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Elasticsearch

Elasticsearch is a distributed search and storage solution used for log analytics, full-text search, security intelligence, business analytics, and operational intelligence use cases. This integration supports histogram aggregate queries that return either a single value or a single pair stored in n9-val field, any filtering or matches can be applied as long as the output follows the mentioned format.

Authentication​

The Nobl9 Agent calls the Elasticsearch Get API | Elasticsearch Documentation. To call the Elasticsearch API, you must provide a token. The token can be obtained from the Kibana control panel. All of the required steps are documented by ElasticSearch and can be found here.

Custom Authorization Header​

For the Agent version equal or greater than 0.37.0, you can set ELASTICSEARCH_CUSTOM_AUTHORIZATION_HEADER environment variable to authenticate.

If you want to use the custom header for authentication instead of the ELASTICSEARCH_TOKEN in your Agent config, you must add the variable ELASTICSEARCH_CUSTOM_AUTHORIZATION_HEADER with the appropriate value in the Kubernetes YAML or the Docker runtime. For more details, see the Deploying Elasticsearch Agent.

Scope of Support​

This integration supports the 7.9.1 version of Elasticsearch.

Adding Elasticsearch as a Data Source in the UI​

To add Elasticsearch as a data source in Nobl9 using the Agent connection method, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Integrations > Sources.
  2. Click the button.
  3. Click the relevant Source icon.
  4. Choose a relevant connection method (Agent or Direct), then configure the source as described below.

Elasticsearch Agent​

Agent Configuration in the UI​

Follow the instructions below to configure your Elasticsearch Agent:

  1. Add the URL to connect to your data source.
    The URL must point to the Elasticsearch app. If you are using Elastic Cloud, the URL can be obtained from here. Select your deployment, open the deployment details, and copy the Elasticsearch endpoint.
  1. Select a Project.
    Specifying a Project is helpful when multiple users are spread across multiple teams or projects. When the Project field is left blank then object is assigned to project default.
  2. Enter a Display Name.
    You can enter a friendly name with spaces in this field.
  3. Enter a Name.
    The name is mandatory and can only contain lowercase, alphanumeric characters and dashes (for example, my-project-name). This field is populated automatically when you enter a display name, but you can edit the result.
  4. Enter a Description.
    Here you can add details such as who is responsible for the integration (team/owner) and the purpose of creating it.
  5. Click the Add Data Source button.

Agent Using CLI - YAML​

The YAML for setting up an Agent connection to Elasticsearch looks like this:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Agent
metadata:
  name: elasticSearch
  displayName: Elastic Search Agent # optional
  project: elastic
spec:
  sourceOf:
    - Metrics
    - Services
  elasticsearch:
    url: https://observability-deployment-id.eu-central-1.aws.cloud.es.io:1234

The spec.elasticsearch.url must point to the Elasticsearch app.

warning

You can deploy only one Agent in one YAML file by using the sloctl apply command.

Deploying Elasticsearch Agent​

When you add the data source, Nobl9 automatically generates a Kubernetes configuration and a Docker command line for you to use to deploy the Agent. Both of these are available in the web UI, under the Agent Configuration section. Be sure to swap in your credentials (e.g., replace the <ELASTICSEARCH_TOKEN> with your organization key).

If you use Kubernetes, you can apply the supplied YAML config file to a Kubernetes cluster to deploy the Agent. It will look something like this:

# DISCLAIMER: This deployment description contains only the fields necessary for the purpose of this demo.
# It is not a ready-to-apply k8s deployment description, and the client_id and client_secret are only exemplary values.
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-elasticsearch-elastic-test
  namespace: default
type: Opaque
stringData:
  elasticsearch_token: <ELASTICSEARCH_TOKEN>
  client_id: "unique_client_id"
  client_secret: "unique_client_secret"
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-elasticsearch-elastic-test
  namespace: default
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      nobl9-agent-name: elastic-test
      nobl9-agent-project: elasticsearch
      nobl9-agent-organization: nobl9-dev
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        nobl9-agent-name: elastic-test
        nobl9-agent-project: elasticsearch
        nobl9-agent-organization: nobl9-dev
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: agent-container
          image: nobl9/agent:latest
          resources:
            requests:
              memory: "350Mi"
              cpu: "0.1"
          env:
            - name: N9_CLIENT_ID
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: client_id
                  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-elasticsearch-elastic-test
            - name: N9_CLIENT_SECRET
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: client_secret
                  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-elasticsearch-elastic-test
            - name: ELASTICSEARCH_TOKEN
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  key: elasticsearch_token
                  name: nobl9-agent-nobl9-dev-elasticsearch-elastic-test
            # The N9_METRICS_PORT is a variable specifying the port to which the /metrics and /health endpoints are exposed.
            # The 9090 is the default value and can be changed.
            # If you don’t want the metrics to be exposed, comment out or delete the N9_METRICS_PORT variable.
            - name: N9_METRICS_PORT
              value: "9090"

Creating SLOs with Elasticsearch​

Creating SLOs in the UI​

Follow the instructions below to create your SLOs with Elasticsearch in the UI:

  1. Navigate to Service Level Objectives.

  2. Click the button.

  3. In step 1 of the SLO wizard, select the Service the SLO will be associated with.

  4. In step 2, select Elasticsearch as the Data Source for your SLO.

  5. Enter the Index Name.
    For information on how to obtain it, refer to the Index Name | Elasticsearch Documentation.

  6. Specify the Metric. You can choose either a Threshold Metric, where a single time series is evaluated against a threshold or a Ratio Metric, which allows you to enter two time series to compare (for example, a count of good requests and total requests).

    note

    For the Ratio Metric, you can choose the Data Count Method:

    • For the Non-incremental method, we expect it to be the components of the sum.
    • For the Incremental method, we expect the value of a metric to be the current sum of some numerator.

    For more information, refer to the SLO Calculations Guide.

  7. Enter a Query or Query for good counter and Query for total counter for the metric you selected.
    For examples of queries, refer to the section below.

    For details on Elasticsearch queries, refer to the Scope of Support for Elasticsearch Queries section.

  8. In step 3, define a Time Window for the SLO.

  9. In step 4, specify the Error Budget Calculation Method and your Objective(s).

  10. In step 5, add a Name, Description, and other details about your SLO. You can also select Alert Policies and Labels on this screen.

  11. When you’re done, click Create SLO.

SLOs with Elasticsearch - YAML samples​

Here’s an example of Elasticsearch using a rawMetric (Threshold metric):

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
  name: elasticsearch-rawmetric-calendar
  project: elasticsearch
spec:
  service: elasticsearch-service
  indicator:
    metricSource:
      name: elasticsearch
  timeWindows:
    - unit: Day
      count: 7
      calendar:
        startTime: 2020-07-19 00:00:00
        timeZone: Europe/Warsaw
  budgetingMethod: Occurrences
  objectives:
    - displayName: Good
      target: 0.75
      op: lte
      rawMetric:
        query:
          elasticsearch:
            index: apm-7.13.3-transaction
            query: |-
              {
                  "query": {
                      "bool": {
                          "must": [
                              {
                                  "match": {
                                      "service.name": "weloveourpets_xyz"
                                  }
                              },
                              {
                                  "match": {
                                      "transaction.result": "HTTP 2xx"
                                  }
                              }
                          ],
                          "filter": [
                              {
                                  "range": {
                                      "@timestamp": {
                                          "gte": "{{.BeginTime}}",
                                          "lte": "{{.EndTime}}"
                                      }
                                  }
                              }
                          ]
                      }
                  },
                  "size": 0,
                  "aggs": {
                      "resolution": {
                          "date_histogram": {
                              "field": "@timestamp",
                              "fixed_interval": "{{.Resolution}}",
                              "min_doc_count": 0,
                              "extended_bounds": {
                                  "min": "{{.BeginTime}}",
                                  "max": "{{.EndTime}}"
                              }
                          },
                          "aggs": {
                              "n9-val": {
                                  "avg": {
                                      "field": "transaction.duration.us"
                                  }
                              }
                          }
                      }
                  }
              }
      value: 100
    - displayName: Bad
      target: 0.90
      op: lte
      rawMetric:
        query:
          elasticsearch:
            index: apm-7.13.3-transaction
            query: |-
              {
                  "query": {
                      "bool": {
                          "must": [
                              {
                                  "match": {
                                      "service.name": "weloveourpets_xyz"
                                  }
                              },
                              {
                                  "match": {
                                      "transaction.result": "HTTP 2xx"
                                  }
                              }
                          ],
                          "filter": [
                              {
                                  "range": {
                                      "@timestamp": {
                                          "gte": "{{.BeginTime}}",
                                          "lte": "{{.EndTime}}"
                                      }
                                  }
                              }
                          ]
                      }
                  },
                  "size": 0,
                  "aggs": {
                      "resolution": {
                          "date_histogram": {
                              "field": "@timestamp",
                              "fixed_interval": "{{.Resolution}}",
                              "min_doc_count": 0,
                              "extended_bounds": {
                                  "min": "{{.BeginTime}}",
                                  "max": "{{.EndTime}}"
                              }
                          },
                          "aggs": {
                              "n9-val": {
                                  "avg": {
                                      "field": "transaction.duration.us"
                                  }
                              }
                          }
                      }
                  }
              }
      value: 250
    - displayName: Terrible
      target: 0.95
      op: lte
      rawMetric:
        query:
          elasticsearch:
            index: apm-7.13.3-transaction
            query: |-
              {
                  "query": {
                      "bool": {
                          "must": [
                              {
                                  "match": {
                                      "service.name": "weloveourpets_xyz"
                                  }
                              },
                              {
                                  "match": {
                                      "transaction.result": "HTTP 2xx"
                                  }
                              }
                          ],
                          "filter": [
                              {
                                  "range": {
                                      "@timestamp": {
                                          "gte": "{{.BeginTime}}",
                                          "lte": "{{.EndTime}}"
                                      }
                                  }
                              }
                          ]
                      }
                  },
                  "size": 0,
                  "aggs": {
                      "resolution": {
                          "date_histogram": {
                              "field": "@timestamp",
                              "fixed_interval": "{{.Resolution}}",
                              "min_doc_count": 0,
                              "extended_bounds": {
                                  "min": "{{.BeginTime}}",
                                  "max": "{{.EndTime}}"
                              }
                          },
                          "aggs": {
                              "n9-val": {
                                  "avg": {
                                      "field": "transaction.duration.us"
                                  }
                              }
                          }
                      }
                  }
              }
      value: 500

Scope of Support for Elasticsearch Queries​

When data from Elastic APM is used, @timestamp is an example of a field that holds the timestamp of the document. Another field can be utilized according to the schema used.

Use the following links in the Elasticsearch guides for context:

The Nobl9 agent requires that the search result are a time series. The agent expects the date_histogram aggregation is named resolution will be used, and will be the source of the timestamps with child aggregation named n9-val, which is the source of the value(s).

{
  "aggs": {
        "resolution": {
            "date_histogram": {
                "field": "@timestamp",
                "fixed_interval": "{{.Resolution}}",
                "min_doc_count": 0,
                "extended_bounds": {
                    "min": "{{.BeginTime}}",
                    "max": "{{.EndTime}}"
                }
            },
            "aggs": {
                "n9-val": {
                    "avg": {
                        "field": "transaction.duration.us"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

  1. Date Histogram Aggregation | Elasticsearch Documentation

    • The recommendation is to use fixed_interval with date_histogram and pass {{.Resolution}} placeholder as the value. This will enable Nobl9 agent to control data resolution.

    • The query must not use a fixed_interval longer than 1 minute because queries are done every 1 minute for a 1-minute time range.

  2. Date Histogram Aggregation Fixed Intervals | Elasticsearch Documentation

    • The "field": "@timestamp" must match the field used in the filter query.

    • Use the extended_bounds with the "{{.BeginTime}}", "{{.EndTime}}" placeholders as a filter query.

note

The {{.BeginTime}} and {{.EndTime}} are mandatory placeholders and must be included in the query. If you use filter and aggregations parameters in your query, then, the {{.BeginTime}} and {{.EndTime}} placeholders are required in both parameters.

The placeholders are then replaced by the Nobl9 Agent with the correct time range values.

  1. Metrics Aggregations | Elasticsearch Documentation

    • The n9-val must be a metric aggregation.

    • The single value metric aggregation value is used as the value of the time series.

    • The multi-value metric aggregation first returns a non-null value and is used as the value of the time series. In the following example, the null values are skipped.

      "aggs": {
          "n9-val": {
              ...
          }
      }

  2. The elasticsearch.index is the index name when the query completes.

Querying the Elasticsearch Server​

Nobl9 calls Elasticearch Get API every minute and retrieves the data points from the previous minute to the present time point. The number of data points is dependent on how much data the customer has stored.

Elasticsearch API Rate Limits​

Elasticsearch rate limits are configurable by setting the search.max_buckets. Depending on the settings of the target cluster, the default limitations are 65,536 buckets for aggregate queries. For more information, refer to the Search Settings | Elasticsearch Documentation.

ElasticSearch Authentication | Elasticsearch Documentation

Elasticsearch Get API | Elasticsearch Documentation

Elasticsearch APM | Elasticsearch Documentation

Boolean Query | Elasticsearch Documentation

Query and Filter Context | Elasticsearch Documentation

Filter Aggregation | Elasticsearch Documentation

Range Query | Elasticsearch Documentation

Elasticsearch Index | Elasticsearch Documentation

Search Settings | Elasticsearch Documentation

Agent Metrics | Nobl9 Documentation

Creating SLOs via Terraform | Nobl9 Terraform Documentation

Creating Agents via Terraform | Nobl9 Terraform Documentation

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