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As the open-source successor to Elasticsearch and Kibana, OpenSearch has quickly become a go-to choice for organizations seeking powerful search, analytics, and observability without the restrictions of proprietary software. Whether you’re considering adopting OpenSearch or just want to deepen your understanding, we’ve put together this FAQ to address the most common questions.

Dive in to explore how OpenSearch can enhance your data-driven projects and why it’s an increasingly popular choice among developers and businesses.

Contents

Why was OpenSearch Created

Developers favour open-source software for its flexibility, allowing them to use it freely in any environment and modify it as needed. When Elastic shifted Elasticsearch and Kibana to the Elastic License and SSPL, it ended true open-source availability, limiting the freedoms that developers typically expect from open-source solutions. In response, OpenSearch was created as a fork from the last Apache 2.0-licensed versions of Elasticsearch and Kibana. OpenSearch is now offered under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (ALv2), restoring open-source freedoms and transparency for the community.

What is the difference between the ELK stack and OpenSearch?

The ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana) is a popular set of open-source tools for centralized logging, real-time data analysis, and visualization. Originally created by Elastic, the stack allowed developers and organizations to freely collect, process, and visualize large volumes of data. However, in 2021, Elastic moved Elasticsearch and Kibana to the Elastic License, which limits certain freedoms typically associated with open-source software. This shift means that while the source code remains accessible, it's no longer fully open-source under the Apache 2.0 license, which had previously granted users more flexibility in how and where they could use these tools.

OpenSearch emerged as a direct response to Elastic’s licensing changes, spearheaded by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and a community of open-source contributors. It is based on the last Apache 2.0 version of Elasticsearch and Kibana and is fully open-source under the Apache License 2.0. OpenSearch retains the core features of Elasticsearch and Kibana, including powerful search, logging, and data visualization, while providing an open-source alternative with community-led improvements. Organizations looking for an open-source, community-driven alternative to the ELK Stack with similar functionality often choose OpenSearch to maintain flexibility and avoid licensing restrictions.

Why Choose Hosted OpenSearch

Choosing hosted OpenSearch over a self-managed OpenSearch deployment can offer several practical advantages, particularly in terms of scalability, reliability, and ease of use. Managing OpenSearch on your own requires significant time, resources, and technical expertise to handle setup, configuration, upgrades, and ongoing maintenance, which can be challenging as data volumes grow. A hosted OpenSearch solution removes this operational burden, allowing teams to focus on data analysis rather than infrastructure management. With a hosted solution, updates, security patches, backups, and scaling adjustments are managed by the provider, ensuring that your OpenSearch environment is always optimized, secure, and up-to-date.

With hosted OpenSearch from Logit.io, you gain enhanced support, features, and integrations that make it easier to connect to other systems and tools within your tech stack. We offer out-of-the-box integrations with popular cloud services, APIs, and monitoring tools, streamlining data ingestion and visualization processes. If you’re interested in finding out more about hosted OpenSearch from Logit.io then don’t hesitate to contact us or begin exploring the platform for yourself with a 14-day free trial.

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What are OpenSearch Dashboards?

OpenSearch Dashboards is an open-source visualization tool designed to work with OpenSearch. It provides a user-friendly interface for exploring, visualizing, and analyzing data stored in OpenSearch, making it easy to gain insights from logs, metrics, and other structured or unstructured data. OpenSearch Dashboards is essentially a fork of Kibana, offering many similar features, including customizable dashboards, interactive charts, and query capabilities, all of which allow users to monitor data trends, troubleshoot issues, and track performance in real-time.

With OpenSearch Dashboards, users can create and share visualizations, set up alerting for specific data patterns, and explore data using drag-and-drop functionality or advanced queries. It’s commonly used for observability, application monitoring, security analytics, and more, making it a versatile tool for both technical and non-technical users to interact with data intuitively. As part of the open-source OpenSearch project, it benefits from community-driven development and enhancements, ensuring that it remains flexible, scalable, and accessible for a wide range of use cases.

Is OpenSearch Open Source

Yes, OpenSearch is fully open-source. It was created as a community-driven, open-source alternative to Elasticsearch and Kibana after Elastic changed the licensing for those tools in 2021. OpenSearch is maintained under the Apache License 2.0 (ALv2), which grants users the freedom to use, modify, and distribute the software without the limitations found in proprietary licenses.

Why Should I Use OpenSearch

OpenSearch is an ideal choice if you’re looking for a powerful, fully open-source search, analytics, and observability platform with extensive community support. It offers robust features for real-time data ingestion, search, and visualization, making it well-suited for log management, application monitoring, and analytics at scale. With its Apache 2.0 license, OpenSearch gives you the freedom to use, modify, and deploy it without the restrictions of proprietary software. Additionally, it’s backed by active contributors, including AWS, ensuring that it stays up-to-date and continues to evolve with the latest innovations and security improvements.

Will the OpenSearch API change in future versions?

All upcoming OpenSearch 1.x releases will maintain backward compatibility with Elasticsearch 7.10, though certain APIs may be deprecated over time. If a new feature requires a breaking change, a new major version of OpenSearch will be introduced, along with tools to simplify the migration process. For features that require additional APIs, we’ll collaborate with the community to ensure these are supported by widely used clients.

Is OpenSearch Wire-Compatible?

Yes, OpenSearch 1.x is wire-compatible with Elasticsearch 7.10, meaning it can communicate seamlessly with Elasticsearch 7.10 nodes and clients. This compatibility allows organizations to use OpenSearch as a drop-in replacement for Elasticsearch 7.10 in most cases, simplifying the migration process from Elasticsearch to OpenSearch. However, OpenSearch has introduced new features and enhancements over time, and some older Elasticsearch APIs may be deprecated or modified as OpenSearch evolves.

For future releases, OpenSearch aims to maintain compatibility within the same major version to ensure stability. For breaking changes that require a new major version, OpenSearch provides tools and resources to help users migrate smoothly while retaining their data and configurations.

Is OpenSearch compatible with Elasticsearch APIs?

OpenSearch 1.x versions are designed to be compatible with Elasticsearch 7.10 APIs, but there may be differences in new versions. OpenSearch provides documentation to help users migrate and adjust configurations as needed.

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