What must you configure to generate alerts in Splunk ES?

To generate alerts in Splunk Enterprise Security (ES), it is essential to configure a saved search that is designed to trigger based on specific conditions that lead to notable events. Notable events in Splunk ES are significant occurrences identified from the data indexed into Splunk, usually related to potential security concerns.

The key functionality of a saved search in this context lies in its ability to define conditions — such as threshold limits or specific error messages — that, when met, will automatically generate a notable event. This saved search can run at specified intervals, analyzing the relevant data and assessing whether any configured conditions are true. If they are, it produces an alert that can then be acted upon by security analysts and incident response teams.

While other components such as dashboards or reports may be useful for visualization or reporting purposes, they do not directly facilitate the alerting mechanism within Splunk ES. Similarly, while user roles with administrative permissions are important for managing the system and having the necessary access, they do not inherently create alerts on their own. The core requirement for alert generation hinges on the effective use of saved searches to monitor real-time or historical data for significant events.