Compatibility between forwarders and Splunk Enterprise indexers

The following table shows which versions of forwarder and indexer are compatible. A best practice is to use indexers with versions that are the same or higher than forwarder versions. These tables do not describe support status. For information about support status, see Software Support Status.

Determine forwarder-indexer compatibility

The following are the compatible forwarder versions for Splunk Enterprise. This information is applicable to universal and heavy forwarders that are communicating directly to indexers and cluster peers, and includes forwarders deployed in an intermediate forwarding tier. For information about supported versions, see Product Supported Version Timelines on splunk.com and Splunk Support Programs. As a best practice, forwarders should communicate with indexers that are the same or higher version.

This table applies to Splunk Enterprise only. Splunk Cloud Platform forwarder compatibility information is provided in Supported Forwarder versions in the Supported versions section of the Splunk Cloud Platform Service Description manual.

  • E - Events. This version of forwarder can send event data to the corresponding version of indexer.
  • H - HTTPOUT. This version of forwarder can send event data from Splunk instance to Splunk instance (S2S) over Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS).
  • M - Metrics. This version of forwarder can send both event data and metrics data to the corresponding version of indexer.
  • An empty cell indicates that Splunk does not support sending any type of data from this version of forwarder to the corresponding version of indexer.
Forwarder version Splunk Enterprise indexer version
9.2.x9.3.x9.4.x10.0.x
8.1.x E, H, ME, H, ME, H, ME, H, M
8.2.x E, H, ME, H, ME, H, ME, H, M
9.0.x E, H, ME, H, ME, H, ME, H, M
9.1.x E, H, ME, H, ME, H, ME, H, M
9.2.x E, H, ME, H, ME, H, ME, H, M
9.3.x E, H, ME, H, ME, H, ME, H, M
9.4.x E, H, ME, H, ME, H, ME, H, M
10.0.xE, H, ME, H, ME, H, ME, H, M

For app-specific compatibility restrictions, see the app documentation on Splunkbase.

Forwarder-indexer compatibility with Edge Processor on Splunk Enterprise

​The following table shows the forwarder-indexer combinations that are compatible with Edge Processor on Splunk Enterprise. This information is applicable to universal forwarders that are sending data to edge processors and Splunk Enterprise indexers receiving data from edge processors. ​This table applies to Edge Processor on Splunk Enterprise only.

  • An X indicates that this version of forwarder can send data to edge processors and Edge Processor can send it to the corresponding version of indexer.

  • An empty cell indicates that Splunk does not support sending data from this version of forwarder to Edge Processor to the corresponding version of indexer.

Forwarder version Splunk Enterprise indexer version
9.2.x9.3.x9.4.x10.0.x
8.1.x
8.2.x X X X X
9.0.x X X X X
9.1.x X X X X
9.2.x X X X X
9.3.x X X X X
9.4.x X X X X
10.0.x X X X X
For more information on Edge Processor on Splunk Enterprise, see About the Edge Processor Solution.