Universal parameters

Some commands require that you authenticate with a username and password, or specify a target host or app. For these commands you can include one of the universal parameters: auth, app, or uri.

CODE
./splunk [command] [object] [-parameter <value> | <value>]... [-app] [-owner] [-uri] [-auth]
Parameter Description
app Specify the App or namespace to run the command; for search, defaults to the Search App.
auth Specify login credentials to execute commands that require you to be logged in.
owner Specify the owner/user context associated with an object; if not specified, defaults to the currently logged in user.
uri Excute a command on any specified (remote) Splunk server.

app

In the CLI, app is an object for many commands, such as create app or enable app. But, it is also a parameter that you can add to a CLI command if you want to run that command on a specific app.

Syntax:

CODE
./splunk command object [-parameter value]... -app appname

For example, when you run a search in the CLI, it defaults to the Search app. If want to run the search in another app:

CODE
./splunk search "eventype=error | stats count by source" -detach f -preview t -app unix

auth

If a CLI command requires authentication, Splunk will prompt you to supply the username and password. You can also use the -auth flag to pass this information inline with the command. The auth parameter is also useful if you need to run a command that requires different permissions to execute than the currently logged-in user has.

Syntax:

CODE
./splunk command object [-parameter value]... -auth username:password

uri

If you want to run a command on a remote Splunk server, use the -uri flag to specify the target host.

Syntax:

CODE
./splunk command object [-parameter value]... -uri specified-server

Specify the target Splunk server with the following format:

CODE
[http|https]://name_of_server:management_port

You can specify an IP address for the name_of_server. Both IPv4 and IPv6 formats are supported; for example, the specified-server may read as: 127.0.0.1:80 or "[2001:db8::1]:80". By default, splunkd listens on IPv4 only. To enable IPv6 support, see Configure Splunk Enterprise for IPv6.

Example: The following example returns search results from the remote "splunkserver" on port 8089.

CODE
./splunk search "host=fflanda error 404 *.gif" -auth admin -uri https://splunkserver:8089

For more information about the CLI commands you can run on a remote server, see the next topic in this chapter.