Elasticsearch
Elasticsearch is an open-source, distributed search and analytics engine based on the Apache Lucene library. It is designed to operate in near real-time, providing scalable, fast, and accurate text-based search capabilities along with numerous analytical functions.
Elasticsearch can store, search, and analyze large volumes of structured and unstructured data, making it a popular choice for various use cases such as full-text search, log, and event data analysis, and application performance monitoring.
The ELK Stack is a collection of three open-source products or projects – Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana – developed and maintained by Elastic. The acronym "ELK" is derived from the initials of these products.
These tools work together to deliver end-to-end log and event data management, analysis, and visualization.
Elasticsearch has numerous use cases across various domains due to its powerful search and analytical capabilities. Some of its use cases include:
An Elasticsearch index is a logical namespace that stores collections of documents with similar characteristics. An Elasticsearch index is identified by a unique name, which helps in referring to the index during various operations such as searching, updating, and deleting.
In Elasticsearch, the data is stored in the form of JSON documents. Elasticsearch utilizes a data structure known as an inverted index, which is specifically designed to enable rapid full-text search. The inverted index notes down every distinct word in any document and then identifies the complete list of documents where each unique word appears.
Elasticsearch ensures data reliability through several features, including:
A node in Elasticsearch refers to a single running instance of the Elasticsearch process in a cluster. Node is used to store data and engage in the indexing as well as search capabilities of the cluster.
Nodes communicate with one another to distribute data and workload, ensuring a balanced and high-performing cluster. Nodes can be configured with different roles, which determine their responsibilities in the cluster.
By using nodes, Elasticsearch can scale to handle large amounts of data and traffic. Nodes can be added to a cluster as needed, and they can be removed without affecting the availability of data. This makes Elasticsearch a highly scalable and reliable solution for storing and searching data.
You can assign roles to the nodes by setting up node.roles in Elasticsearch.yml. However, if you don’t set nodes.roles, by default, nodes will be assigned the following roles:
When setting nodes.roles, make sure to cross-check that nodes have been assigned roles as per your cluster’s needs. For instance, master and data roles are a must for every cluster.
A shard in Elasticsearch is a logical division of an index. An index can have one or more shards, and each shard can be stored on a different node in the cluster. Shards are used to distribute data across multiple nodes, which improves performance and scalability.
There are two types of shards in Elasticsearch:
Primary shards are responsible for storing the original data, while replica shards are used to store backups of the data. By default, each index has one primary shard, but you can add additional primary shards to improve performance. You can also add replica shards to increase the availability of your data in the event of a node failure.
A replica in Elasticsearch is a copy of a primary shard. Replicas are used to improve the availability of data in the event of a node failure. By default, each index has one primary shard and zero or one replica shard. The number of replica shards can be configured, and it is recommended to have at least one replica shard for each primary shard.
Replicas are located on different nodes in the cluster. This ensures that if one node fails, the data will still be available on the other nodes. Replicas are also updated in real-time, so they always have the most up-to-date data. Since replicas, just like primary shards, store a part of the index data, they can serve read requests, i.e., search and aggregation queries.
Having more replicas means that the search and read workload can be distributed among the primary and replica shards, which improves query performance and reduces the overall load on individual primary shards.
A document in Elasticsearch is a basic unit of information that can be indexed, stored, and searched. Documents are represented in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format, which is both human-readable and machine-parseable.
Each document consists of a collection of fields with their respective values, which can be of various data types like text, numbers, dates, geolocations, or booleans.
You can use the following commands:
The Elasticsearch query language is referred to as the Query DSL (Domain Specific Language). It is a powerful and flexible language used for expressing queries in Elasticsearch. Query DSL is built on top of JSON and is used to construct complex queries, filters, and aggregations.
Query DSL features a wide range of queries and search capabilities, which can be categorized into:
Query DSL also supports various other features like pagination, source filtering, highlighting, and sorting, enabling users to build even more sophisticated search and analysis capabilities.
An index alias in Elasticsearch is a secondary name that can be used to refer to an index. Aliases can be used to make it easier to manage and use indexes. Aliases allow you to perform operations on multiple indices simultaneously or simplify index management by hiding the complexity of the underlying index structure.
Here are some of the benefits of using aliases in Elasticsearch:
In Elasticsearch, a mapping is a JSON object that defines the structure of a document. It specifies the fields that are allowed in a document, as well as their data types and other properties.
Mappings are used to control how documents are stored and indexed, and they also affect how documents can be searched and analyzed. Mappings are a powerful tool that can be used to store data in a structured way. They make it easier to search, filter, and analyze your data.
In Elasticsearch, an analyzer is a component that is used to tokenize text. Analyzers are used to break down text into smaller units called tokens. These tokens are then used to index and search the text. The primary goal of analyzers is to transform the raw text into a structured format (tokens) that can be efficiently searched and analyzed.
An analyzer consists of three main components:
Kibana is an open-source data visualization and exploration tool that works on top of Elasticsearch. Kibana allows you to:
Elasticsearch scales horizontally by distributing data across multiple nodes. Each node in an Elasticsearch cluster can store and process data. By adding more nodes to the cluster, you can increase the amount of data that can be stored and processed. Elasticsearch uses the concept of sharding and replication to scale horizontally.
Elasticsearch is a document-based NoSQL database designed for fast and flexible full-text search, analytics, and data manipulation. The primary operations you can perform on the documents stored in Elasticsearch are creating, reading, updating, and deleting, collectively known as CRUD operations.
An Elasticsearch cluster is a group of one or more interconnected nodes (servers) working together to handle search, indexing, and data management tasks. The cluster enables horizontal scaling, distributes data and operations across multiple nodes, and achieves high availability and fault tolerance by replicating data across these nodes.
Key concepts associated with Elasticsearch are:
The _source field in Elasticsearch is an important system field that stores the original JSON object that was passed when a document was indexed. It is an essential part of Elasticsearch as it enables a variety of functionalities and provides several benefits:
The inverted index is a core data structure used by Elasticsearch for efficient full-text search and retrieval. It is the backbone of Elasticsearch's search capabilities, enabling fast and accurate keyword-based search queries.
An inverted index works by breaking down text documents into smaller units called tokens. These tokens are then stored in a database, along with a list of the documents that contain the token. When a search query is performed, the inverted index is used to quickly find the documents that contain the search terms.
An inverted index is a powerful tool that can be used to search large amounts of text data and is used by various popular search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
Eventual consistency is a model used by some distributed systems like Elasticsearch, wherein the system guarantees that all nodes will eventually have a consistent view of the data, but not necessarily immediately after a write operation. In other words, it allows for temporary inconsistencies between nodes in order to prioritize better performance and availability.
Eventual consistency is a good choice for many applications because it provides a good balance between consistency and availability. With eventual consistency, you can be sure that your data will eventually be consistent, but you may not get the latest data immediately.
RDBMS (Relational Database Management System) and Elasticsearch are both data management systems but have different architectural principles.
A parent-child relationship in Elasticsearch is a way to model a hierarchical relationship between documents. In a parent-child relationship, one document (the parent) can have one or more child documents. The parent document is the root of the hierarchy, and the child documents are its descendants.
To create a parent-child relationship, specify the parent field in the child document. The parent field is a string that contains the ID of the parent document. When you index a child document, Elasticsearch will automatically associate it with the parent document.
Aggregations in Elasticsearch are a powerful feature that allows you to analyze, summarize, and perform complex calculations on your dataset in real-time. Aggregations provide the capability to group and extract actionable insights from indexed data, which can be used for data visualization, reporting, and analytical purposes.
There are three main types of aggregations in Elasticsearch:
In Elasticsearch, field data types define the nature of the values stored in a field and determine how the data is indexed, stored, and searched. When defining an index mapping, you can specify the field data type for each field to ensure appropriate handling and interpretation of the data.
Elasticsearch supports various field data types, each suited for different kinds of data such as text, keyword, numeric, date, boolean, binary, array, and object.
In Elasticsearch, refresh and flush are index management operations that handle the process of making indexed documents available for search and maintaining the durability and integrity of the data.
Refresh is an operation that makes changes to the index available for search. When you add or update a document in Elasticsearch, the change is not immediately available for search. Instead, it is first added to a buffer in memory. The refresh operation copies the changes from the buffer to the index, making them available for search.
A flush operation ensures that data that's stored in Elasticsearch's in-memory buffers (also known as the in-memory transaction log) is written to disk, providing durability and data integrity. It clears the in-memory buffers and frees up memory resources. In addition, the flush operation also commits the transaction log and starts a new one.
In Elasticsearch, the cat() API is a set of simple and concise APIs that provide information about the cluster, nodes, indices, and other components in a human-readable format. The cat() API is primarily used for troubleshooting, monitoring, and obtaining quick insights into the state and health of an Elasticsearch cluster.
Some of the common cat APIs are cat.indices, cat.nodes, cat.health, and cat.allocation among others.
In Elasticsearch, the cat.indices API provides a way to retrieve information about the indices in the cluster in a human-readable format. It allows you to obtain various details and statistics about the indices, such as their names, sizes, health status, number of documents, and more.
The cat.indices API is primarily used for monitoring and troubleshooting purposes, as it provides a quick and concise overview of the indices within the Elasticsearch cluster. It is often utilized by administrators and developers to gather essential information about the state and performance of the indices.
In Elasticsearch, the cat.nodes API is used to retrieve information about the nodes in an Elasticsearch cluster. It provides a concise and human-readable overview of the individual nodes, their roles, statuses, resource usage, and other relevant metrics.
It helps administrators, developers, and operators monitor the health, resource utilization, and roles of individual nodes, allowing for better cluster management, troubleshooting, and performance optimization.
In Elasticsearch, the cat.health API is used to retrieve information about the overall health status of the cluster. It provides a concise and human-readable overview of the health of the cluster and its indices. The cat.health API is useful for monitoring the overall health of the Elasticsearch cluster and gaining visibility into any potential issues related to shard allocation, replica shards, or unassigned shards.
It allows administrators and operators to quickly assess the state of the cluster and take appropriate actions to ensure its stability and performance.
In Elasticsearch, queries can be executed in two different contexts: the filter context and the query context.
In Elasticsearch, queries and filters are used to retrieve specific documents from an index, but they have some key differences in terms of their functionality and usage.
The comprehensive set of Elasticsearch questions and answers we have provided here can offer great insight and knowledge to both hiring managers and developers alike. If you are a hiring manager, these practical questions help assess a candidate's knowledge and expertise in Elasticsearch, ensuring they possess the necessary skills for the job.
By evaluating candidates' understanding of Elasticsearch's features, optimization techniques, data management, and cluster scalability, hiring managers can confidently identify qualified individuals. If you want Turing to help with pre-vetted Elasticsearch candidates for your full-time roles, then you can hire top Elasticsearch developers by signing up with us.
Developers can use these questions to prepare for their interview and finetune their understanding of different concepts related to Elasticsearch. For remote Elasticsearch jobs sign up at Turing and find dream jobs at Fortune 500 companies.
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