How To Set Up Elasticsearch on Heroku

Use Elasticsearch Features on HerokuPower your data collection and analysis processes with Elasticsearch on Heroku. While Heroku streamlines your app developing process, this search engine add-on allows data analysts and app developers to manage, sort, and analyze information in near real-time. Explore the benefits of these two tools and how Integrate.io provides innovative data integration.

How Elasticsearch Improves Your Heroku Experience

Heroku is already a convenient platform for developers, so how does this add-on improve the experience? Primarily, it offers access and retrieval of data in nearly real-time. Use Elasticsearch to quickly sort through website, application, or enterprise information.

It also provides enhanced security analytics and infrastructure metrics. Once data is fully integrated with Heroku PostgreSQL, this search and analysis add-on streamlines your ability to interact with various points.

Install the Elasticsearch Add-On

Use these steps to install the Elasticsearch to your Heroku platform. This open-source search engine leverages the convenience of the managed container system of the Heroku platform for a simplified data collection and analysis experience.

Start by entering the following command using the Heroku command:

• $ heroku add-ons:create foundelasticsearch

The newly provisioned cluster can be accessed through the canonical URL in the app configuration.

Access Features on the Dashboard

The Heroku platform allows you to automate reporting and access the Elastic Cloud dashboard. Once the add-on is successfully installed, you have access to this dashboard through Heroku. Choose one or more of the following tasks on your new dashboard:

• Configure Shield
• Upgrade Elasticsearch version
• View logs emitted from nodes

Combine your cloud platform as a service, or PaaS, with the open-source Elasticsearch to streamline the information moving process. You must choose a target data warehouse, like Snowflake or Amazon Redshift, to store your information.

Once stored, Elasticsearch allows you to search and analyze information using the following features.

Documents

At its heart, Elasticsearch provides JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, information and processes JSON requests. The basic, indexable information unit in this search engine is a document. Use this search process to look for documents that are text, strings, numbers, or dates. It automatically categorizes documents by type and unique ID to organize server information.

Indices

Similar documents are collected into an index, which can still be queried against using this open-source tool. Every index has a name that is used to identify it as you update, delete or search indices. This method of organization is similar to databases in relational databases.

Indices in Elasticsearch are stored and mapped using an inverted index strategy. This common search engine mechanism creates a map-like data structure for improved search speed and best-match, full-text searches.

Nodes

A single server works as a node in a cluster. It stores information and is for search capabilities and indexing in the following configurations:

• Master node
• Client node
• Data node

Clusters

One or more node instances connect to form a cluster. Elasticsearch clusters data and then distributes searching, tasks and indexing across all the nodes. The result is streamlined searches, aggregation, and indexing.

Shards

When indices need to be subdivided, this search engine employs shards. Technically, every shard can operate as an independent index, but it can be hosted throughout the cluster on any node. Create redundancy in your data storage and documentation using multiple shards that distribute data across multiple servers.

Replica shards are exact copies of a shard, which adds another layer to the redundancy data protection strategy. In the event of high serve read request levels or hardware failure, your data is protected in a replica shard.

Configure Role-Based Access Control and Rotate Credentials

Older versions of Elasticsearch allow anyone who knows a cluster ID to access cluster data. If you have version 5.0 or older, you may need additional security features. Even recent versions of Elasticsearch can benefit from X-Pack security features and rotating credentials.

Configure role-based access control using X-Pack, or Shield if you have an older version of Elasticsearch. This allows for authentication steps to protect your information.

Select “Shield” or “Security” in the top menu to change users and/or reset your password. Rotating your credentials reduces the risk of information theft.

Use Elasticsearch Features on Heroku

If you’re already using Heroku to power Salesforce, Elasticsearch and Integrate.io are natural additions to improve information management and the ETL process. Here are the Elasticsearch features that you can gain when you install this add-on to Heroku:

APM

Once you house system metrics and logs in this search engine, use Elastic APM to monitor application performance. See where slowdowns originate and investigate root causes with this excellent feature.

Metrics

Visualize infrastructure metrics across multiple sources with Elastic Metrics. Use these metrics to diagnose problematic spikes and find hotspots. You can easily alter cardinals, tags, and fields for responsive metric analysis.

Logs

The free-and-open log platform allows you to deploy hot-warm architecture for observing and logging. Once you index data, you can monitor trends with intuitive log categorization features. This feature scales with your company without the need for re-architecting.

Comprehensive Searches

Search across a broad and diverse range of documents, indices, and nodes with Elasticsearch. Here are just a few areas where you can view, sort, and analyze information:

• Workplace search
• App search
• Site search
• Maps

Uptime

This feature doesn’t just offer uptime or downtime binary monitoring but offers additional information for data points to contextualize the process. Discover host availability and monitor websites, API, services, and certificates using Elasticsearch.

Endpoint security and SIEM

Comprehensive search features aid in automated threat detection and interactive investigation features. Through SIEM and endpoint security, this Heroku add-on assists you in detecting, preventing, and responding to security threats.

SearchBox and Bonsai

Because Elasticsearch is an open-source search engine, there are several alternative services to consider as you integrate it into your Heroku PaaS. Two options are SearchBox and Bonsai. These both offer additional features for searching, analyzing, and protecting your data clusters.

Before you use this search engine add-on with Heroku, you need to find a way to extract, transform and load information. Create visualized data pipelines with Integrate.io and integrate Heroku ETL to your warehouse.

Analyze and Integrate Data With Integrate.io

Choose scalable solutions to integrate, process, and prepare information. The powerful combination of Heroku, Elasticsearch, and Integrate.io gives you code-free data integration, enhanced endpoint security, and an innovative ecosystem to deploy and run your app. Contact Integrate.io for a 7-day demo to kick off your next project and move forward in your goals as a developer or data analyst.