# Using a separate Kibana server with APM and an AWS ES Cluster
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-a-separate-kibana-server-with-apm-and-an-aws-es-cluster/196153
**Category:** APM
**Created:** [August 21, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-a-separate-kibana-server-with-apm-and-an-aws-es-cluster/196153 "2019-08-21T15:54:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Auroan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Auroan)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-a-separate-kibana-server-with-apm-and-an-aws-es-cluster/196153/1 "2019-08-21T15:54:35Z")
I working with a colleague on an AWS hosted ES solution where APM is going to be used. We understand that the APM Kibana UI is incompatible with ES as a Service on AWS, using the built in Kibana Plugin.
However, If we were to deploy a standalone kibana EC2 instance which is configured to talk to the ES as a Service Cluster (much like APM Server would do) would this be a viable alternative to a self managed fleet of EC2 instances ?
---
### Author:  [@gil](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/gil)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-a-separate-kibana-server-with-apm-and-an-aws-es-cluster/196153/2 "2019-08-21T16:39:03Z")
That's not viable, you'll need the default distribution of Elasticsearch to use the APM UI with, which is not available on AWS ES. You can deploy [Elastic's own Elasticsearch service](https://www.elastic.co/products/elasticsearch/service) on AWS, which includes apm-server, for a fully hosted solution including the APM UI.
---
### Author:  [@Auroan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Auroan)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-a-separate-kibana-server-with-apm-and-an-aws-es-cluster/196153/3 "2019-08-21T16:52:58Z")
So is there a component of the APM UI thats built into the Elastic Search nodes ? or is it just a licencing issue ?
I could understand it if was using a feature in ES it's self. But if the UI is part of Kibana and Kibana is on a separate server to the ES cluster what is the preventative issue ?
---
### Author:  [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-a-separate-kibana-server-with-apm-and-an-aws-es-cluster/196153/4 "2019-08-21T20:15:29Z")
The default distribution of Kibana contains proprietary features and is designed to require the default distribution of Elasticsearch. This limitation is there primarily for commercial reasons (as far as I can tell) as it allows the [Elastic Cloud Elasticsearch service to differentiate itself based on features compared to AWS ES](https://www.elastic.co/aws-elasticsearch-service). It is therefore as you said a licensing issue.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-a-separate-kibana-server-with-apm-and-an-aws-es-cluster/196153/5 "2019-09-11T16:15:29Z")
This topic was automatically closed 20 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.