Unlock SQL & Elasticsearch Power with Open Distro

Unlock the Power of Open Distro: A Comprehensive Guide to Querying Elasticsearch with SQL

Open Distro is an open-source, enterprise-grade Elasticsearch distribution that offers a robust security option, alerting, integrated event monitoring, performance analysis, and more. One of its most exciting features is the ability to interact with a cluster using SQL, making it easier for developers familiar with SQL to hit the ground running with writing Elasticsearch queries.

Getting Started with Open Distro

To begin, you’ll need to install and configure Open Distro for development. You can install the standalone plugin on your machine, just like any other ES plugin on a compatible cluster. Make sure you have a compatible ES version on your machine, and follow the installation instructions in the documentation.

Ingesting Data into Your ES Cluster

Once you’ve set up Open Distro, you can ingest data into your ES cluster using a simple Node.js script. This script will allow you to write data to the cluster, which you can then query using SQL statements.

Querying Your Cluster with SQL

Open Distro for Elasticsearch SQL allows you to write queries in SQL rather than the DSL. To use this feature, send all your requests to the /_opendistro/_sql URI or endpoint. You can use either GET or POST requests, but POST requests are recommended due to their flexibility and lack of content length limitations.

Endpoints and Operations

The _opendistro/_sql endpoint supports several operations, including:

• GET: Send regular HTTP GET requests with your query embedded in the URL parameter.
• POST: Send HTTP POST requests with your query in the request body.
• explain: Use the explain endpoint to translate a query and troubleshoot issues.

SQL Features and Supported Protocols

Open Distro for SQL supports a range of features, including:

• SELECT, DELETE, WHERE, ORDER BY, GROUP BY, INNER JOIN, SHOW, and more
• Aggregation functions like COUNT(), MIN(), MAX(), AVG(), and more
• Conditional statements like BETWEEN, IN, and more
• Functions like DATE_FORMAT() and FLOOR()

The SQL plugin also provides multiple response formats for different purposes, including JDBC format, which is widely used due to its schema information and additional functionality.

Exploring Additional Plugin Settings and Options

When Elasticsearch bootstraps, the SQL plugin registers several settings in the ES cluster settings. These settings can be updated dynamically, giving you control over the behavior of your installed plugin without needing to touch your cluster configurations.

Plugin Monitoring

You can collect metrics for your plugin using the /stats endpoint, which allows you to monitor plugin performance within a particular time duration.

Getting the Most Out of Open Distro

Open Distro offers a range of features and capabilities that make it easier to interact with Elasticsearch clusters. By following this tutorial, you’ve learned how to query Elasticsearch data using SQL with Open Distro. To learn more about other features and capabilities, be sure to check out the official documentation.