How to Install Splunk

How to Install Splunk?

In this how to install Splunk post, we are going to look at all the necessary details and steps that are required to install Splunk on our machine. We will be discussing installation steps for both Linux as well as Windows operating systems.
At first, we will brief you about the Splunk Components.

The main components of Splunk Architecture are:

1. Indexers
2. Search Heads
3. Forwarders(Universal/Heavy)

The other components are:

4. Deployment Server
5. License Master
6. Master Cluster

Source:

https://goo.gl/images/HbRKbT

Apart from Forwarders, all other 5 components can be installed from a single Splunk package. Only after installation, we have to manually configure whether to make the component an Indexer/Search Head/Deployment Server/License Master/Master Cluster.

Source: From My Paint.

There are two ways in which we can set up the installation for Splunk Enterprise:

1. Standalone Environment – Here all the Splunk components reside on the same server (except for forwarders as the sole purpose of forwarders is to forward data from an input device to Splunk(Indexer), so it will not make any sense to have the forwarder on the same machine)
2. Distributed Environment – Here all the Splunk Components are distributed on different servers like Indexer on server1, Search Head on server 2, License Master and Deployment Server on server 3 and likewise!

Splunk Core Products:

1. Splunk Enterprise – On-Premise installation, more administration overhead. Here, you are responsible for all the upgrades, to make changes to configuration files and to keep the Splunk up and running.
2. Splunk Cloud – On Cloud installation, less administration overhead. It is the responsibility of Splunk Incorporation to keep your spunk up and running.
3. Splunk Light – This is the light version of Splunk Enterprise with limited functions and capability.

Install Splunk Enterprise On Windows

1. Go to https://www.splunk.com/

2. Click on Free Splunk on the upper right corner.

Source: From My Browser

3. If you are not logged in or if you do not have an account associated with Splunk, it will ask you to create an account. Please do the required and then log in.

4. Next screen that you will see is.

Source: From My Browser

5. Under the windows tab, click on the download button as per your machine configuration. Once the package is downloaded, run it.

6. Click on the checkbox to accept the license and user agreement. Once the checkbox is ticked, the Customize Options and Next button will get enabled, the customize button will let you chose the folder where you would like your Splunk to get installed while if you click on Next, it will get installed in the default path.

Source: From My Server

7. Here we will select Local System as we are on our local machine.

Source: From My Server

8. Here, please provide your password. You should be able to login to your Splunk instance using this password.

Source: From My Server

9. Next, click on finish.

Source: From My Server

10. Now you can either open your Splunk instance from your windows programs or by visiting localhost:8000 via your web browser.

Source: From My Server

The username for an administrator is always admin and the password will be the one which you had provided during the installation process.

Install Splunk Enterprise On Linux

1. Go to https://www.splunk.com/ (You will get at command Line very soon, so please do not worry about these web interfaces, for now, it all will start making sense after few steps)

2. Click on Free Splunk on the upper right corner.

Source: From My Server

3. If you are not logged in or if you do not have an account associated with Splunk, it will ask you to create an account. Please do the required and then log in.

4. Next screen that you will see is

Source: From My Server

5. Under the Linux tab, click on the Download Now button as per your Linux flavors/distributions that you use.

Source: From My Server

Remaining steps are the same as we had done in Windows installation as steps via GUI are almost the same irrespective of OS.

OR

You have an option to download this directly from command Line/Linux shell. Once you click on the Download Now button, your download will start automatically but you can cancel the download instead and look for” Download via Command Line” option. Copy the command and run it in your command Line(wget lets you download the package)

Source: From My Server

Source: Click Here

wget -O Splunk-7.2.4-8a94541dcfac-Linux-2.6-x86_64.rpm

‘https://www.splunk.com/bin/

1. Now the rpm package of Splunk is downloaded, it is time to install it

Command :

rpm –ivh splunk-7.2.4-8a94541dcfac-linux-2.6-x86_64.rpm

2. Splunk is installed now, and now it is time to start it for the first time. Navigate to the bin directory of Splunk and run the following

Command:
/opt/splunk/bin/splunk start

3. Read the license and press “y” button to agree with the license agreement.

4. There is also another way of directly starting Splunk when you are doing it the first time by accepting the license in one go:

Command:

/opt/splunk/bin/splunk start –accept-license
OR
./splunk start –accept-license (Assuming you are in the bin directory of Splunk)

Source:

Click here

Install Splunk Cloud

We have seen an installation of Splunk Enterprise on Windows and Linux platforms but apart from Splunk Enterprise, Splunk also offers Cloud version of Splunk which is known as Splunk Cloud.

While Splunk Enterprise is an on-premise installation, Splunk cloud is fully deployed on the cloud.
Steps for cloud installation:

1. Navigate to https://www.splunk.com/en_us/

2. Click on “Free Trial”.

Source: From my browser

3. If you are not logged in or if you do not have an account associated with Splunk, it will ask you to create an account. Please do the required and then log in.

4. Once you click on the free trial, the installation will begin on the Splunk cloud server. When finished, click on the top right corner, select your account and from the drop-down, click on “Instances”.

Source: From my browser

5. Then you will get redirected to a screen which will look something like below:

Source: From my browser

6. From here please click on, Access Instance.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide on How To Install Splunk. Here we have discussed the main component and different steps to install Splunk. You may also look at the following article to learn more –

1. How to use Splunk Commands
2. Splunk Interview Questions and Answers
3. Differences of Splunk vs Nagios
4. Uses Of Splunk