Objective 13.2

Enterprise Certified Admin

Describe optional settings for network inputs

Objective 13.2 sits in Network and Scripted Inputs, which carries 5% of the Enterprise Certified Admin exam. The questions below are original, written from the official objective title above, and each explanation cites the Splunk page it rests on.

Objective title verbatim from the official objectives. Splunk exam page

A worked example

Shown solved, with the whole explanation open: this is what every question here carries.

13-2Network and Scripted Inputs

An administrator asks which network protocol Splunk recommends for sending data. What is the best practice?

Use UDP whenever possibleUDP is supported but is the one Splunk advises against.
Use TCP whenever possibleCorrect · your answerCorrect.
Alternate between the twoSplunk gives a clear preference rather than alternating.
Use whichever port is freePort availability does not decide the protocol.

Correct.

Checked against help.splunk.com, August 2026

Concept

One protocol confirms delivery and the other does not, which decides whether a busy network quietly costs you events. That is why the recommendation is not a matter of taste.

Why B

Splunk states that both Splunk Enterprise and the universal forwarder support monitoring over UDP, that the best practice is to use TCP to send network data whenever possible, and that UDP is not desirable because it does not guarantee delivery of packets.

Source

Both Splunk Enterprise and the universal forwarder support monitoring over UDP. The best practice is to use TCP to send network data whenever possible. UDP is not desirable as a transport because, among other reasons, it does not guarantee the delivery of network packets.

Splunk Docs: Get data from TCP and UDP ports, checked August 2026
#inputs#network

Now you: objective 13.2 questions

No account needed. The explanation opens when you answer.

Sample question 1 of 2

13-2Network and Scripted Inputs

An administrator wants to listen directly on port 514 on a UNIX host. What does Splunk say is required by default?

Sample question 2 of 2

13-2Network and Scripted Inputs

A team collects syslog at scale. What does Splunk name as the best practice?

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Read the sources

These are the official pages the questions above cite. Reading them is studying the objective from the primary source, which is what the explanations point you toward anyway.

More objectives in Network and Scripted Inputs