Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Practice Test

What are Scripted Inputs primarily used for in Splunk?

1. To execute scheduled reports

2. To collect diagnostic data from operating system commands

3. To index pre-defined log files

4. To create custom dashboards

The correct answer is: To collect diagnostic data from operating system commands

Scripted inputs are primarily used to collect diagnostic data from operating system commands, making this the correct choice. In Splunk, scripted inputs allow administrators to create scripts that pull information directly from the operating system or other sources, enabling them to gather real-time or operational data that might not be available through standard log file collection. This functionality is particularly useful for monitoring system performance, checking configurations, or collecting metrics from system commands that return useful information for analysis in Splunk. By executing these scripts at specified intervals, valuable operational insights can be integrated into the Splunk ecosystem. The other options do not align with the primary purpose of scripted inputs. Executing scheduled reports pertains more to data analysis and visualization rather than data collection, indexing pre-defined log files refers to the standard data inputs, and creating custom dashboards is an aspect of data presentation rather than data ingestion.