What is AWS Elasticsearch Used For Complete Overview

Are you familiar with What is AWS Elasticsearch platform? If not, read this guide to learn all you need to know about the AWS Elasticsearch tutorial and how it works.

AWS is quickly emerging as the most popular name in the computing world. They cater to all sorts of large-scale and small-scale businesses.

With, undeniably, growing cybercrime rates, it has become quite inevitable for organizations to shift to the AWS cloud platform.

AWS offers a plethora of services to help one ease into the AWS cloud platform. However, this may also seem like a problem to some. The Amazon Elasticsearch service is the service that makes the cloud shift more accessible.

In simpler words, the Amazon Elasticsearch service is all that you need to understand to get your business onboard on the cloud platform. Let’s get right into discovering what AWS Elasticsearch is and what it offers.

What Is AWS?

AWS also known as Amazon Web Services is a well-known cloud computing platform powered by Amazon.

AWS offers a plethora of remote services, including database storage, developer tools, analytics, IoT, and other related services.

AWS servers are available on a lease-based purchase system. AWS falls under the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) umbrella in the cloud computing category.

What Is AWS Elasticsearch Service?

Elasticsearch is an open-source search and analytics engine famous for providing log analytics, real-time application monitoring, and clickstream analytic services.

AWS Elasticsearch or Amazon Elasticsearch Service is a service that enables users to deploy and scale Elasticsearch under the AWS Cloud solution quickly.

Define An Example Of Elasticsearch?

When it comes to primary Search Functionality, Elasticsearch uses Apache Lucene.

However, it is not just limited to Apache Lucene; Elasticsearch offers a variety of different features. Moreover, Elasticsearch uses Javascript language.

How Does AWS Elasticsearch Operate?

When using AWS Elasticsearch, data is transferred in JSON documents format from Elasticsearch. Other ingestion tools like Logstash, Amazon Kinesis Firehose, etc., may also be used other than the AWS Elasticsearch API.

Note that Elasticsearch works in such a way that it auto-saves the original document and shows you a new searchable reference of the file in the cluster’s index.

Elasticsearch (ES) Service In AWS: Steps To Follow

If you are new to AWS Elasticsearch services, follow the steps given below to get started:

• Step 1–Create your new AWS account.
• Step 2–Once you sign up, make a new Amazon ES domain.
• Step 3–Time to upload data on your new Amazon ES domain to begin indexing.
• Step 4–Search for the document in the Amazon domain.
• Step 5–You can now easily delete the Amazon ES domain and repeat the same process the next time you use it.

How Did Elasticsearch Become A Popular Platform?

Elasticsearch became immensely popular in recent years due to its high scalability factor.

Elasticsearch has made it easier to save, browse through, and analyze large-scale data sets quickly and efficiently.

It serves as the backbone of various applications with highly complex search features and use cases.

What Are The Key Features Offered By Elasticsearch?

Elasticsearch offers a variety of features that makes the platform stand out. Here are some of the most noteworthy key features provided by Elasticsearch:

• Scalable and Flexible Platform
• Enables High-performance
• Multilingual Compatibility
• Document-Oriented Platform
• Real-time Search Functionality
• Autocomplete Search Feature
• No Schema Required
• Open-source Platform

What Are The Pros Of Using Elasticsearch?

Here are some of the benefits of using Elasticsearch:

• Elasticsearch is written in Java, making it compatible with several platforms.
• Elasticsearch offers real-time search functionality, making it easier for you to access the most recent documents and files.
• It is easier to create full backups on Elasticsearch because of its gateway feature.
• Elasticsearch is easily scalable, making it a preferred choice for larger organizations or organizations working with large volumes of data.
• Elasticsearch offers better multi-tenancy functionality than Apache Solr.
• Elasticsearch can be operated in various languages, making it more user-friendly for people from different parts of the world.
• Elasticsearch falls under the open-source category, and it is way more cost-effective than other similar tools. You do not have to pay any fee for downloading Elasticsearch.
• Elasticsearch is compatible with all types of documents that support text rendering, making it a popular choice.

What Are The Cons Of Using Elasticsearch?

Here are some of the disadvantages of using Elasticsearch:

• Split-brain is a common issue faced by several Elasticsearch users.
• Even though Elasticsearch is available in several languages, it does not offer multi-language support when it comes to handling requests and data responses. Alternatively, Apache Solr has this option.
• Elasticsearch is not highly-functioning or efficient when it comes to streaming larger data sets on a regular basis. The platform may experience lags or, in worse cases, data loss if the data size is in several TBs.
• On the other hand, platforms like Hadoop and MongoDB are better equipped to handle such voluminous data on a daily basis.
• Getting the hang of Elasticsearch may be a little difficult for beginners as the platform is complex and not so user-friendly as other options available in the market.

Can AWS Elasticsearch Be Defined As A Database?

Amazon Elasticsearch is a database that uses documents as its primary form of data. It, however, does not use tables or schema like usual databases.

This feature gives AWS Elasticsearch an edge that allows your data to be searched and analyzed simultaneously. It is a database that contains a full-text, NoSQL database. 

Does Elasticsearch Fall Under The Cloud-Based Platforms’ Category?

Elasticsearch is a cloud-based search engine built by Elastic. It provides a managed cloud experience. An organization is only a step away from configuring its data.

Elasticsearch offers a lot of features and guarantees the security of your data while enabling you to search and operate through various data types.

You can visualize data according to your customizable demand and analyze it at the same time.

Define Elasticsearch Cluster?

An Elasticsearch can be understood as a cohort of nodes with the same name attributes and belonging to the same cluster. A node is free to join and leave independently of its placement.

A cluster is programmed to reorganize itself automatically. This makes it possible for the cluster to spread the data across available nodes.

At any point in Elasticsearch, there is just one single node of clusters.

Define Elasticsearch Index?

 An index in the elastic search can be well understood by tracking down where the data is.

Fields are the commodities that contain your data, and a collection of fields make up a document.

A collection of such documents is termed the index in Elasticsearch. Every single indexed field in Elasticsearch has its data structured in an optimized manner.

Define Elasticsearch Algorithm?

Elasticsearch uses Lucene’s Practical Scoring Function algorithm.

This algorithm uses Term Frequency (tf), Inverse Document Frequency (idf), including Vector Space Model (vsm) for multi-term queries.

Define Elasticsearch Database Type.

Elasticsearch is open-source and written in Java, which means it is a NoSQL database. Unlike SQL, data is not stored in a structured way in Elasticsearch, and you cannot use SQL queries on the data set.

When Is It Preferable To Use Elasticsearch?

You may consider using Elasticsearch in the following cases:

• If you need to do a hefty text search and commercial RDBMS are unable to handle it
• If you are looking for a scalable and customizable search engine platform.
• If you wish to add 3^rd party plugins to work with your data sets.
• If you need to work with a high-performing platform that gives real-time results.

When Is It Not Preferable To Use Elasticsearch?

You may consider looking for alternative options other than Elasticsearch in the following cases:

• When you need to cater to transaction handling.
• When you need to carry out a high-intensity computational task in a data store layer.
• When you need a platform that can be used as the primary data storage unit.
• When you need an ACID-compatible data storage platform.
• When you need a robust data storage platform.

How does AWS Elasticsearch Document Implementation Work?

When it comes to AWS Elasticsearch documentation, several options are available, like the following:

• You can use API to transfer data in bulk bundles or separate files.
• You can connect to API manually or use the automatic connection feature.
• You can also use external plugins like Amazon s3 River and other 3^rd party tools for document implementation.

What Are The Different Annual Packages Offered By AWS Elasticsearch?

AWS elasticsearch Vs Elasticache?

AWS Elasticsearch is the service provided in the cloud for real-time analytics and search purposes where Elastic is an open-source search engine that is distributed by default from Elastic.

Elasticsearch vs MongoDB

So now the question is both have almost the same capacity, let us try to find out the difference between these two.

FAQs: What is AWS Elasticsearch

Conclusion

When it comes to deciding whether to choose AWS Elasticsearch or not, the answer is dependent on your requirement.

However, it is imperative to acknowledge that Elasticsearch is becoming widely popular, with big names like Uber and Shopify making use of it amongst the 3500+ companies that use it.

In the end, it all comes down to how you wish to use and implement AWS Elasticsearch for your business.

If you are looking to store a large volume of data in a stable and real-time search environment, then Elasticsearch is an excellent choice.

However, you should also take into review the drawbacks of using Elasticsearch before making the final call.

From a pricing point of view, AWS Elasticsearch is an affordable, scalable, and high-performing platform so make sure you do your fair share of research before making the final call. Good luck!

Steve

I am an Amazon Web Services Professional, having more than 11 years of experience in AWS and other technologies. Extensively working in various AWS tools like S3, Lambda, API, Kinesis, Load Balancers, EKS, ECS, and many more. Working as a Solution Architect and Technology Lead for Architecting and implementing the same for different clients. He provides expert solutions around the world and especially in countries like the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Check out the complete profile on About us.