Which events will be returned by the following search string? host=www3 status=503

The search string "host=www3 status=503" filters events based on two specific criteria: the host field must equal "www3", and the status field must equal "503". This indicates that only the events meeting both conditions will be returned.

In structured query languages, using multiple criteria typically implies that all specified conditions must be satisfied simultaneously. Therefore, the correct interpretation of the search string is that it retrieves all events where the host is specifically "www3" and the status is specifically "503".

This kind of filtering is crucial for pinpointing specific issues, such as identifying the state of a web server (in this case, indicated by the 503 status that generally suggests the server is temporarily unable to handle requests) for a particular host.

The other choices introduce considerations that, while relevant in different contexts (like time range or index specification), do not impact the accuracy of the interpretation of the conditions stated in the search string itself. Thus, the search indeed returns events with both matched criteria as indicated.