Install Elasticsearch on Windows

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Elasticsearch can be installed on Windows using the .zip package. This comes with a elasticsearch-service.bat command which will setup Elasticsearch to run as a service.

The latest stable version of Elasticsearch can be found on the Download Elasticsearch page. Other versions can be found on the Past Releases page.

Elasticsearch requires Java 8 or later. Use the official Oracle distribution or an open-source distribution such as OpenJDK.

Download and install the .zip package

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Download the .zip archive for Elasticsearch v5.1.2 from: https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-5.1.2.zip

Unzip it with your favourite unzip tool. This will create a folder called elasticsearch-5.1.2, which we will refer to as %ES_HOME%. In a terminal window, cd to the %ES_HOME% directory, for instance:

cd c:\elasticsearch-5.1.2

Running Elasticsearch from the command line

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Elasticsearch can be started from the command line as follows:

.\bin\elasticsearch

By default, Elasticsearch runs in the foreground, prints its logs to STDOUT, and can be stopped by pressing Ctrl-C.

Configuring Elasticsearch on the command line

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Elasticsearch loads its configuration from the %ES_HOME%/config/elasticsearch.yml file by default. The format of this config file is explained in Configuring Elasticsearch.

Any settings that can be specified in the config file can also be specified on the command line, using the -E syntax as follows:

./bin/elasticsearch -Ecluster.name=my_cluster -Enode.name=node_1

Values that contain spaces must be surrounded with quotes. For instance -Epath.logs="C:\My Logs\logs".

Typically, any cluster-wide settings (like cluster.name) should be added to the elasticsearch.yml config file, while any node-specific settings such as node.name could be specified on the command line.

Checking that Elasticsearch is running

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You can test that your Elasticsearch node is running by sending an HTTP request to port 9200 on localhost:

GET /

which should give you a response something like this:

{
  "name" : "Cp8oag6",
  "cluster_name" : "elasticsearch",
  "cluster_uuid" : "AT69_T_DTp-1qgIJlatQqA",
  "version" : {
    "number" : "5.1.2",
    "build_hash" : "f27399d",
    "build_date" : "2016-03-30T09:51:41.449Z",
    "build_snapshot" : false,
    "lucene_version" : "6.3.0"
  },
  "tagline" : "You Know, for Search"
}

Installing Elasticsearch as a Service on Windows

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Elasticsearch can be installed as a service to run in the background or start automatically at boot time without any user interaction. This can be achieved through the elasticsearch-service.bat script in the bin\ folder which allows one to install, remove, manage or configure the service and potentially start and stop the service, all from the command-line.

c:\elasticsearch-5.1.2\bin>elasticsearch-service

Usage: elasticsearch-service.bat install|remove|start|stop|manager [SERVICE_ID]

The script requires one parameter (the command to execute) followed by an optional one indicating the service id (useful when installing multiple Elasticsearch services).

The commands available are:

install

Install Elasticsearch as a service

remove

Remove the installed Elasticsearch service (and stop the service if started)

start

Start the Elasticsearch service (if installed)

stop

Stop the Elasticsearch service (if started)

manager

Start a GUI for managing the installed service

Based on the architecture of the available JDK/JRE (set through JAVA_HOME), the appropriate 64-bit(x64) or 32-bit(x86) service will be installed. This information is made available during install:

c:\elasticsearch-5.1.2\bin>elasticsearch-service install
Installing service      :  "elasticsearch-service-x64"
Using JAVA_HOME (64-bit):  "c:\jvm\jdk1.8"
The service 'elasticsearch-service-x64' has been installed.

While a JRE can be used for the Elasticsearch service, due to its use of a client VM (as opposed to a server JVM which offers better performance for long-running applications) its usage is discouraged and a warning will be issued.

Upgrading (or downgrading) JVM versions does not require the service to be reinstalled. However, upgrading across JVM types (e.g. JRE versus SE) is not supported, and does require the service to be reinstalled.

Customizing service settings

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The Elasticsearch service can be configured prior to installation by setting the the following environment variables (either using the set command from the command line, or through the System Properties->Environment Variables GUI).

SERVICE_ID

A unique identifier for the service. Useful if installing multiple instances on the same machine. Defaults to elasticsearch-service-x86 (on 32-bit Windows) or elasticsearch-service-x64 (on 64-bit Windows).

SERVICE_USERNAME

The user to run as, defaults to the local system account.

SERVICE_PASSWORD

The password for the user specified in %SERVICE_USERNAME%.

SERVICE_DISPLAY_NAME

The name of the service. Defaults to Elasticsearch <version> %SERVICE_ID%.

SERVICE_DESCRIPTION

The description of the service. Defaults to Elasticsearch <version> Windows Service - https://elastic.co.

JAVA_HOME

The installation directory of the desired JVM to run the service under.

LOG_DIR

Log directory, defaults to %ES_HOME%\logs.

DATA_DIR

Data directory, defaults to %ES_HOME%\data.

CONF_DIR

Configuration file directory (which needs to include elasticsearch.yml and log4j2.properties files), defaults to %ES_HOME%\conf.

ES_JAVA_OPTS

Any additional JVM system properties you may want to apply.

ES_START_TYPE

Startup mode for the service. Can be either auto or manual (default).

ES_STOP_TIMEOUT

The timeout in seconds that procrun waits for service to exit gracefully. Defaults to 0.

At its core, elasticsearch-service.bat relies on Apache Commons Daemon project to install the service. Environment variables set prior to the service installation are copied and will be used during the service lifecycle. This means any changes made to them after the installation will not be picked up unless the service is reinstalled.

On Windows, the heap size can be configured as for any other Elasticsearch installation when running Elasticsearch from the command line, or when installing Elasticsearch as a service for the first time. To adjust the heap size for an already installed service, use the service manager: bin\elasticsearch-service.bat manager.

Using the Manager GUI
It is also possible to configure the service after it’s been installed using the manager GUI (elasticsearch-service-mgr.exe), which offers insight into the installed service, including its status, startup type, JVM, start and stop settings amongst other things. Simply invoking elasticsearch-service.bat manager from the command-line will open up the manager window:
Windows Service Manager GUI

Most changes (like JVM settings) made through the manager GUI will require a restart of the service in order to take affect.

Directory layout of .zip archive

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The .zip package is entirely self-contained. All files and directories are, by default, contained within %ES_HOME% — the directory created when unpacking the archive.

This is very convenient because you don’t have to create any directories to start using Elasticsearch, and uninstalling Elasticsearch is as easy as removing the %ES_HOME% directory. However, it is advisable to change the default locations of the config directory, the data directory, and the logs directory so that you do not delete important data later on.

Type Description Default Location Setting

home

Elasticsearch home directory or %ES_HOME%

Directory created by unpacking the archive

bin

Binary scripts including elasticsearch to start a node and elasticsearch-plugin to install plugins

%ES_HOME%\bin

conf

Configuration files including elasticsearch.yml

%ES_HOME%\config

path.conf

data

The location of the data files of each index / shard allocated on the node. Can hold multiple locations.

%ES_HOME%\data

path.data

logs

Log files location.

%ES_HOME%\logs

path.logs

plugins

Plugin files location. Each plugin will be contained in a subdirectory.

%ES_HOME%\plugins

repo

Shared file system repository locations. Can hold multiple locations. A file system repository can be placed in to any subdirectory of any directory specified here.

Not configured

path.repo

script

Location of script files.

%ES_HOME%\scripts

path.scripts

Next steps

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You now have a test Elasticsearch environment set up. Before you start serious development or go into production with Elasticsearch, you will need to do some additional setup: