Overview

This guide will help you set up and enable regular backups of your Elasticsearch index without causing downtime. It leverages Elasticsearch's snapshot and restore functionality to create backups efficiently. The example provided uses a shared file system for storing snapshots.

Prerequisites

• Elasticsearch cluster running.

• Shared file system accessible by all Elasticsearch nodes.

• Access to the cluster via curl or a similar HTTP client.

• (Optional) Elasticsearch Curator for automating snapshots.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Create a Snapshot Repository

   You need to create a snapshot repository where the snapshots will be stored. This can be a shared file system or an S3 bucket.
   Using a Shared File System:
   First, specify the shared repository location in the elasticsearch.yml file:

   Code Block
   path.repo: "/mount/backups/my_backup"

   Then, create the repository using the following command:

   Code Block
   curl -X PUT "http://<es_node_ip>:9200/_snapshot/my_backup" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d' { "type": "fs", "settings": { "location": "/mount/backups/my_backup" } }'

   Using DataCore Swarm S3 bucket:
   When the target repository is another Swarm cluster, the command to create the snapshot repository would be as follows:

   Code Block
   curl -X PUT "http://<es_node_ip>:9200/_snapshot/my_s3_backup" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d' { "type": "s3", "settings": { "bucket": "my-elasticsearch-backup-bucket", "endpoint": "https://datacore-swarm.example.com", "access_key": "your_access_key", "secret_key": "your_secret_key", "protocol": "https" } }'

...

2. Verify the Repository

   After creating the repository, verify it to ensure it is set up correctly:

   Code Block
   curl -X GET "http://<es_node_ip>:9200/_snapshot/my_backup"

3. Create a Snapshot

   Once the repository is set up and verified, create a snapshot of your index. Replace index_mumbkctcomobs.datacore.com.com0 with your index name.

   Code Block
   curl -X PUT "http://<es_node_ip>:9200/_snapshot/my_backup/snapshot_$(date +\%Y\%m\%d\%H\%M)" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d' { "indices": "index_swarm.datacore.com.com0", "ignore_unavailable": true, "include_global_state": false }'

4. Automate Snapshot Creation

   To automate the creation of snapshots, you can use cron jobs on Linux or scheduled tasks on Windows.

   Example using a cron job (runs daily at 2 AM):

   Code Block
   0 2 * * * curl -X PUT "http://<es_node_ip>:9200/_snapshot/my_backup/snapshot_$(date +\%Y\%m\%d\%H\%M)" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d' { "indices": "index_swarm.datacore.com.com0", "ignore_unavailable": true, "include_global_state": false }'

5. Monitor Snapshots

   Regularly check the status of your snapshots to ensure they are completing successfully:

   Code Block
   curl -X GET "http://<es_node_ip>:9200/_snapshot/my_backup/_all/_status"

6. Restoring a Snapshot (if needed)
   If you need to restore a snapshot, you can do so with the following command:

   Code Block
   curl -X POST "http://<es_node_ip>:9200/_snapshot/my_backup/snapshot_<snapshot_date>/_restore" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d' { "indices": "index_swarm.datacore.com.com0", "ignore_unavailable": true, "include_global_state": false }'

   For the S3 bucket:

   Code Block
   curl -X POST "http://<es_node_ip>:9200/_snapshot/my_s3_backup/snapshot_<snapshot_date>/_restore" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d' { "indices": "index_swarm.datacore.com.com0", "ignore_unavailable": true, "include_global_state": false }'

   • '"include_global_state": false' means that only the data stored in the particular index is restored.

   • If you wan to restore everything from the cluster, including templates, persistent cluster settings, and more, set '"include_global_state": true'.

Automating with Elasticsearch Curator

Elasticsearch Curator simplifies managing indices and snapshots. Here’s how to set it up:

1. Install Curator

   Code Block
   pip install elasticsearch-curator

2. Create a Curator Configuration File (curator.yml)

   Code Block
   language yaml
   client: hosts: - 127.0.0.1 port: 9200 logging: loglevel: INFO logfile: /var/log/curator.log logformat: default blacklist: ['elasticsearch', 'urllib3']

3. Create a Curator Action File (snapshot.yml)

   Code Block
   language yaml
   actions: 1: action: snapshot description: "Snapshot selected indices" options: repository: my_backup name: snapshot-%Y%m%d%H%M ignore_unavailable: false include_global_state: false filters: - filtertype: pattern kind: prefix value: index_swarm.datacore.com.com0

4. Create a Cron Job to Run Curator

   Code Block
   0 2 * * * curator --config /path/to/curator.yml /path/to/snapshot.yml

Best Practices

• Test Snapshots: Regularly restore snapshots to a test cluster to ensure data integrity.

• Monitor Resources: Monitor cluster resources during snapshot operations to ensure they do not impact performance.

• Automate Alerts: Set up alerts to notify you if a snapshot operation fails.

• Retention Policy: Implement a retention policy to manage storage, deleting older snapshots to save space.

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