What does replication factor in Splunk indicate?

The replication factor in Splunk primarily refers to the number of searchable copies of data that are maintained across multiple indexers in a cluster. Each piece of data is replicated a specific number of times to ensure that it is available for search and resiliency in case of node failure.

When you configure the replication factor, you are setting the desired level of redundancy for the indexed data. This ensures that even if one or more indexers go down, there are still copies of the data available on other active indexers for search purposes. Therefore, a high replication factor provides greater data availability and recovery options.

The other options mistakenly focus on aspects that do not define the replication factor. While backup copies are related to redundancy, they do not encompass the searchable nature of the data. Furthermore, the rate of data ingestion and limits on disk usage fall under different parameters in the Splunk architecture and are not connected to the replication factor concept.