Elasticsearch in Action

by Madhusudhan Konda

Build powerful, production-ready search applications using the incredible features of Elasticsearch.

Elasticsearch in Action, Second Edition is a hands-on guide to developing fully functional search engines with Elasticsearch and Kibana. Rewritten for the latest version of Elasticsearch, this completely new second edition explores Elasticsearch’s high-level architecture, reveals infrastructure patterns, and walks through the search and analytics capabilities of numerous Elasticsearch APIs.

You’ll quickly progress from the basics of installation and configuring clusters, to indexing documents, advanced aggregations, and putting your servers into production. By the time you’re done, you’ll be ready to build amazing search engines for your clients that take advantage of Elasticsearch’s modern features.

Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.

Genres: Technical, Programming

592 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2023

Reviews

[Zbyszek Sokolowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This clearly great book about ElasticSearch. I used to use extensively ES a few year, working with practitioners and certified ES developers I learned a lot. Later I participated in a few courses related to ES. While working with ElasticSearch I had a lot of questions and unknown stuff which I didn't understand why I supposed to do it in this or that way. Experts told me please implement it in this or that way and it worked out. Cool but still some details were unclear.

I have read most of first edition it was great, and well received. However recently I started second edition and I found it as a book related to ES which I was truly waiting for. From the very beginning it steadily and in a very nice manner introduces to ES concepts. And does what I was looking for it in systematic way fulfills my knowledge and answers question which I was looking for. Author has great didactic talent. This book is better that most online courses . Well structured, comprehensive. It is a real pleasure to read it. I can say that reader wants to read it further next and next chapter to see what will be next. I read a lot and I wish that all technical books will be written is a such way.

After reading it user will be able to write effective queries, queries are introduced in phases and they are described in a clear way. This is again what I would expect to read when I would start my ES way. Every aspect of work with queries, commands is clearly explained: what is it usage, where are caveats, why this what another thing. After reading it I can tell that yes I do understand. Only more hands on and I can work with ES in professional style.

Moreover, performance, administration, how indices are build everything is there.

I strongly recommend a book. It is one of the best technical book which I had a chance to read recently.

[Mihail Dilion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Previously had very poor understanding of what Elasticsearch is "something to search with..." and for many years it was enough for me as I didn't encounter it very often in projects and where it was present it was either very limited use case or already set up and nobody touched it.

Recently got another job where was assigned task to finish service migration after previous dev that left the company, didn't get any hand over or any explanations (but that's another story) and this service was heavily relying on ES, at the begging I was doing some superficial stuff around it but quickly realized that I lack understanding, start looking for resources found this book, many recommended it so I gave it a try and oh boy what an extraordinary book. Got a solid understanding of base concepts, was reading book in hours after work and implementing in practice what I've learn in the day after, thanks to it was able to quickly identify and fix an issue (schema mapping and wrong query) is a totally another feeling when you understand what you are doing :D

Smooth transitions through concepts and gradual increase in complexity of explained stuff combined with lots and lots of practical work in form of querying/aggregating provided datasets make it an excellent book, I am really glad I found and read it.

[Léa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of Elasticsearch, read this, understand it and you'll be in a good place to use and even administrate Elasticsearch.
But there are way too many mistakes to warrant 5 starts, I'd say one in 3 examples doesn't work. For example a search query with json that looks like this
{
size = 3,
"query": { ...

There are also a fair number of mistakes in the text. Also some places the text is too repetitive and detailed, others not enough. Overall it comes across as sloppy, I read quite a few of Manning's books as MEAPs and even those seem better written than this one.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finding It Quickly

This is an interesting book on Elasticsearch.

I am glad I got it.

It is really robust, and used by a lot of really large properties.

Definitely recommend checking out this software and book if you want to optimize your data lookups!

3.9/5

[Andres Sacco · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an incredible book to learn and understand what happens behind the scenes on Elastic.

[Simone Cafiero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

[Dissonantbr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tem alguns momentos de repetições, mas um ótimo livro. Vale a pena demais, mas se vc estiver com a faca no pescoço talvez seja melhor se orientar pelo indice.

[Raymond Cheung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elasticsearch in Action is a commendable resource that provides a clear and detailed explanation of Elasticsearch. Having used Elasticsearch since 2017, I was pleasantly surprised to discover new insights and aspects through this book. The content is not only beneficial for beginners, offering a solid foundation, but also serves as a valuable refresher for experienced users.

The book's clarity in presenting complex concepts and its attention to detail make it an invaluable guide. Whether you're delving into Elasticsearch for the first time or seeking to deepen your understanding, this book proves to be an excellent companion. The practical examples and real-world scenarios enhance the learning experience, making it applicable and relevant.

In summary, Elasticsearch in Action is a must-read for anyone working with Elasticsearch, offering a wealth of knowledge suitable for both beginners and those looking to refresh their understanding of this powerful tool.

[David Mackey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably the best, current book available on the topic. Unfortunately it isn't quite amazing. While it presents a lot of useful information it suffers in a few areas.

The first area is in it's duplication of material with slight differences in wording. This occurs throughout the text and makes it more wordy than was required. This isn't an issue I see that frequently in technical books.

The second area is quite common in technical books - a somewhat lopsided coverage of various topics. There are some areas where topics are covered in-depth and other areas where more interesting topics are covered only in a cursory manner.

[Adam Wan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a great book providing you how the elasticsearch works.

- You will know how to use it properly.
- You will know how elasticsearch itself designs.
- You will get some tips on how to use it smartly and not hit the pitfalls.

The only thing I complain is there will be more references on performance & administration.

[Adam Wan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is one of the few ones with latest reference for Elasticsearch. Instead of an Action book, I feel it is more like a bible explaining different level of ES on architecting, usage and administration.

I am pretty impressed by the tips shared by the Author to use ES. Those are very handy but helpful.