Implementing Splunk - Second Edition

Good starter book

First and foremost let me say I enjoyed the first book and was very excited to purchase this book on theexpectations that this would surpass it. I was not disappointed the book delves into the extensive concepts ofBig Data and intelligence gathering concepts used in the real world, that said I have one extensive criticism and thatwould be the instructions given on setting up the tutorial data. The Event generator is not really windows friendly and instructionsare not quite clear on setting it up... the instructions given do not work within windows as given and I suppose were only tested in a Linuxenvironment. It would help immensely if the Writers could address this issue with a solution for windows installs concerning the event generator propagated by Splunk making sure step by step instructions are given to make the data work with Splunk. Much easier to work with examples in book.

This massive volume (clocking in at over 450 pages!) is easily one of the better IT books I've read in the past few years. Although its called Implementing Splunk it DOES NOT cover installing the software. Check the documentation for that. What it does cover is getting started with using the software, and working towards more in-depth scenarios and configurations so you can handle a wider variety of data, with better dashboards and visualizations. I think one of the best parts of this book is the number of screenshots with clearly marked emphasis on the areas that the author is referring to in the text. That in itself makes following the text much easier, since you aren't hunting around trying to find the setting, menu or piece of information, but you can immediately see it. Need touch!

Very nice book! Much better than the first edition. Good for beginners and medium-pros.