Windows installers for the Elastic stack

This is the repository for the Elastic stack MSI-based Windows installers.

Building

Simply clone the repository and run

build.bat

This will download the latest version of the stack (currently only Elasticsearch) and create the MSIs.

You can also specify a specific version

build.bat 5.1.1

There are many other configuration options available, run the following to see them all

build.bat help

NOTE: Building from source should only be done for development purposes. Only the officially distributed and signed Elastic installer should be used in production. Using an unofficial Elastic installer is not supported.

Installing from the command-line

Instead of installing through the UI, it is also possible to perform an installation in "quiet" mode via the command-line using msiexec and passing the /qn flag, which will invoke the installer without the UI. This can be particularly useful for automating deployments.

start /wait msiexec.exe /i elasticsearch-5.5.0.msi /qn

You can also optionally specify a log file

start /wait msiexec.exe /i elasticsearch-5.5.0.msi /qn /l elastic-install.log

All of the configurable options available in the UI are also exposed as command line arguments to msiexec:

start /wait msiexec.exe /i elasticsearch-5.5.0.msi /qn /l elastic-install.log NODENAME=my_node_name CLUSTERNAME=my_cluster_name

Command-line options

Parameter name	Description	Default value
INSTALLDIR	Elasticsearch installation path	%ProgramW6432%\Elastic\Elasticsearch
DATADIRECTORY	Data directory path	%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Elastic\Elasticsearch\data
CONFIGDIRECTORY	Config directory path	%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Elastic\Elasticsearch\config
LOGSDIRECTORY	Logs directory path	%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Elastic\Elasticsearch\logs
CLUSTERNAME	Cluster name	elasticsearch
NODENAME	Node name	%COMPUTERNAME%
UNICASTHOSTS	Comma-delimited list of unicast nodes
HTTPPORT	Port to use for HTTP communication	9200
TRANSPORTPORT	Port to use for transport (node-to-node communication)	9300
MINIMUMMASTERNODES	Minimum number of master eligible nodes	1
MASTERNODE	Whether this node should be master eligible	true
DATANODE	Whether or not to make this a data node	true
INGESTNODE	Whether or not to make this an ingest node	true
NETWORKHOST	Hostname to bind to and advertise to other nodes
SELECTEDMEMORY	Amount of memory to allocate to the JVM	2GB. If the target machine has less than 4GB RAM, then 50% RAM
LOCKMEMORY	Whether or not to lock JVM memory	false
INSTALLASSERVICE	Install as a Windows service	true
STARTAFTERINSTALL	Start the service after install is completed	true
STARTWHENWINDOWSSTARTS	Start the service when Windows starts (Automatic)	true
USELOCALSYSTEM	Run the service as the LOCALSYSTEM user	true
USENETWORKSERVICE	Run the service as the NETWORKSERVICE user	false
USEEXISTINGUSER	Run the service as the specified USER	false
USER	Existing user to run the service as
PASSWORD	Password for the existing user
PLUGINS	Comma-delimited list of plugins to install

Running as a service

If Elasticsearch was installed as a service via the MSI, then it can be controlled using the native Windows sc utility.

sc start Elasticsearch

to start the service, or

sc stop Elasticsearch

to stop it.

Configuring Elasticsearch specific settings while running as a service is as simple as editing the elasticsearch.yml and jvm.options files, and then restarting the service.

Running from the command-line

In addition to installing and running Elasticsearch as a service, it can also be started from the command-line by calling elasticsearch.exe located in the bin directory, much like the original elasticsearch.bat that's distributed with the zip file.

It also accepts the same command-line arguments as the original bat file.

./elasticsearch.exe -E cluster.name=my_cluster_name -E node.name=my_node_name

Reporting problems

To report any problems encountered during installation, or to request features, please open an issue. We ask that you please attach the MSI log file if applicable.

When installing from the command-line, the log file can be captured by passing the /l <logfilename>. When installing through the UI, a link to the log file will be provided at the end of the installation.

For general questions and comments, please use the Elastic discussion forum.