Is xpack installed or not by default in elastic search cluster

Elastic Stack Elasticsearch
1

The documentation on the site is not clear.

The documentation leads you around in circles. I'm trying to configure some automation to create dedicated data, coordinator, and master nodes and I'm having trouble understanding the correct configuration to use. It states in the documentation that if xpack is installed then you should follow a different set of instructions.

I wasn't sure if xpack was installed on a fresh install (through some chef automation) so I started to google "how to install xpack" and "is xpack installed by default" etc.

The documentation seems to be a bit broken:

https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elastic-stack-overview/current/installing-xpack.html

Installing X-Packedit
By default, when you install Elasticsearch, Kibana, and Logstash, X-Pack is installed. For more information, see:

but here a bit different:

Installing X-Pack
You must install Elasticsearch and Kibana before you install X-Pack. If you plan to use the X-Pack features in Logstash, you must also install Logstash before you install X-Pack. For more information, see:

So basically I don't understand what the situation is. Should I assume xpack is installed and follow the instructions on configuring the master , data, coordination nodes from

here: Node | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic
and
here: Node | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic
and
here: Node | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic

or should I follow the instructions assuming the case that xpack is installed from
here: Node | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic

Notice there are slight differences
search.remote.connect: false is missing from master and that there are special node attributes regarding ml

2

ES version 6.3 and newer should have x-pack installed by default. If you check the later link it is for ES x-pack version 6.2. I guess there is no newer documentation as it is now installed by default...

1 Like
3

very confusing, the documentation should be very clear on this. First line should be "XPACK is ALWAYS installed along with elastic search"

4

There are two distributions of the Elastic stack, including Elasticsearch, for 6.3.0

  1. The default distribution, including source code/files/components licensed under Apache 2.0 and the Elastic license, which includes X-Pack. An X-Pack Basic license is free and perpetual and provides access to the X-Pack features included as part of the Basic license level
  2. The OSS distribution, licensed under Apache 2.0, which does not include X-Pack.

Take a look at the Doubling Down on Open blog post and the We Opened X-Pack documentation for further details.

As @A_B points out, the second link that you've posted refers to the Elastic Stack 6.2, in which there is only one distribution, licensed under Apache 2.0, into which you would install X-Pack. I would recommend always reading the documentation relevant to the Major and Minor version that you're working with.

Hope that clarifies things better. We try hard to ensure that our documentation is as accurate as possible for each version, and appreciate knowing where we can improve it :smiley:

2 Likes
5

ok thanks for the clarification. Installing through "yum install elasticsearch" will include the xpack?

6

If you install the official release of Elasticsearch 6.3, then yes.

The install instructions are here:

7

This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.