ELK Stack Tutorial – Why Is It Important In 2021?

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this comprehensive ELK Stack tutorial. The IT infrastructure is switching rapidly to Cloud and this has created the need for tools to secure the public Cloud. The platform for log analytics is also increasing at a rapid rate. A vast amount of data gets generated daily irrespective of the company size and a major chunk of this data is of the server logs of the company’s website. Unfortunately, the logs are among the most crucial but the most neglected information source. Each of these log files contains invaluable information pieces which make no sense and are usually unstructured.

If the log data is not carefully analyzed then this can inhibit the organization from grabbing new opportunities and also can cause threats. This is where there is the need for tools to carry out log analysis.

1. What Is ELK Stack?
2. ELK Stack Architecture
3. ELK Stack Installation
4. Elasticsearch Tutorial
5. Logstash Tutorial
6. Kibana Tutorial

1.What Is ELK Stack?

ELK stack or Elastic Stack is a collection of three powerful open source tools namely Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana.

These three products are used together for log analysis in varied environments. The ELK Stack tutorial allows performing centralized logging which allows identifying the problems using web applications and servers. It allows searching through the logs in one single place and lets you identify the issues that span through various servers which it does by correlating the logs within a specific time frame.

• Logstash – This is the pipeline tool for data collection.
• Elasticsearch – This is a flexible and a destructed analysis and search engine tool
• Kibana – This is a data visualization tool

Let us now talk about the ELK stack architecture.

2.ELK Stack Architecture

The logs that are generated from different sources are processed by Logstash which is based on the filter data that is provided. Logstash will then pipe the logs to the Elasticsearch which will then analyze and search the data. Finally, with the help of Kabana, the logs get visualized and then managed as per what the requirements are.

3.ELK Stack Installation

Here are the steps to follow to install the ELK stack.

• Go to the website https://www.elastic.co/downloads
• Select Elasticsearch and then download it
• Select and then download Kibana
• Select and download the Logstash
• Unzip the three files and then get the folder files
• Open the Elasticsearch folder and then go to the bin folder
• To begin the Elasticsearch server double click on the elastcisearch.bat file
• Wait until the Elasticsearch server starts
• Type localhost:9200 to check if the server has started
• Open the Kibana folder and then go to the bin folder
• Double click on the kibana.bat file and then start the Elasticsearch server
• Wait until the Kibana server starts
• Go to the browser and type to see if the server has started
• Open the Logstash folder
• Open the command prompt to test if the Logstash has been installed
• Wait for the “Pipeline main started” to appear in the command prompt
• Enter any message in the command prompt and hit enter
• Logstash will append the IP address and the timestamp information

4.Elasticsearch Tutorial

Elasticsearch is a scalable search engine that runs above the Java-based Lucene engine. It is a NoSQL database. Three main steps need to be followed when you work with Elasticsearch. They are:

• Indexing is the process of adding the data in Elasticsearch
• Mapping is the process to set the schema of the index
• Searching lets you search for any particular result. 

There are three ways of searching the Elasticsearch which you will learn in the ELK Stack tutorial. These are:

• Using the queries
• Using the filters
• Using the aggregations

5.Logstash Tutorial

Logstash is a pipeline tool that is used to collect and forward events or logs. The open-source data collection engine integrates data dynamically through various sources and then normalizes it to a specified destination.

Using inputs, filters, and output plugins the Logstash will allow the easy transformation of several events. Logstash will need an input and an output plugin that is specified in its configurational file to carry out the transformations.

6.Kibana Tutorial

Kibana is an open-source visualization and an analytics tool. It helps to visualize the data that gets piped down by the Logstash and this is stored in the Elasticsearch. The Kibana can be used to search, view, and interact with the data that is stored and then visualized in many tables, charts, and maps. The Kibana is browser-based and it simplifies huge data volumes and reflects the changes in real-time in Elasticsearch queries. It is also possible to create, personalize, save and share the dashboard as well.

Here are the different functions that you need to perform data analysis.

• Management Page is where the runtime configuration of Kabana is performed
• Discover Page gives access to each document that is present in the index which matches with the index pattern
• Visualize Page lets you visualize the data that is present in the Elasticsearch indices
• Dashboard Page displays the saved visualization collection
• Timeline Page is a time series visualization that brings the indented data sources in a single interface
• Dev Tools Page contains the tools for development

CONCLUSION

This brings us to the end of this ELK Stack tutorial. Elastic Stack or ELS stack tutorial is a complete solution of log analysis that allows deep searching, data analyzing, and then visualizing it. This is for the log that gets generated from various machines. 

This ELK Stack tutorial gives you all the insights that you need.

It is also important to find the right place to learn and become proficient in all these skills and languages. Jigsaw Academy, recognized as one of the Top 10 Data Science Institutes in India, is the right place for you. Jigsaw Academy offers an Integrated Program In Business Analytics for enthusiasts in this field. The course runs for 10 months and is conducted live online. Learners are offered a joint certificate by the Indian Institute of Management, Indore, and Jigsaw Academy.

ALSO READ

• Beginner’s Guide To 4 Types Of Analytics
• Bottom Up Parsing: A Basic Concise Guide in 5 Points
• Cohort Analysis: An Interesting Overview For 2021