Ansible Splunk Enterprise

Deploy and configure Splunk Enterprise (Docker) on a Proxmox VM.

Quick Facts

Property	Value
Type	Ansible role + playbooks
Target	Proxmox VM 192.168.0.200 (VMID 200)
Role	roles/splunk_docker
Entry point	playbooks/site.yml
Secrets	Doppler (iac-conf-mgmt / prd)
Version	See VERSION

Pipeline Architecture

Cribl Edge (181/182) ──HEC :8088──> Splunk (200)
                                      │
                                  Splunk indexes:
                                    ai, claude, firewall, gemini,
                                    netflow, network, openai,
                                    os, otel, unifi, vscode

Installation

This repo uses a Nix dev shell from nix-devenv to provide all tools (ansible-playbook, ansible-lint, molecule, etc.). Activate it once per worktree:

direnv allow   # if using direnv (recommended) — activates nix-devenv#ansible-apps automatically
# or: nix develop github:JacobPEvans/nix-devenv#ansible-apps

Usage

# 1. Deploy Splunk
doppler run -- ansible-playbook playbooks/site.yml

# 2. Validate deployment
doppler run -- ansible-playbook playbooks/validate.yml

Custom Indexes

All indexes: 100 GiB max size, 365-day retention, stored at /opt/splunk/<index>/.

Index	Purpose
ai	AI assistant activity and tool calls
claude	Claude-specific events
firewall	Palo Alto / Cisco firewall logs
gemini	Gemini-specific events
netflow	NetFlow / IPFIX flow data
network	Network device syslog
openai	OpenAI-specific events
os	Linux / Windows system logs
otel	OpenTelemetry spans / metrics
unifi	UniFi network syslog
vscode	VS Code / Copilot events

Technology Add-ons

Archives must be placed in roles/splunk_docker/files/ before running (gitignored). See roles/splunk_docker/files/README.md for download instructions.

Add-on	Source	Notes
TA-unifi-cloud	Internal build	UniFi syslog parsing
Duck Yeah	Splunkbase	App packaging utilities
Splunk DB Connect	Splunkbase #2686	DB connectivity

Playbooks

Playbook	Purpose
site.yml	Full deployment: loads inventory, runs splunk_docker role
deploy.yml	Bare deployment (no inventory load)
deploy_docker.yml	Deploys Splunk container, assuming Docker is pre-installed
validate.yml	Post-deploy validation: ports, HEC, web UI
configure_indexes.yml	Index configuration only (idempotent)

Role Structure

roles/splunk_docker/
├── defaults/main.yml       # Core Docker + Splunk configuration
├── tasks/
│   ├── main.yml            # Orchestrates all tasks
│   ├── java.yml            # Optional JRE-21 for DB Connect
│   └── wait_for_splunk.yml # Health check loop after container start
├── templates/
│   ├── docker-compose.yml.j2
│   ├── indexes.conf.j2
│   ├── inputs.conf.j2      # HEC token configuration
│   ├── web.conf.j2
│   ├── server.conf.j2
│   └── firewall.sh.j2
├── handlers/main.yml       # Restart Splunk container
└── files/                  # TA archives (gitignored)

Configuration Variables

Key defaults in roles/splunk_docker/defaults/main.yml:

Variable	Default	Description
splunk_docker_image	splunk/splunk:latest	Docker image. Pin to a specific version for production.
splunk_docker_web_port	8000	Splunk Web UI port
splunk_docker_hec_port	8088	HEC ingestion port
splunk_docker_data_dir	/opt/splunk	Data volume mount path
splunk_docker_web_ssl	true	Enable Splunk Web SSL
splunk_docker_java_enabled	false	Enable JRE for DB Connect
splunk_docker_firewall_enabled	false	Guest iptables (disabled; use Proxmox firewall)
splunk_docker_allow_internet_access	false	Disables Splunkbase app browsing, update checks, and telemetry to prevent DNS timeouts on air-gapped VMs.
splunk_docker_index_default_max_size_mb	102400	100 GiB per index
splunk_docker_index_default_frozen_time_secs	31536000	365-day retention

Secrets

All secrets via Doppler (iac-conf-mgmt / prd):

Doppler Secret	Ansible Variable	Purpose
SPLUNK_PASSWORD	splunk_docker_password	Splunk admin password
HEC_NAMESPACE	splunk_docker_hec_namespace	UUID namespace for per-index HEC token derivation (optional)
SPLUNK_HEC_TOKEN	splunk_docker_hec_token_values.legacy	Shared legacy HEC token (always required)
SPLUNK_MCP_TOKEN	—	MCP Server Bearer token (client-side, created via Splunk UI)
PROXMOX_SSH_KEY_PATH	—	SSH key for VM access

# Run any playbook with secrets injected
doppler run -- ansible-playbook playbooks/site.yml

Testing

# Lint
ansible-lint

# Syntax check
doppler run -- ansible-playbook playbooks/site.yml --syntax-check

# Molecule (syntax-only CI test)
molecule test

# Post-deploy validation
doppler run -- ansible-playbook playbooks/validate.yml

Dependencies

Ansible Collections (requirements.yml)

Collection	Version
ansible.posix	>=2.1.0,<3.0.0
community.general	>=12.4.0,<13.0.0
community.docker	>=5.0.6,<6.0.0
cloud.terraform	>=4.0.0,<5.0.0

ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml

External Services

• terraform-proxmox — provisions Splunk VM (VMID 200)
• Doppler — secrets management
• Proxmox firewall — network access control (no guest iptables)

Links

• Changelog
• Contributing
• Splunk Docker image
• ansible-proxmox-apps — Cribl Edge (upstream sender)