Splunk was invented as a way to keep track of and analyze machine data coming from a variety of computerized systems. It is a powerful platform for doing just that. But since its invention, it has been used for a myriad of different data types, including streaming log data, database and spreadsheet data, and data provided by web services. The various types of data that Splunk is often used for are explained in the next few sections.
Splunk data sources
Machine data
As mentioned previously, much of Splunk's data capability is focused on machine data. Machine data is data created each time a machine does something, even if it is as seemingly insignificant as a successful user login. Each event has information about its...
