Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Practice Test

What is the recommended minimum number of cluster members in a search head cluster?

1. Three

2. Two

3. Four

4. One

The correct answer is: Three

The recommended minimum number of cluster members in a search head cluster is three. This requirement is established to ensure high availability and resilience within the search head environment. Having at least three search heads allows for proper failover and load balancing. In a scenario where one member goes down, the remaining two can continue to serve search requests, ensuring that users can still retrieve and analyze data without significant interruption. This configuration also supports the concept of a quorum, which is essential for the cluster's management and decision-making processes. A quorum helps prevent split-brain scenarios where the cluster might operate in a state of confusion about which nodes are active. While it is technically possible to operate with fewer search heads, such as two or even one, this would compromise the cluster's effectiveness, stability, and ability to handle failovers. Therefore, three search heads provide a robust foundation for cluster operations, helping maintain performance and reliability in a Splunk environment.