How to run Elasticsearch and Kibana in local Docker containers

elk-docker-howto.md

How to run Elasticsearch and Kibana in local Docker containers

This document contains step-by-step notes for how to run Elasticsearch and Kibana in local Docker containers.

This assumes three terminal windows are available: A (control), B (Elasticsearch) and C (Kibana). Note also that the stack version included here may be varied, although it should remain identical across both components.

1. Create a Docker network

In terminal A, run:

$ docker network create elk

Note that this command will not succeed if a network called elk already exists.

2. Start Elasticsearch

In terminal B, run the following to start Elasticsearch:

$ docker run --name es1 --net elk -p 9200:9200 \
    -e "discovery.type=single-node" \
    -e "xpack.security.enabled=true" \
    -e "xpack.security.authc.api_key.enabled=true" \
    docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.15.1

Elasticsearch will now be available on port 9200.

3. Generate passwords

Once the Elasticsearch instance has fully initiated, run the following in terminal A:

$ docker exec -it es1 ./bin/elasticsearch-setup-passwords auto

Confirm with [Y] and a a list of newly-generated passwords will be displayed.

Elasticsearch can now be accessed as the user elastic with the password generated in step 3.

4. Start Kibana

In terminal C, use the kibana_system password from the previous step to set the following environment variable:

$ KIBANA_SYSTEM_PASSWORD=<PASSWORD>

Then, also in terminal C, start Kibana:

$ docker run --name kib1 --net elk \
    -p 5601:5601 \
    -e "ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS=http://es1:9200" \
    -e "ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME=kibana_system" \
    -e "ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD=$KIBANA_SYSTEM_PASSWORD" \
    docker.elastic.co/kibana/kibana:7.15.1

Kibana will now be available on port 5601. Log in as elastic with the password generated in step 3.

Note that unlike Elasticsearch, Kibana cannot be terminated with Ctrl+C. Instead, use docker kill kib1 from Terminal A.

5. Start Enterprise Search

In terminal D, first set the Elasticsearch password variable based on the elastic user in step 3:

$ ELASTIC_PASSWORD=<PASSWORD>

Then, also in terminal D, start Enterprise Search:

$ docker run --name ent1 --net elk -p 3002:3002 \
  -e elasticsearch.host='http://es1:9200' \
  -e elasticsearch.username=elastic \
  -e elasticsearch.password=$ELASTIC_PASSWORD \
  -e allow_es_settings_modification=true \
  -e secret_management.encryption_keys='[4a2cd3f81d39bf28738c10db0ca782095ffac07279561809eecc722e0c20eb09]' \
docker.elastic.co/enterprise-search/enterprise-search:7.15.1

The log output will display a user name and password similar to that below. Make a note of these.

username: enterprise_search
password: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Enterprise Search will now be available on port 3002, and can be access using these credentials.