Introduction – Elasticsearch Plugins

Plugins are a way to enhance the core Elasticsearch functionality in a custom manner. They range from adding custom mapping types, custom analyzers, native scripts, custom discovery and more.

Plugins contain JAR files, but may also contain scripts and config files, and must be installed on every node in the cluster. After installation, each node must be restarted before the plugin becomes visible.

In our previous articles we have discussed how to install elasticsearch and ELK stack on CentOS 7. Now, in this article we will see how to install elasticsearch plugin.

Install Elasticsearch Plugins

To install plugins in elasticsearch:

1. Install Plugins from Elasticseach core/contributed plugins source i.e. Direct Install

Run bin/elasticsearch-plugin install from ES_HOME on each node in your cluster as follows:

[ansible@localhost elasticsearch]$ sudo bin/elasticsearch-plugin install [plugin_name]

For instance, to install the core ICU plugin, just run the following command:

[ansible@localhost elasticsearch]$ sudo bin/elasticsearch-plugin install analysis-icu

This command will install the version of the plugin that matches your Elasticsearch version and also show a progress bar while downloading. The plugin install scripts require direct internet access.

2. Install Plugins from Custom URL or File System

A plugin can also be downloaded directly from a custom location by specifying the URL:

[ansible@localhost elasticsearch]$ sudo bin/elasticsearch-plugin install [url]

must be a valid URL, the plugin name is determined from its descriptor.

To install a plugin from your local file system at /path/to/plugin.zip, you could run:

[ansible@localhost elasticsearch]$ sudo bin/elasticsearch-plugin install file:///path/to/plugin.zip

Note: After installation, each node must be restarted before the plugin becomes visible.

References:
https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/plugins/current/installation.html