Director, Cyber Technologies
Elastic and Splunk 鈥� competitors, right? Sure. But did you know these tools can听actually complement听each other? Open-source Elastic can substantially reduce your ever-growing Splunk costs, increase performance, and boost data听retention听capabilities.
Cost听鈥� To understand how Elastic provides cost-savings, it is important to understand some pricing basics. Splunk鈥檚 cost is based on the amount of data ingested. This can become cost–prohibitive if your organization brings in lots of data. However, Elastic has a mix of free and paid-for services. For example, some basic Elastic security services are free, but additions like听document level听access control is a paid add-on. However, you don鈥檛 pay for data you ingest,听allowing for huge cost savings as data increases.听This is especially important for large organizations.听
Performance听鈥� When data is ingested, Elastic separates and parses it into fields, turning it into structured听()听data, which is听quicker听to read than unstructured. Data like this is easy to find with what is known as a query on听write. Splunk, on the other hand, brings data in as unstructured and uses schema on read, applying the schema as the data is queried. Users pay a performance tax with Splunk because every time you run a听query,听the听schema must be applied听again before it can be read.听
Data听Retention听鈥� When it comes to听querying large听datasets, Elastic makes it听feasible听to mine听months or years of data听because听of schema on read.听At听木瓜AV, we听optimize听Splunk by听providing听Splunk only with critical events you know you want to explore with Splunk. Elastic听can handle the rest of the events,听such as datasets you don鈥檛 know are important鈥� until they are. This reduces the amount of data indexing and lessens data in Splunk to quicken searches while reducing cost.听听
The flowchart below demonstrates the process of using Elastic as a cost-savings tool alongside Splunk:
01
Use Elasticsearch to ingest large security datasets, such as authentication logs, audit events, NetFlow records and DNS traffic.
02
Use Elasticsearch to remove the 鈥榥oise鈥� by deduplicating and filtering to only significant events.
03
Index the condensed/highly relevant dataset into Splunk.
04
Save money and increase performance of your Splunk investment.
At听木瓜AV, we have听cybersecurity听and听data management听solutions like this at our fingertips, and we can put them in your hands, helping your organization stay secure, on budget, and on task.听Reach out to our experts today to learn more about 木瓜AV’ approach and capabilities.
