Install Elasticsearch with Docker

You can also use the hardened Wolfi image for additional security. Using Wolfi images requires Docker version 20.10.10 or higher.

To use the Wolfi image, append -wolfi to the image tag in the Docker command.

For example:

docker pull docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-wolfi:8.16.2

To remove the containers and their network, run:

# Remove the Elastic network
docker network rm elastic

# Remove Elasticsearch containers
docker rm es01
docker rm es02

# Remove the Kibana container
docker rm kib01

You now have a test Elasticsearch environment set up. Before you start serious development or go into production with Elasticsearch, review the requirements and recommendations to apply when running Elasticsearch in Docker in production.

To stop the cluster, run docker-compose down. The data in the Docker volumes is preserved and loaded when you restart the cluster with docker-compose up.

docker-compose down

To delete the network, containers, and volumes when you stop the cluster, specify the -v option:

docker-compose down -v

You now have a test Elasticsearch environment set up. Before you start serious development or go into production with Elasticsearch, review the requirements and recommendations to apply when running Elasticsearch in Docker in production.

The vm.max_map_count kernel setting must be set to at least 262144 for production use.

How you set vm.max_map_count depends on your platform.

grep vm.max_map_count /etc/sysctl.conf
vm.max_map_count=262144

sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144

docker-machine ssh
sudo sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144

wsl -d docker-desktop -u root
sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144

[wsl2]
kernelCommandLine = "sysctl.vm.max_map_count=262144"

wsl -d docker-desktop -u root
vi /etc/sysctl.conf

vm.max_map_count = 262144

By default, Elasticsearch runs inside the container as user elasticsearch using uid:gid 1000:0.

If you are bind-mounting a local directory or file, it must be readable by the elasticsearch user. In addition, this user must have write access to the config, data and log dirs (Elasticsearch needs write access to the config directory so that it can generate a keystore). A good strategy is to grant group access to gid 0 for the local directory.

For example, to prepare a local directory for storing data through a bind-mount:

mkdir esdatadir
chmod g+rwx esdatadir
chgrp 0 esdatadir

You can also run an Elasticsearch container using both a custom UID and GID. You must ensure that file permissions will not prevent Elasticsearch from executing. You can use one of two options:

Increased ulimits for nofile and nproc must be available for the Elasticsearch containers. Verify the init system for the Docker daemon sets them to acceptable values.

To check the Docker daemon defaults for ulimits, run:

docker run --rm docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:8.16.2 /bin/bash -c 'ulimit -Hn && ulimit -Sn && ulimit -Hu && ulimit -Su'

If needed, adjust them in the Daemon or override them per container. For example, when using docker run, set:

--ulimit nofile=65535:65535

Swapping needs to be disabled for performance and node stability. For information about ways to do this, see Disable swapping.

If you opt for the bootstrap.memory_lock: true approach, you also need to define the memlock: true ulimit in the Docker Daemon, or explicitly set for the container as shown in the sample compose file. When using docker run, you can specify:

-e "bootstrap.memory_lock=true" --ulimit memlock=-1:-1

The image exposes TCP ports 9200 and 9300. For production clusters, randomizing the published ports with --publish-all is recommended, unless you are pinning one container per host.

By default, Elasticsearch automatically sizes JVM heap based on a nodes’s roles and the total memory available to the node’s container. We recommend this default sizing for most production environments. If needed, you can override default sizing by manually setting JVM heap size.

To manually set the heap size in production, bind mount a JVM options file under /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/jvm.options.d that includes your desired heap size settings.

For testing, you can also manually set the heap size using the ES_JAVA_OPTS environment variable. For example, to use 1GB, use the following command.

docker run -e ES_JAVA_OPTS="-Xms1g -Xmx1g" -e ENROLLMENT_TOKEN="<token>" --name es01 -p 9200:9200 --net elastic -it docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:8.16.2

The ES_JAVA_OPTS variable overrides all other JVM options. We do not recommend using ES_JAVA_OPTS in production.

Pin your deployments to a specific version of the Elasticsearch Docker image. For example docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:8.16.2.

You should use a volume bound on /usr/share/elasticsearch/data for the following reasons:

If you are using the devicemapper storage driver, do not use the default loop-lvm mode. Configure docker-engine to use direct-lvm.

Consider centralizing your logs by using a different logging driver. Also note that the default json-file logging driver is not ideally suited for production use.

Create custom config files and bind-mount them over the corresponding files in the Docker image. For example, to bind-mount custom_elasticsearch.yml with docker run, specify:

-v full_path_to/custom_elasticsearch.yml:/usr/share/elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.yml

If you bind-mount a custom elasticsearch.yml file, ensure it includes the network.host: 0.0.0.0 setting. This setting ensures the node is reachable for HTTP and transport traffic, provided its ports are exposed. The Docker image’s built-in elasticsearch.yml file includes this setting by default.

By default, Elasticsearch will auto-generate a keystore file for secure settings. This file is obfuscated but not encrypted.

To encrypt your secure settings with a password and have them persist outside the container, use a docker run command to manually create the keystore instead. The command must:

For example:

docker run -it --rm \
-v full_path_to/config:/usr/share/elasticsearch/config \
docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:8.16.2 \
bin/elasticsearch-keystore create -p

You can also use a docker run command to add or update secure settings in the keystore. You’ll be prompted to enter the setting values. If the keystore is encrypted, you’ll also be prompted to enter the keystore password.

docker run -it --rm \
-v full_path_to/config:/usr/share/elasticsearch/config \
docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:8.16.2 \
bin/elasticsearch-keystore \
add my.secure.setting \
my.other.secure.setting

If you’ve already created the keystore and don’t need to update it, you can bind-mount the elasticsearch.keystore file directly. You can use the KEYSTORE_PASSWORD environment variable to provide the keystore password to the container at startup. For example, a docker run command might have the following options:

-v full_path_to/config/elasticsearch.keystore:/usr/share/elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.keystore
-e KEYSTORE_PASSWORD=mypassword

In some environments, it might make more sense to prepare a custom image that contains your configuration. A Dockerfile to achieve this might be as simple as:

FROM docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:8.16.2
COPY --chown=elasticsearch:elasticsearch elasticsearch.yml /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/

You could then build and run the image with:

docker build --tag=elasticsearch-custom .
docker run -ti -v /usr/share/elasticsearch/data elasticsearch-custom

Some plugins require additional security permissions. You must explicitly accept them either by:

See Plugin management for more information.

Here’s how to resolve common errors when running Elasticsearch with Docker.

Exception in thread "main" org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.BootstrapException: java.io.IOException: Is a directory: SimpleFSIndexInput(path="/usr/share/elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.keystore") Likely root cause: java.io.IOException: Is a directory

A keystore-related docker run command attempted to directly bind-mount an elasticsearch.keystore file that doesn’t exist. If you use the -v or --volume flag to mount a file that doesn’t exist, Docker instead creates a directory with the same name.

To resolve this error:

Exception in thread "main" java.nio.file.FileSystemException: /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.keystore.tmp -> /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.keystore: Device or resource busy

A docker run command attempted to update the keystore while directly bind-mounting the elasticsearch.keystore file. To update the keystore, the container requires access to other files in the config directory, such as keystore.tmp.

To resolve this error: