Top Splunk Dashboard Advanced Tricks

1. Dynamic Drilldowns with Tokens

Create interactive dashboards where users can click on visualizations to explore underlying data with context-aware searches. Use tokens to pass values from the clicked element to a new search or dashboard.

<drilldown>
  <set token="selected_host">$row.host$</set>
  <link target="_blank">search?q=search index=_internal host="$selected_host$"</link>
</drilldown>

2. Conditional Formatting with eval and Tokens

Highlight critical data points by dynamically changing colors or styles based on thresholds. Use eval within your search to create a field that determines the formatting and apply it using tokens in the visualization options.

| eval status_color = case(status=="OK", "green", status=="Error", "red", true(), "yellow")

<option name="charting.fieldColors">{"status_color": "$row.status_color$"}</option>

3. Using map Command for Iterative Searches

Execute a subsearch for each unique value in a field. This is powerful for creating dynamic panels or tables based on the results of the initial search.

index=_internal | stats count by sourcetype | map maxsearches=3 search='search index=_internal sourcetype="$sourcetype$" | head 5'

4. Advanced Time Range Controls with Tokens

Provide users with more flexible time range selection options beyond the built-in pickers. Use tokens and dropdown inputs to define custom time ranges based on user input.

<input type="dropdown" token="time_period">
  <label>Select Time Period:</label>
  <choice value="-1h">Last 1 Hour</choice>
  <choice value="-24h">Last 24 Hours</choice>
  <choice value="@d">Today</choice>
  <default>-24h</default>
</input>
<search>
  <query>index=_internal | stats count by sourcetype | timechart span=1h count</query>
  <earliest>$time_period$</earliest>
  <latest>now</latest>
</search>

5. Linking to External Dashboards and Applications

Integrate your Splunk dashboards with other tools by creating links that pass relevant context to external URLs.

<drilldown>
  <link target="_blank">https://your-external-app.com/dashboard?host=$row.host$</link>
</drilldown>

6. Using the trendline Command for Forecasting

Visualize trends in your data by adding trendlines to time series charts using the trendline command.

index=_internal | timechart span=1h count by sourcetype | trendline sma5(count) as trend_count

7. Creating Custom Visualizations with Simple XML Extensions

Extend Splunk’s built-in visualizations by creating custom ones using JavaScript and CSS within Simple XML. This allows for highly tailored and specific data representations.

• Splunk Documentation: Custom Visualization Tutorial

8. Utilizing the geom Command for Geospatial Visualizations

If your data includes geographic coordinates, use the geom command to create interactive map visualizations.

index=firewall | iplocation src_ip | geom geo_coords

9. Implementing Input Controls for Dynamic Searches

Use various input controls (text boxes, dropdowns, radio buttons, checkboxes) to allow users to filter and customize the data displayed on the dashboard.

<input type="text" token="search_term">
  <label>Search Keywords:</label>
</input>
<search>
  <query>index=_internal $search_term$ | stats count by sourcetype</query>
</search>

10. Leveraging the predict Command for Future Value Estimation

Use the predict command to forecast future values based on historical time series data.

index=_internal | timechart span=1d count | predict 7d

11. Creating Summary Indexes for Faster Dashboard Loading

For frequently accessed dashboards with complex and time-consuming searches, create summary indexes to pre-aggregate data, resulting in significantly faster load times.

• Splunk Documentation: About summary indexing

12. Using the lookup Command for Data Enrichment

Enhance your data by using the lookup command to add fields from external CSV files or KV Store collections based on matching fields.

index=web_logs | lookup geo_ips.csv clientip AS src_ip OUTPUT city, country

13. Implementing Post-Process Searches for Focused Analysis

Run a base search and then apply additional filtering or analysis using post-process searches (| search …) within individual panels. This can improve performance by reducing the amount of data processed in the initial search.

<panel>
  <search id="base_search">
    <query>index=_internal | stats count by sourcetype</query>
  </search>
  <chart>
    <search base="base_search">
      <query>| where count > 100</query>
    </search>
    <option name="charting.chart">pie</option>
  </chart>
</panel>

14. Creating Multi-Select Dropdowns with Tokens

Allow users to select multiple values from a dropdown to filter data across several dimensions.

<input type="multiselect" token="selected_sourcetypes">
  <label>Select Sourcetypes:</label>
  <search>
    <query>index=_internal | stats count by sourcetype | fields sourcetype</query>
    <fieldForValue>sourcetype</fieldForValue>
    <fieldForLabel>sourcetype</fieldForLabel>
  </search>
  <delimiter> OR sourcetype="</delimiter>
</input>
<search>
  <query>index=_internal WHERE sourcetype="$selected_sourcetypes$" | stats count by host</query>
</search>

15. Using the eventstats Command for Aggregate Comparisons

Calculate aggregate statistics (e.g., average, max) across all events and make them available for each individual event, enabling comparisons.

index=_internal | stats count by host | eventstats avg(count) as avg_count

16. Implementing Table Formatting with rangemap

Visually highlight values in tables based on predefined ranges using the rangemap command.

index=_internal | stats avg(cpu_percent) as avg_cpu by host | rangemap field=avg_cpu low=0-50 medium=51-80 high=81-100

17. Creating Interactive Tables with Sortable Columns

Enable users to sort table columns directly within the dashboard for easier data exploration.

<table>
  <search>
    <query>index=_internal | stats count by sourcetype, host</query>
  </search>
  <option name="sortable">1</option>
</table>

18. Utilizing the anomalydetection Command for Outlier Identification

Use Splunk’s built-in anomaly detection capabilities to automatically identify unusual patterns in your data.

index=_internal | timechart span=1h count | anomalydetection

19. Creating Layouts with Grid and Panel Options

Organize your dashboard effectively using different layout options (e.g., grid) and customize panel sizes and arrangements for optimal information presentation.

20. Leveraging the stats Command with Multiple Aggregations

Perform multiple aggregations within a single stats command for efficient data summarization.

index=_internal | stats count, avg(_time) by sourcetype

21. Implementing Row Expansion in Tables for Detail Views

Allow users to expand rows in tables to view more detailed information related to that specific entry.

• Splunk Documentation: Table Formats – Row Expansion

22. Using the fillnull Command for Data Completeness

Replace null or empty values in your data with a specified value to improve visualization and analysis.

index=web_logs | stats count by status_code | fillnull value="No Data"

23. Creating Dynamic Titles with Tokens

Make your panel titles more informative by dynamically displaying relevant values using tokens.

<panel title="Top Hosts with Errors (Last 24 Hours) for $selected_app$">
  <search>
    <query>index=app_logs app="$selected_app$" level=ERROR | stats count by host | sort -count | head 5</query>
  </search>
  <table/>
</panel>

24. Utilizing the dedup Command for Removing Duplicate Events

Remove duplicate events based on specified fields to ensure accurate counts and analysis.

index=access_logs | dedup client_ip, session_id

25. Creating Navigation Menus and Tabs for Complex Dashboards

Organize large dashboards with multiple sections by implementing navigation menus or tabs for improved user experience.

• Splunk Documentation: Dashboard Navigation

26. Using the convert Command for Data Type Manipulation

Change the data type of fields (e.g., string to number) to enable specific calculations or comparisons.

index=performance | convert num(_value) as value

27. Implementing Custom CSS for Advanced Styling

Go beyond the default styling options by embedding custom CSS directly into your Simple XML dashboards for highly customized appearances.

<dashboard stylesheet="inline">
  <style>
    .panel-header h2 { color: navy; }
    table tr:nth-child(even) { background-color: #f2f2f2; }
  </style>
  <row><panel><title>Styled Panel</title><table><search><query>index=_internal | head 3</query></search></table></panel></row>
</dashboard>

28. Utilizing the timechart Command with span for Granular Time Analysis

Control the granularity of your time series charts using the span argument in the timechart command (e.g., span=1m, span=5m, span=1h).

index=_internal | timechart span=5m count by host