Platform.sh User Documentation

Elasticsearch (Search service)

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Elasticsearch is a distributed RESTful search engine built for the cloud.

See the Elasticsearch documentation for more information.

Use a framework Anchor to this heading

If you use one of the following frameworks, follow its guide:

For more implementation ideas, consult a template.

Supported versions Anchor to this heading

From version 7.11 onward:

The following premium versions are supported:

Grid Dedicated Gen 3 Dedicated Gen 2
  • 8.5
  • 7.17
Working on it!
  • 8.5
  • 7.17

You can select the major and minor version.

Patch versions are applied periodically for bug fixes and the like. When you deploy your app, you always get the latest available patches.

Deprecated versions Anchor to this heading

The following versions are still available in your projects for free, but they’re at their end of life and are no longer receiving security updates from upstream.

Grid Dedicated Gen 3 Dedicated Gen 2
  • 7.10
  • 7.9
  • 7.7
  • 7.5
  • 7.2
  • 6.8
  • 6.5
  • 5.4
  • 5.2
  • 2.4
  • 1.7
  • 1.4
  • 7.10
  • 7.9
  • 7.7
  • 7.5
  • 7.2
  • 6.8
  • 6.5
  • 7.10
  • 7.9
  • 7.7
  • 7.6
  • 7.5
  • 7.2
  • 6.8
  • 6.5
  • 5.6
  • 5.2
  • 2.4
  • 1.7

To ensure your project remains stable in the future, switch to a premium version.

Alternatively, you can switch to one of the latest, free versions of OpenSearch. To do so, follow the same procedure as for upgrading.

Relationship reference Anchor to this heading

Example information available through the PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS environment variable or by running platform relationships.

Note that the information about the relationship can change when an app is redeployed or restarted or the relationship is changed. So your apps should only rely on the PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS environment variable directly rather than hard coding any values.

{
    "username": null,
    "scheme": "http",
    "service": "elasticsearch",
    "fragment": null,
    "ip": "123.456.78.90",
    "hostname": "azertyuiopqsdfghjklm.elasticsearch.service._.eu-1.platformsh.site",
    "port": 9200,
    "cluster": "azertyuiopqsdf-main-7rqtwti",
    "host": "essearch.internal",
    "rel": "elasticsearch",
    "path": null,
    "query": [],
    "password": "ChangeMe",
    "type": "elasticsearch:8.5",
    "public": false,
    "host_mapped": false
}

For premium versions, the service type is elasticsearch-enterprise.

Usage example Anchor to this heading

1. Configure the service Anchor to this heading

To define the service, use the elasticsearch type:

.platform/services.yaml
# The name of the service container. Must be unique within a project.
<SERVICE_NAME>:

    type: elasticsearch:<VERSION>
    disk: 256

If you’re using a premium version, use the elasticsearch-enterprise type instead.

Note that changing the name of the service replaces it with a brand new service and all existing data is lost. Back up your data before changing the service.

2. Add the relationship Anchor to this heading

To define the relationship, use the elasticsearch endpoint :

.platform.app.yaml
# Relationships enable access from this app to a given service.
relationships:
    <RELATIONSHIP_NAME>: "<SERVICE_NAME>:elasticsearch"

You can define <SERVICE_NAME> and <RELATIONSHIP_NAME> as you like, but it’s best if they’re distinct. With this definition, the application container now has access to the service via the relationship <RELATIONSHIP_NAME> and its corresponding PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS environment variable.

Example Configuration Anchor to this heading

Service definition Anchor to this heading

.platform/services.yaml
# The name of the service container. Must be unique within a project.
elasticsearch:

    type: elasticsearch:8.5
    disk: 256

App configuration Anchor to this heading

.platform.app.yaml
# Relationships enable access from this app to a given service.
relationships:
    essearch: "elasticsearch:elasticsearch"

If you’re using a premium version, use the elasticsearch-enterprise type in the service definition.

Use in app Anchor to this heading

To use the configured service in your app, add a configuration file similar to the following to your project.

Note that configuration for premium versions may differ slightly.

package sh.platform.languages.sample;

import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.refresh.RefreshRequest;
import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.refresh.RefreshResponse;
import org.elasticsearch.action.delete.DeleteRequest;
import org.elasticsearch.action.index.IndexRequest;
import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchRequest;
import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
import org.elasticsearch.client.RequestOptions;
import org.elasticsearch.client.RestHighLevelClient;
import org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders;
import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchHit;
import org.elasticsearch.search.builder.SearchSourceBuilder;
import sh.platform.config.Config;
import sh.platform.config.Elasticsearch;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.function.Supplier;

import static java.util.concurrent.ThreadLocalRandom.current;

public class ElasticsearchSample implements Supplier<String> {

    @Override
    public String get() {
        StringBuilder logger = new StringBuilder();

        // Create a new config object to ease reading the Platform.sh environment variables.
        // You can alternatively use getenv() yourself.
        Config config = new Config();

        Elasticsearch elasticsearch = config.getCredential("elasticsearch", Elasticsearch::new);

        // Create an Elasticsearch client object.
        RestHighLevelClient client = elasticsearch.get();

        try {

            String index = "animals";
            String type = "mammals";
            // Index a few document.
            final List<String> animals = Arrays.asList("dog", "cat", "monkey", "horse");
            for (String animal : animals) {
                Map<String, Object> jsonMap = new HashMap<>();
                jsonMap.put("name", animal);
                jsonMap.put("age", current().nextInt(1, 10));
                jsonMap.put("is_cute", current().nextBoolean());

                IndexRequest indexRequest = new IndexRequest(index, type)
                        .id(animal).source(jsonMap);
                client.index(indexRequest, RequestOptions.DEFAULT);
            }

            RefreshRequest refresh = new RefreshRequest(index);

            // Force just-added items to be indexed
            RefreshResponse refreshResponse = client.indices().refresh(refresh, RequestOptions.DEFAULT);

            // Search for documents.
            SearchSourceBuilder sourceBuilder = new SearchSourceBuilder();
            sourceBuilder.query(QueryBuilders.termQuery("name", "dog"));
            SearchRequest searchRequest = new SearchRequest();
            searchRequest.indices(index);
            searchRequest.source(sourceBuilder);

            SearchResponse search = client.search(searchRequest, RequestOptions.DEFAULT);

            logger.append("<p>");
            for (SearchHit hit : search.getHits()) {
                String id = hit.getId();
                final Map<String, Object> source = hit.getSourceAsMap();
                logger.append(String.format("Result: id: <code>%s</code> source: <code>%s</code>", id, source)).append('\n');
            }
            logger.append("</p>");

            // Delete documents.
            for (String animal : animals) {
                client.delete(new DeleteRequest(index, type, animal), RequestOptions.DEFAULT);
            }
        } catch (IOException exp) {
            throw new RuntimeException("An error when execute Elasticsearch: " + exp.getMessage());
        }
        return logger.toString();
    }
}
const elasticsearch = require("elasticsearch");
const config = require("platformsh-config").config();

exports.usageExample = async function () {
    const credentials = config.credentials("elasticsearch");

    const client = new elasticsearch.Client({
        host: `${credentials.host}:${credentials.port}`,
    });

    const index = "my_index";
    const type = "People";

    // Index a few document.
    const names = ["Ada Lovelace", "Alonzo Church", "Barbara Liskov"];

    const message = {
        refresh: "wait_for",
        body: names.flatMap((name) => [
            { index: { _index: index, _type: type } },
            { name },
        ]),
    };

    await client.bulk(message);

    // Search for documents.
    const response = await client.search({
        index,
        q: "name:Barbara Liskov",
    });

    const outputRows = response.hits.hits
        .map(
            ({ _id: id, _source: { name } }) =>
                `<tr><td>${id}</td><td>${name}</td></tr>\n`
        )
        .join("\n");

    // Clean up after ourselves.
    await Promise.allSettled(
        response.hits.hits.map(({ _id: id }) =>
            client.delete({
                index: index,
                type: type,
                id,
            })
        )
    );

    return `
    <table>
        <thead>
            <tr>
                <th>ID</th><th>Name</th>
            </tr>
        </thhead>
        <tbody>
            ${outputRows}
        </tbody>
    </table>
    `;
};
<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

use Elasticsearch\ClientBuilder;
use Platformsh\ConfigReader\Config;

// Create a new config object to ease reading the Platform.sh environment variables.
// You can alternatively use getenv() yourself.
$config = new Config();

// Get the credentials to connect to the Elasticsearch service.
$credentials = $config->credentials('elasticsearch');

try {
    // The Elasticsearch library lets you connect to multiple hosts.
    // On Platform.sh Standard there is only a single host so just
    // register that.
    $hosts = [
        [
            'scheme' => $credentials['scheme'],
            'host' => $credentials['host'],
            'port' => $credentials['port'],
        ]
    ];

    // Create an Elasticsearch client object.
    $builder = ClientBuilder::create();
    $builder->setHosts($hosts);
    $client = $builder->build();

    $index = 'my_index';
    $type = 'People';

    // Index a few document.
    $params = [
        'index' => $index,
        'type' => $type,
    ];

    $names = ['Ada Lovelace', 'Alonzo Church', 'Barbara Liskov'];

    foreach ($names as $name) {
        $params['body']['name'] = $name;
        $client->index($params);
    }

    // Force just-added items to be indexed.
    $client->indices()->refresh(array('index' => $index));


    // Search for documents.
    $result = $client->search([
        'index' => $index,
        'type' => $type,
        'body' => [
            'query' => [
                'match' => [
                    'name' => 'Barbara Liskov',
                ],
            ],
        ],
    ]);

    if (isset($result['hits']['hits'])) {
        print <<<TABLE
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>ID</th><th>Name</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
TABLE;
        foreach ($result['hits']['hits'] as $record) {
            printf("<tr><td>%s</td><td>%s</td></tr>\n", $record['_id'], $record['_source']['name']);
        }
        print "</tbody>\n</table>\n";
    }

    // Delete documents.
    $params = [
        'index' => $index,
        'type' => $type,
    ];

    $ids = array_map(function($row) {
        return $row['_id'];
    }, $result['hits']['hits']);

    foreach ($ids as $id) {
        $params['id'] = $id;
        $client->delete($params);
    }

} catch (Exception $e) {
    print $e->getMessage();
}
import elasticsearch
from platformshconfig import Config

def usage_example():

    # Create a new Config object to ease reading the Platform.sh environment variables.
    # You can alternatively use os.environ yourself.
    config = Config()

    # Get the credentials to connect to the Elasticsearch service.
    credentials = config.credentials('elasticsearch')

    try:
        # The Elasticsearch library lets you connect to multiple hosts.
        # On Platform.sh Standard there is only a single host so just register that.
        hosts = {
            "scheme": credentials['scheme'],
            "host": credentials['host'],
            "port": credentials['port']
        }

        # Create an Elasticsearch client object.
        client = elasticsearch.Elasticsearch([hosts])

        # Index a few documents
        es_index = 'my_index'
        es_type = 'People'

        params = {
            "index": es_index,
            "type": es_type,
            "body": {"name": ''}
        }

        names = ['Ada Lovelace', 'Alonzo Church', 'Barbara Liskov']

        ids = {}

        for name in names:
            params['body']['name'] = name
            ids[name] = client.index(index=params["index"], doc_type=params["type"], body=params['body'])

        # Force just-added items to be indexed.
        client.indices.refresh(index=es_index)

        # Search for documents.
        result = client.search(index=es_index, body={
            'query': {
                'match': {
                    'name': 'Barbara Liskov'
                }
            }
        })

        table = '''<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>ID</th><th>Name</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>'''

        if result['hits']['hits']:
            for record in result['hits']['hits']:
                table += '''<tr><td>{0}</td><td>{1}</td><tr>\n'''.format(record['_id'], record['_source']['name'])
            table += '''</tbody>\n</table>\n'''

        # Delete documents.
        params = {
            "index": es_index,
            "type": es_type,
        }

        for name in names:
            client.delete(index=params['index'], doc_type=params['type'], id=ids[name]['_id'])

        return table

    except Exception as e:
        return e

Authentication Anchor to this heading

By default, Elasticsearch has no authentication. No username or password is required to connect to it.

Starting with Elasticsearch 7.2 you may optionally enable HTTP Basic authentication. To do so, include the following in your .platform/services.yaml configuration:

.platform/services.yaml
# The name of the service container. Must be unique within a project.
elasticsearch:
    type: elasticsearch:8.5
    disk: 2048
    configuration:
        authentication:
            enabled: true

If you’re using a premium version, use the elasticsearch-enterprise type.

That enables mandatory HTTP Basic auth on all requests. The credentials are available in any relationships that point at that service, in the username and password properties.

Note that the information about the relationship can change when an app is redeployed or restarted or the relationship is changed. So your apps should only rely on the PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS environment variable directly rather than hard coding any values.

This functionality is generally not required if Elasticsearch isn’t exposed on its own public HTTP route. However, certain applications may require it, or it allows you to safely expose Elasticsearch directly to the web. To do so, add a route to .platform/routes.yaml that has elasticsearch:elasticsearch as its upstream (where elasticsearch is whatever you named the service).

For example:

.platform/routes.yaml
"https://es.{default}/":
    type: upstream
    upstream: "elasticsearch:elasticsearch"
    

Plugins Anchor to this heading

Elasticsearch offers a number of plugins. To enable them, list them under the configuration.plugins key in your .platform/services.yaml file, like so:

.platform/services.yaml
# The name of the service container. Must be unique within a project.
elasticsearch:
    type: elasticsearch:8.5
    disk: 1024
    configuration:
        plugins:
            - analysis-icu
            - lang-python

If you’re using a premium version, use the elasticsearch-enterprise type.

In this example you’d have the ICU analysis plugin and Python script support plugin.

If there is a publicly available plugin you need that isn’t listed here, contact support.

Available plugins Anchor to this heading

This is the complete list of official Elasticsearch plugins that can be enabled:

Plugin Description 2.4 5.x 6.x 7.x 8.x
analysis-icu Support ICU Unicode text analysis * * * * *
analysis-nori Integrates Lucene Nori analysis module into Elasticsearch * * *
analysis-kuromoji Japanese language support * * * * *
analysis-smartcn Smart Chinese Analysis Plugins * * * * *
analysis-stempel Stempel Polish Analysis Plugin * * * * *
analysis-phonetic Phonetic analysis * * * * *
analysis-ukrainian Ukrainian language support * * * *
cloud-aws AWS Cloud plugin, allows storing indices on AWS S3 *
delete-by-query Support for deleting documents matching a given query *
discovery-multicast Ability to form a cluster using TCP/IP multicast messages *
ingest-attachment Extract file attachments in common formats (such as PPT, XLS, and PDF) * * * *
ingest-user-agent Extracts details from the user agent string a browser sends with its web requests * *
lang-javascript JavaScript language plugin, allows the use of JavaScript in Elasticsearch scripts *
lang-python Python language plugin, allows the use of Python in Elasticsearch scripts * *
mapper-annotated-text Adds support for text fields with markup used to inject annotation tokens into the index * * *
mapper-attachments Mapper attachments plugin for indexing common file types * *
mapper-murmur3 Murmur3 mapper plugin for computing hashes at index-time * * * * *
mapper-size Size mapper plugin, enables the _size meta field * * * * *
repository-s3 Support for using S3 as a repository for Snapshot/Restore * * * *
transport-nio Support for NIO transport * *

Plugin removal Anchor to this heading

Removing plugins previously added in your .platform/services.yaml file doesn’t automatically uninstall them from your Elasticsearch instances. This is deliberate, as removing a plugin may result in data loss or corruption of existing data that relied on that plugin. Removing a plugin usually requires reindexing.

To permanently remove a previously enabled plugin, upgrade the service to create a new instance of Elasticsearch and migrate to it. In most cases it isn’t necessary as an unused plugin has no appreciable impact on the server.

Upgrading Anchor to this heading

The Elasticsearch data format sometimes changes between versions in incompatible ways. Elasticsearch doesn’t include a data upgrade mechanism as it’s expected that all indexes can be regenerated from stable data if needed. To upgrade (or downgrade) Elasticsearch, use a new service from scratch.

There are two ways to do so.

Destructive Anchor to this heading

In your .platform/services.yaml file, change the version and name of your Elasticsearch service. Be sure to also update the reference to the now changed service name in its corresponding application’s relationship block.

When you push that to Platform.sh, the old service is deleted and a new one with the new name is created with no data. You can then have your application reindex data as appropriate.

This approach has the downsides of temporarily having an empty Elasticsearch instance, which your application may or may not handle gracefully, and needing to rebuild your index afterward. Depending on the size of your data that could take a while.

Transitional Anchor to this heading

With a transitional approach, you temporarily have two Elasticsearch services. Add a second Elasticsearch service with the new version, a new name, and give it a new relationship in .platform.app.yaml. You can optionally run in that configuration for a while to allow your application to populate indexes in the new service as well.

Once you’re ready to switch over, remove the old Elasticsearch service and relationship. You may optionally have the new Elasticsearch service use the old relationship name if that’s easier for your app to handle. Your application is now using the new Elasticsearch service.

This approach has the benefit of never being without a working Elasticsearch instance. On the downside, it requires two running Elasticsearch servers temporarily, each of which consumes resources and needs adequate disk space. Depending on the size of your data, that may be a lot of disk space.

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