Cutting Splunk licensing costs with Ingest Actions

Splunk’s real-time data insights are invaluable, but as your data volumes grow, so do the associated licensing costs. If you're feeling the pinch, there are ways to optimise your data ingestion without sacrificing the value you get from Splunk. One particularly effective tool is Splunk Ingest Actions.

Ingest Actions give you the control to decide what data gets indexed, which means you can reduce unnecessary data and save on both storage and licensing costs. Here’s how you can take advantage of it to optimise your Splunk environment.

1. Filter out unnecessary data

One of the most effective ways to reduce costs is by filtering out data that doesn’t need to be indexed. For example, Microsoft PowerShell logs are one of the noisiest high-volume log sources we’ve encountered. While some of this data is useful, a lot of it is redundant or irrelevant for day-to-day analysis.

With Ingest Actions, you can set filters to remove unnecessary logs before they’re indexed. Instead of indexing every single PowerShell command or script run, you can focus on key events such as errors or critical activities, which significantly reduces the data load.

Example: Filtering out low-priority PowerShell events and retaining only security-related actions like powershell encoded commands and user and computer enumeration scripts can drastically reduce noise in your Splunk index.

2. Route data to cheaper storage solutions

A new feature in Splunk Enterprise 9.3, File System Destination, allows you to send data to local or network storage before deciding if it needs to be indexed. This feature gives you the flexibility to offload logs that don’t need immediate analysis (such as PowerShell logs or other high-volume data sources) onto disk, saving them for future review without impacting your Splunk license usage.

Beyond local storage, Ingest Actions also allows you to route data to cheaper cloud storage solutions like Amazon S3. This is ideal for logs or data you need to keep for compliance purposes or long-term archival, without the cost of real-time indexing.

This dual approach (offloading to local storage or routing to cheaper cloud solutions) helps you maintain access to your data without incurring the costs associated with indexing everything immediately. You can always pull this data into Splunk later, but you won’t be paying for it upfront.

3. Stay compliant with data retention policies

Many organisations have strict data retention policies requiring logs to be kept for a certain period, whether for regulatory compliance, auditing, or internal governance. With Ingest Actions, you can stay compliant without overburdening your Splunk index.

Instead of indexing all logs immediately, you can send logs to external storage and only index them when needed. This allows you to retain logs for as long as required by your policies, but you’ll only incur the indexing cost when you actually query or analyse them.

By strategically managing your data retention, you ensure compliance without paying for the storage of inactive data in your Splunk environment. This makes it easier to maintain both operational efficiency and cost control.

How to get started with Ingest Actions

Here are some practical questions to ask yourself before diving in:

• What types of data am I indexing that I rarely need?
• Can some data sources be filtered or sent to cheaper storage?
• Are there opportunities to streamline data before it’s indexed?

Once you’ve identified these, configure Ingest Actions to filter, route, and manage your data according to your needs. The latest File System Destination feature gives you even more flexibility by letting you offload data to disk for future analysis.

Of course if you need help with implementing Ingest Actions - we’re here! Get in touch with us today. We’d love to help you make the most of your Splunk setup.

Legal Disclaimer:

The information provided in this post regarding Splunk is based on Hyperion 3's own experiences and research. It reflects our opinions and is not officially endorsed by or affiliated with Splunk. This content is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute official Splunk best practices or recommendations. For official guidance, please refer to Splunk’s documentation or consult with a Splunk representative.