All Splunk Enterprise features are available in a distributed deployment, so all Splunk Enterprise manuals are important to realizing the full potential of your deployment. However, there is a small subset of manuals of particular importance when you are setting up and configuring the deployment. These manuals are mostly organized by component type:

• Installation Manual. Describes how to install a Splunk Enterprise instance.
• Forwarding Data. Describes how to install, deploy, and configure any type of forwarder.
• Managing Indexers and Clusters of Indexers. Describes how to configure indexers and how to deploy and configure indexer clusters.
• Distributed Search. Describes distributed search: Setting up search heads, connecting indexers to the search heads, and deploying and configuring search head clusters.
• Getting Data In. Provides guidance for configuring the range of data inputs.
• Admin Manual. Covers a wide range of administration-related activity. The chapters on license management are of particular importance when setting up your deployment.
• Monitoring Splunk Enterprise. Covers the set up of the monitoring console, and how to use the console to monitor your deployment.
• Updating Splunk Enterprise Instances. Describes how to use the deployment server to update the components in the deployment.

In addition, see the Splunk Validated Architectures white paper. The white paper describes proven reference architectures for stable, efficient, and repeatable Splunk Enterprise deployments.