por The terms Elastic Stack, ELK or Stack ELK they make reference to the set of three technologies open source developed, managed and released by the technology company Elastic. These three projects are Elasticsearch, Logstash and Kibanaand its joint implementation and complementary work, allows users obtain a centralized and scalable log manager suitable for big data structures; and in addition, these data can be stored and processed, and later displayed on the dashboards.
Each of the three open source technologies that are part of the Elastic Stack fulfills a different function and purpose, as follows:
elasticsearch
Elasticsearch is a data search, storage, processing and indexing enginewhich is presented for the first time free and open around the year 2010. This project is developed from Apache Lucene, and gives us the possibility of searching a large amount of data from a specific text in real time in a distributed way. This database targets JSON documents and is written in Java.
Elasticsearch features allow the scalability and distribution of an architecture, horizontally and with high availability. Furthermore, it is designed for streamline full-text searches either full textso we can get results very quickly.
Logstash
Logstash is a data processing pipeline, which aims to store and transform application logs. This tool allows aggregate and unify logs from several different sources, and prepares them in a way that makes data analysis and visualization easier. It is based on JRuby and requires a Java Virtual Machine to run.
This tool allows us centralize the storage of information, and then normalize and redistribute it.
Kibana
Kibana is a data visualization tool that connects directly to an Elasticsearch index. This project allows the configuration of representations and filters on the data through a web interface. It offers powerful and easy-to-use tools such as histograms, pie charts, heat maps, line graphs and geospatial assistance. Additionally, it can include interactive graphs and tables that can be updated in real time.
Another of its features is that it allows the configuration of panels and reports so that they can be shared with others.
Advantages of Stack ELK
As we have seen, this set of tools can work individually, but it is also possible to obtain better results if we use them to complement each other. So, Stack ELK Enables data enrichment, storage, analysis and visualization for free; and also, maintains a system to manage and view logs quickly and easily operated, thus saving time in the processes.
In the same way, this facilitates the identification and prompt correction of errors that may arise, since we will be able to act in a more effective way, being able to know what the causes of the problems are, and thus prevent them from recurring.
Stack ELK, too formats the logs and events collected, and transforms them into data which are easier to sort, filter, search and manipulate.
Its real-time tools also allow us have vision and control at the right time of what happens in our processes.
What is the next step?
As we have seen, the Stack ELK toolset represents a great advantage for the realization of your projects in the technology sector, It speeds up and facilitates processes, allows you to work together with other applications, etc. So If you are interested in continuing to learn about this and other technologies and how to implement them in your organization or IT project, feel free to sign up for our DevOps & Cloud Computing Full Stack Bootcampwhere in less than 6 months you can train and become an expert in these tools.