Cybersecurity Senior Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Simple data file updates, good support, and useful dashboards
Pros and Cons
  • "The connections to the database are very good and updating the data files is simple to do. The dashboards are useful and user-friendly."
  • "We had some connections issues with the solution at the beginning."

What is most valuable?

The connections to the database are very good and updating the data files is simple to do. The dashboards are useful and user-friendly.

What needs improvement?

We had some connections issues with the solution at the beginning.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used Splunk within the last 12 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Splunk is a highly stable solution.

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good.

We have approximately 50 users using this solution in my organization.

How are customer service and support?

I am satisfied with the support from Splunk.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were previously using Excel.

What about the implementation team?

We used a consultant for the implementation of the solution. The full process took approximately one week.

We had a big problem with communication sometimes during the implementation. Some files in our network were a little difficult to receive. This was our fault because of some of our firewall configurations.

We have a five-person maintenance team that works on this solution.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Splunk an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Donald Baldwin - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Enterprise Architect at Aurenav Sweden AB
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Handles a high volume of data, collects information from multiple sources, and is very stable
Pros and Cons
  • "The reporting aspect is good and it does what I need it to do."
  • "If you monitor too much, you can lose performance on your systems."

What is our primary use case?

In our organization, Splunk is used in our data centers.

We have integration services and other types of systems in our new IoT architecture. We're using it to capture information.

We use Splunk as an aggregator for monitoring information from different sources, however, for our protection suite, we're using Comodo.

It's designed to collect data from different points. It has a lot of integrations built into it and that's why we're using it.

We use it for our enterprise more - such as for messaging. There's a lot of stuff we do on our integration services layer that we use Splunk for. For security purposes, we're using Comodo. Therefore we're not using Splunk for security purposes. We're using it for monitoring what's happening at our integration services layer.

How has it helped my organization?

Splunk indicates when we've got problems popping up somewhere or we're not getting the flow we expected. If there's a problem, we have those flagged and we use it for logging.

What is most valuable?

Splunk handles a high volume of data that we have, and it does it really well.

For what we're using it for, we're happy with its functionality.

The reporting aspect is good and it does what I need it to do.

From an operational standpoint, it helps us on the operations side and it also shows where we're having issues.

It connects to a lot of stuff. We can collect information from a lot of sources.

What needs improvement?

The interface or maybe some settings need to be improved a bit. It cannot be perfect, however, the issues may be related to the configuration or setup.

If you monitor too much, you can lose performance on your systems. You have to be careful what you're monitoring. If you monitor everything, everything stops working. You can go overboard in monitoring. You have to plan your monitoring pretty carefully.

It could be easier for beginners. As it is, right now, You have to have a good understanding of the solution in order to use it properly.

That said, as the user, I'm at a higher level of management on the architecture side in dealing with resilience. My concerns are different from other user concerns. Also, most of our clients are using it way more than we're using it.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've used the solution for more than a decade. It's been a long time. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We haven't had any problems with stability. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We've never had an issue with scalability. If a company needs to scale, it can.

The danger of Splunk is that it can get too big too quickly and you have to be very careful with what you want to be monitoring due to the fact that if you monitor too much, you can slow down things and you can hurt your performance on your system. We have to be very careful of what we're logging.

We have about 12 users on the solution right now.

We do not plan to increase usage in the future.

How are customer service and support?

We don't use technical support very much. We've been using it for so long, we generally understand it and do not require assistance.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used to use Splunk a lot more, however, we've moved more to Comodo right now. I'd say we've moved to Comodo from Splunk in a lot of areas.

On the security side, we use Comodo. Not all of our clients even have Comodo. A lot of them are using Splunk, however, a lot of them are using Splunk for enterprise operations and network operations items. Some of them are using security and a lot of them aren't. Splunk is offered as a security option now, however, originally, when you used it, it was to collect enterprise operations information and know-how your systems are running. 

How was the initial setup?

We've been using it for a long time, therefore, I don't even remember when we set it up or how it went. We do keep it updated and use the latest versions.

I only have one or two people doing maintenance on it.

What was our ROI?

ROI's a hard thing to pin down. We've had it for so long, it's part of our core operating infrastructure.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Everything we do is either yearly or multi-year. I don't know if there is any additional cost to standard license fees.

What other advice do I have?

We use Splunk and we also sell and support it for our clients.

Normally our policy is to keep software updated to the latest version.

The main issue is that we do enterprise architecture and network and security operations. We recommend certain platforms to clients. We don't always sell Splunk directly to them due to the fact that, since we're being hired to help them make choices, we need to be neutral. In the cases where it doesn't make sense, we don't sell it. We just help clients make decisions.

I don't know which version of the solution we're using. I'm an architect; I'm not on the operations level. I'm not the one who actually uses it. Our operations use it. I get dashboard results and I do reports that are based on it, however, I'm not the one actually running it. We have a NOC and a SOC and others use it a lot more individually. They have a lot more interaction than I do. I'm getting reports out of it. Others are actually connecting to it, using it as a tool. I'm not a tool user. I'm an information user.

All Splunk is, is data collection and it can sort things out on a dashboard. However, a lot of what Splunk does is collect data and you have to decide what kind of information you're going to let it collect. When we're doing design operations we have to really pay attention to what we're doing, so we don't actually slow things down or impede things. The reason we use Splunk is we put a lot of data into it.

With Splunk, you need to really be careful about what you're monitoring and how you use it, to get keep the results working. It's a good tool if you know what you're doing and what you need to be logging. You need to be aware of what you're logging to ensure it isn't going to cause problems with your performance.

I wouldn't recommend it for somebody who's coming in new. Of the clients we have using it, I don't know if any of them don't have professional IT running it. It's important to really understand what's going on.

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. In certain environments, it could be a bit complex. It's not something you could just drop into an organization, you need to be trained to use it. You need the experience to use it properly.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Splunk Enterprise Security
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Splunk Enterprise Security. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
772,277 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Enterprise Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
You can run reports against multiple devices at the same time
Pros and Cons
  • "The technical support has been very good. They are very responsive and have been helpful."
  • "You can run reports against multiple devices at the same time. You are able to troubleshoot a single application on a thousand servers. You can do this with a single query, since it is very easy to do."
  • "When you get into large amounts of data, Splunk can get pretty slow. This is the same on-premise or AWS, it doesn't matter. The way that they handle large data sets could be improved."
  • "I would like to see an updated dashboard. The dashboard is a little out-of-date. It could be made prettier."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for log aggregation. 

If you have a large number of devices, you need to aggregate log data to make more sense of it for parsing, troubleshooting, and metrics. This is all we use it for.

If I need to track logs for certain application, I will push all of those logs to Splunk so I can run reports on those logs. It is more about what you are trying to do with it and what you need from it.

How has it helped my organization?

We use it primarily for troubleshooting. We had an issue with SaltStack recently and were able to look for the same log entry on a thousand servers simultaneously, making the process easy.

What is most valuable?

The ability to create dashboards.

You can run reports against multiple devices at the same time. You are able to troubleshoot a single application on a thousand servers. You can do this with a single query, since it is very easy to do.

What needs improvement?

When you get into large amounts of data, Splunk can get pretty slow. This is the same on-premise or AWS, it doesn't matter. The way that they handle large data sets could be improved.

I would like to see an updated dashboard. The dashboard is a little out-of-date. It could be made prettier.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's been very stable for us. Most of our stress in not from Splunk, but from disk I/O, like input and output for the disk that you are writing logs to. We have had more issue with our own hardware than Splunk. 

You have to make sure if you're writing an enormous amount of data that you have your I/O sorted out beforehand. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It scales fine. We haven't had any issues scaling it. Our current environment is about 30,000 devices. 

How was the initial setup?

The integration of this product in our AWS environment was very simple. We just forwarded our logs to it, and that was about it. 

It has agent-base log forwarding, so it is very simple, not complicated at all. This process is the same from on-premise and AWS.

What was our ROI?

If you have a large number of servers, even a few hundred servers, then you need to track specific data and log information from a lot of servers. You can either go to each server individually or set up jobs to ship those logs somewhere with rsync or Syslog. The other option is use Splunk and push them all to Splunk, then from Splunk you can just create alerts and run reports against all that data in one place with a single query rather than having to do all that work repeatedly. It saves us a lot of time, just in man-hours, and being able to look at hundreds or thousands of servers simultaneously.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Splunk has no real competition. It is just Splunk, and that is it.

What other advice do I have?

Build your environment a lot bigger than you think you will need it, because you fill it up quickly. We log somewhere in the neighborhood of two to four terabytes a day per data center.

We use both AWS and SaaS versions. With the SaaS version, you don't have as much control, but it functions the same, so there is no real difference. Though, the AWS version is probably easier to scale, because it is AWS. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Splunker at freelancer
Real User
Quickly search for almost anything across many log sources in seconds
Pros and Cons
  • "We can do things in minutes instead of days."
  • "We solve issues that we previously could not since we now have the data."
  • "We can quickly search for almost anything across many log sources in seconds."
  • "The GUI could be improved to include some of the capabilities that other BI solutions have. The layout is a little restrictive where you can’t resize all the panels to exactly how you would like them without tweaking some XML code."
  • "AngularJS/ReactJS inclusion could be made easier in GUI."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is to analyse and monitor big data, creating various dashboards, alerts, etc.

How has it helped my organization?

  • We can do things in minutes instead of days.
  • We solve issues that we previously could not since we now have the data.
  • We can quickly search for almost anything across many log sources in seconds.
  • Teams have the dashboards or alerts that they need.

What is most valuable?

There are too many features to list, but here are a few:

  • Schema on the fly
  • Ease of onboarding data
  • Machine learning
  • Apps or Splunkbase.
  • Great list of apps to use and build upon once you learn more about how Splunk works.
  • Ease of correlation, creating correlation searches (easy), and you can combine multiple sources with little effort.
  • Data Models Acceleration for super fast searches across tens of millions of events.
  • Common Information Model
  • Security Essentials App
  • Enterprise Security
  • Splunk SPL (Search Processing Language) is easy to learn and has IDE like capabilities.
  • Log storage or compression is great and retention is not an issue.
  • Dashboards are simple to create and has input options, like time range and text.
  • Drop-downs are simple to create.
  • The integration with cloud solutions is great and keeps getting better.

What needs improvement?

The GUI could be improved to include some of the capabilities that other BI solutions have. The layout is a little restrictive where you can’t resize all the panels to exactly how you would like them without tweaking some XML code. Over the years, they have really been improving in this area. I would think that will continue and this will become a non-issue.

Also, AngularJS/ReactJS inclusion could be made easier in GUI.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What was our ROI?

Personnel costs are saved by not having to involve domain developers from multiple teams when tracing a problem that spans multiple platforms.

What other advice do I have?

We build many of our own apps by leveraging the logic in others.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Senior Manager, Analytics & Insights at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Consultant
Effective machine learning, reliable, and responsive support
Pros and Cons
  • "Splunk has machine learning which is a valuable feature."
  • "The algorithms customization of Splunk could improve. They have limited algorithms for machine learning support. If they can allow the user to add more machine learning algorithms, such as the ability to choose the algorithm that a user might want. Additionally, they should provide the required libraries for those algorithms, and then analyzes the data for use."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Splunk for querying data from different sources.

What is most valuable?

Splunk has machine learning which is a valuable feature.

What needs improvement?

The algorithms customization of Splunk could improve. They have limited algorithms for machine learning support. If they can allow the user to add more machine learning algorithms, such as the ability to choose the algorithm that a user might want. Additionally, they should provide the required libraries for those algorithms, and then analyzes the data for use.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used Splunk within the past 12 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Splunk is a stable solution.

How are customer service and support?

We have contacted the support and most of the reasons we have contact support has been project-related. For example, we want the APAs to work in a certain way or for certain fixes.

What other advice do I have?

I have been using Splunk for approximately 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Technical Lead at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Priced reasonably, effective log analysis, but artificial intelligence features need improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "We have found all the features useful. However, the dashboarding and logging have been very helpful. Additionally, the log analysis does a great job."
  • "The solution could improve by giving more email details."

What is most valuable?

We have found all the features useful. However, the dashboarding and logging have been very helpful. Additionally, the log analysis does a great job.

What needs improvement?

The solution could improve by giving more email details.

In a future release, the solution could improve on the artificial intelligence features, such as if an alert comes, it could automatically do logging from the system, get the KV knowledge base, and perform other functions. This would be a benefit.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used Splunk for approximately five years.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is complex.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of Splunk is reasonable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have evaluated SoapUI and Postman, and we are still evaluating others.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Splunk a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Managing Director at Hayyan Horizons
Real User
Low-maintenance and stable with very useful dashboards
Pros and Cons
  • "The log aggregation is great."
  • "Technical support needs to be more responsive."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for security and operations monitoring.

How has it helped my organization?

Gives full visibility on operational and security posture in our organization. Integrations is straightforward and effective.

What is most valuable?

The log aggregation is great.

The solution offers good data analytics.

The dashboards are very helpful.

The initial setup is simple and straightforward. 

The solution is low-maintenance.

It's a stable product.

We have found that the solution scales well. 

What needs improvement?

The TERM licensing model is still not very useful. It's not helping us. They used to have a perpetual licensing model. Now Splunk is offering annual term/subscription only. That's costly and it's more expensive and it's putting some burden on us.

Technical support needs to be more responsive. 

We would like to see more AI. Through AI, artificial intelligence, not machine learning only. We want to see more AI-enabled kinds of functionalities just to reduce dependencies on manual interventions. We do that, however, automation and artificial intelligence-based kind of automation we would really like to see.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for six years. I've used it for a while at this point. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's not high maintenance. There are software or upgrade releases every now and then, however, in general, the product is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have 17 people that are using the solution currently. 

It's very easy to scale the product if you need to.

How are customer service and technical support?

We use technical support every now and then. The response times are not very good. This is the thing that I would need to see improvement on and probably in that area only. They are that good when they started handling cases, however, they take too much time to respond to customer requests.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use anything else on the production scale. Our first experience was with Splunk.

How was the initial setup?

The solution is straightforward and simple to set up. It's not complex at all.

What about the implementation team?

We handled the process internally. We did not need the assistance of any integrators or consultants. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Filter the noise out.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes all the other competitors, Splunk by far is the best.

What other advice do I have?

We're a partner and a customer. 

I'm using the latest version of the solution. 

I would highly recommend the solution. It's the best product out there. It's definitely easy to set up. The use cases are multiple. It's not restrictive in terms of the efficiency of the platform. Just make sure that you have enough resources or good counsel from people who can help with the use cases. If you do the sky would be the limit. It is a good solution.

I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Founder at a marketing services firm with 11-50 employees
Real User
Easy to deploy and relatively simple learning curve; could be more user friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "Easy to deploy and simple to use."
  • "Could be more user friendly."

What is our primary use case?

We're using the solution to try to build a virtual network and put Splunk inside it and do some kind of transcentralization with a log server. Our aim is to track connections, network traffic and some personal databases. I'm the founder of the company and we are customers of Splunk.

What is most valuable?

Splunk can quickly be deployed and it's not difficult to learn the solution. 

What needs improvement?

The solution could be more user friendly and it's difficult to know at this stage whether our requirements will be met by the solution. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for a couple of months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is good with Splunk. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup doesn't take much time especially if there's good bandwidth. In a small company deployment might take a month or two. If you have 100 devices then a technical team of three should be sufficient. They would need to be able to deal with log analysis, forensics and have general knowledge about admin systems. In time, we would expect to have thousands of users. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I think Splunk is expensive compared to other tools at the purchase stage. It's possible that if we can keep control of the costs involved down the track, it won't be so bad.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We studied four or five tools including Logrhythm and Exabeam. We went with Splunk for now and will see how that goes.

What other advice do I have?

I think this is a good solution and rate it a seven out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Splunk Enterprise Security Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Splunk Enterprise Security Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.