Organizations today generate massive amounts of data every single hour. Splunk Cloud Platform provides a robust solution for storing and analyzing this information. The platform uses a tiered storage approach that balances performance with cost-effectiveness. Active storage holds searchable data, while archival options preserve historical information for compliance and analysis needs.
Using active and archival storage allows organizations to maintain quick access to recent data while older information remains available at a lower cost. Data lifecycle management becomes critical as volumes grow. Without proper archiving strategies you will see storage costs escalate quickly. This becomes costly as many organizations face regulatory requirements which often mandate long-term data retention. Splunk Cloud addresses these challenges through flexible archiving solutions.
To get started, go to your Splunk Cloud Platform and at the top left you will see “Settings”. Under “Data”, select “Indexes” and this will bring up your list of indexes you have in your Cloud environment. From here you can either click “Edit” under the “Actions” column for an existing index or “New Index” at the top right. Here you can select either “Dynamic Data Storage” or “Self Storage”.
How Can I Archive My Splunk Cloud Data?
Dynamic Data Active Archive (DDAA)
DDAA enables Splunk to manage your archived data completely on your behalf. This fully managed service removes the burden of maintaining separate infrastructure in AWS or GCP. Organizations simply configure retention policies at the index level.
When data reaches the end of its searchable retention period, Splunk automatically moves it to the archive. The process happens seamlessly in the background. Users don’t need to intervene or manage the transfer.
You configure an index’s rollover to DDAA by navigating to Settings > Indexes in Splunk Cloud. From there, select either a new index or edit an existing one. In the Dynamic Data Storage field, you choose the Splunk Archive option.
When specifying retention periods, remember that the archive retention period represents the total time Splunk retains your data. For example, if you want 365 days total retention with 90 days searchable, you set searchable retention to 90 days and archive retention to 365 days. The archive value must exceed the searchable retention period and its recommended you make it twice the searchable retention period to ensure no data is lost.
You can restore any of the data archived by going to Settings > Indexes and clicking the “Restore” button next to your archived index. You then will select a period of time you want to restore. This data will be searchable for the next 30 days, or whenever you delete it via the “Restore Archive” window.
Dynamic Data Self-Storage (DDSS)
DDSS provides a path for customers to self-manage data archival and restoration functions. This option gives organizations complete control over their archived data. It also requires having a separate vendor’s storage infrastructure. You start by defining an Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage location where aged data will reside. Once this data moves to a Self-Storage location, Splunk will no longer have this data available in Cloud. You will also need a Splunk Enterprise instance as you can not restore this data directly to Splunk Cloud. If there are issues with the process of transferring data to your Self Storage location, Splunk Cloud will not delete your data until it can transfer the data.
DDSS will require more technical expertise with your storage location and Splunk Enterprise. Ensure you understand the process of how to manage and restore this data. This includes creating a bucket in your destination environment (S3 for AWS or GCS in your GCS), creating the connection through Splunk Cloud to the destination, and configuring the archival process correctly.
Benefits of Using Data Archiving
1. Cost Optimization
Archiving reduces your active storage footprint significantly. Data archiving serves as a low-cost option for long-term storage compared to maintaining all data in searchable indexes. Organizations pay less for archived data than actively searchable information. This approach can reduce overall storage expenses by substantial margins.
2. Compliance & Regulatory Requirements
Many industries face strict data retention mandates. Archiving allows you to maintain access to older data for compliance purposes. Financial institutions, healthcare providers, and government agencies often require multi-year retention. Archiving enables you to meet these obligations without breaking the budget.
3. Operational Efficiency
With DDAA, Splunk manages all aspects of archive availability, durability, security, and privacy requirements on your behalf. This removes operational overhead from your team. Your staff can focus on analysis rather than infrastructure management. Lastly, automated archival processes reduce the risk of human error.
Real-World Use Cases for Data Archiving
Example #1: Security Incident Investigation
Security teams frequently need to investigate incidents that occurred months ago. A financial services company maintains 90 days of searchable data for daily operations. However, they archive seven years of security logs for forensic analysis.
When suspicious activity surfaces, analysts can restore specific time periods from DDAA. Restored data typically becomes searchable within 24 hours. This capability proved invaluable when the company discovered a sophisticated attack that began months earlier. Investigators restored three months of archived logs to trace the complete attack timeline.
Example #2: Compliance Auditing
Healthcare organizations must comply with HIPAA requirements for data retention. One hospital network generates 500GB of application and system logs daily. Keeping multiple years of this data fully searchable would be prohibitively expensive.
The organization uses DDAA to store data beyond their 90-day retention allocation. During regulatory audits, they restore relevant time periods. By default, restored data remains searchable for one month, which provides sufficient time for audit completion. This approach balances cost management with compliance obligations effectively.
Example #3: Business Intelligence & Trend Analysis
A retail company analyzes customer behavior patterns across multiple years. Most business intelligence queries focus on recent data. Nevertheless, year-over-year comparisons require historical information.
The company maintains three months of searchable data for operational reporting. Meanwhile, they archive three years of transaction logs using DDAA. When conducting strategic planning, analysts restore specific quarters for comparison. This selective restoration approach keeps costs manageable. It also provides the depth of historical data needed for meaningful trend analysis.
Conclusion
Data archiving in Splunk Cloud provides essential capabilities for modern organizations. Whether you choose Splunk-managed DDAA or self-managed DDSS depends on your specific requirements. Both options enable cost-effective long-term data retention.
Key Takeaways
- DDAA offers fully managed archival with integrated restoration through the Splunk Web interface, while DDSS provides customer-controlled storage requiring separate infrastructure for data restoration.
- DDAA/DDSS serves as a low-cost long-term storage option that automatically moves aged data from indexes based on retention settings. Organizations can restore archived data when needed for investigations or compliance purposes.
- Organizations configure archiving at the index level, giving flexibility to archive only specific data that requires long-term retention. This granular control optimizes both costs and operational efficiency.
To access more Splunk searches, check out Atlas Search Library, which is part of the Atlas Platform. Specifically, Atlas Search Library offers a curated list of optimized searches. These searches empower Splunk users without requiring SPL knowledge. Furthermore, you can create, customize, and maintain your own search library. By doing so, you ensure your users get the most from using Splunk.
