What are the main components of the Splunk architecture?

The main components of Splunk architecture are indeed the Splunk Forwarder, Indexer, and Search Head.

The Splunk Forwarder is responsible for collecting and sending data to the Splunk Indexer for processing. This can be accomplished through two types of forwarders: the Universal Forwarder, which is a lightweight agent, and the Heavy Forwarder, which can perform preprocessing of the data before it is sent.

The Indexer is a core component of Splunk that processes incoming data, indexing it for efficient searching and retrieval. It is responsible for storing the raw data and making it searchable so that users can quickly obtain insights from that data.

The Search Head is the interface through which users run searches against the indexed data. It manages search requests and distributes them to the Indexers, allowing for a unified search experience across potentially large datasets.

Together, these components create a scalable and efficient architecture that enables organizations to collect, index, and analyze data in real-time, thus making it an integral part of Splunk's functionality.