How does a Heavy Forwarder differ from a Universal Forwarder in Splunk?

A Heavy Forwarder is designed to perform more advanced data processing than a Universal Forwarder. It can both parse and index data before sending it on to other destinations, such as an indexer or another forwarder. This capability makes the Heavy Forwarder useful in scenarios where data transformation or filtering needs to occur prior to forwarding. For example, it can apply additional parsing rules, enrich data with metadata, or do simple indexing operations, which can be beneficial in optimizing data flow and enhancing the efficiency of the ingestion process.

In contrast, the Universal Forwarder is a lightweight agent primarily focused on one function: reliably transmitting log data to another Splunk instance without applying any substantial processing. Its design emphasizes minimal resource usage on the source machine, making it ideal for environments where you want to collect data without overwhelming the system's resources.