat Guided Onboarding with Auto-Schematization as an Alpha, enrollment- gated UI workflow. It can recommend CIM mappings and candidate TA or SPL2 outputs, but this skill does not invoke the service, enroll a tenant, generate a TA, install a TA, or apply a generated pipeline. Announced 2026-03-11, re-checked 2026-08-20: the release notes updated 2026-06-16 contain no Auto-Schematization or Guided Onboarding entry, which is equally consistent with still-Alpha and with withdrawal, so the Alpha stance holds.
• Require human review, SPL2 lint/preview, representative sample validation, CIM validation, and an explicit apply decision for every AI-generated recommendation or artifact.
• Treat decrypt as a private-key lookup workflow and warn about throughput.
• Treat S3 Object Lock as unsupported for rendered IP destination plans.
• Render and review known issue guardrails: tenant-admin-only editing, no data delivery guarantees under high back pressure or destination outages, single-browser-session editing, forwarder useACK=false, HEC indexer acknowledgement off, and CIDR lookup matching unsupported.