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reviewer1510395 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Real User
A search and analytics engine that's very fast, but the price could be better
Pros and Cons
  • "I like how it allows us to connect to Kafka and get this data in a document format very easily. Elasticsearch is very fast when you do text-based searches of documents. That area is very good, and the search is very good."
  • "The price could be better. Kibana has some limitations in terms of the tablet to view event logs. I also have a high volume of data. On the initialization part, if you chose Kibana, you'll have some limitations. Kibana was primarily proposed as a log data reviewer to build applications to the viewer log data using Kibana. Then it became a virtualization tool, but it still has limitations from a developer's point of view."

What is our primary use case?

Elasticsearch is one of the NoSQL databases available. My application is a microservices application where the data gets published on a Kafka cube. It allows us to connect to Kafka and get this data in a document format very easily. I'm using Elasticsearch as my backend processing database, where I'm building and reporting using Kibana.

What is most valuable?

I like how it allows us to connect to Kafka and get this data in a document format very easily. Elasticsearch is very fast when you do text-based searches of documents. That area is very good, and the search is very good.

What needs improvement?

The price could be better. Kibana has some limitations in terms of the tablet to view event logs. I also have a high volume of data. On the initialization part, if you chose Kibana, you'll have some limitations. Kibana was primarily proposed as a log data reviewer to build applications to the viewer log data using Kibana. Then it became a virtualization tool, but it still has limitations from a developer's point of view.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using ELK Elasticsearch over the last two years.

Buyer's Guide
Elastic Search
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Elastic Search. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,997 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price could be better.

What other advice do I have?

I would tell potential users that they have to locate the data source and understand the data. They will have to decide on whether they have to go for a NoSQL or a relational database. 

If it's NoSQL, then what kind of data are you seeing? If it's more textual data, then you're going to read more. So, I would recommend Elasticsearch. Otherwise, you have other databases like MongoDB and Cassandra.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give ELK Elasticsearch a seven.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
IT Infrastructure Analyst at AG Group
Real User
Powerful, graphical, good customer support and full featured
Pros and Cons
  • "You have dashboards, it is visual, there are maps, you can create canvases. It's more visual than anything that I've ever used."
  • "I have not been using the solution for many years to know exactly the improvements needed. However, they could simplify how the YML files have to be structured properly."

What is our primary use case?

I am using this product for a SIM solution.

What is most valuable?

Their anomaly detection engine is really good for example, compared to SolarWinds. You can ingest different pipelines. You have dashboards, it is visual, there are maps, you can create canvases. It's more visual than anything that I've ever used.

What needs improvement?

I have not been using the solution for many years to know exactly the improvements needed. However, they could simplify how the YML files have to be structured properly. If you want to ingest certain logs, you need to edit the YML file and connect it to your modules to start ingesting and parsing the end-user logs. Doing this is sometimes difficult and could be streamlined.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product for approximately three months.

How are customer service and technical support?

The customer service is very good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used SolarWinds in the past.

What other advice do I have?

The solution has a lot of features. They have machine learning jobs they can implement, I'm not there yet, but I can use anomaly detection to see there are various processes that can find users that aren't supposed to log onto certain machines. All of these features are visual and graphical. I can show it as a bar chart, a pie chart, I can Instagram, or I can split chart. The power to see everything on the front end is so much more powerful.

I rate ELK Elasticsearch a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Elastic Search
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Elastic Search. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,997 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user963378 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Analyst at S7
Real User
Provides enterprise landscape support for different areas of the company
Pros and Cons
  • "We had many reasons to implement Elasticsearch for search term solutions. Elasticsearch products provide enterprise landscape support for different areas of the company."
  • "We see the need for some improvements with Elasticsearch. We would like the Elasticsearch package to include training lessons for our staff."

What is our primary use case?

In my project, Elasticsearch is used to query terms for search and to provide data boards for our project team.

How has it helped my organization?

We have some important IT systems which provide support for our business processes. Money is a big issue. If something happens to the IT systems, we lose some money. 

We built Elasticsearch solutions to help us to search more quickly. After that, we can calculate how much money we can save by implementing Elasticsearch as a solution.

What is most valuable?

We had many reasons to implement Elasticsearch for search term solutions. Elasticsearch products provide enterprise landscape support for different areas of the company.

What needs improvement?

Elasticsearch is useful for different business processes, but there are some problems. We discuss these problems with the vendor and with our in-house team. We see the need for some improvements with Elasticsearch. 

We would like the Elasticsearch package to include training lessons for our staff.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Elasticsearch is stable. We have a normal relationship with the vendor and we have enough support.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Elasticsearch is very scalable. This was one of the most important points of our decision. We use Elasticsearch with about 1000 users. Now have two sets of solutions:

  • One set works with the dashboard from the project team's site.
  • A second set works with the enterprise department involved with two roles. 

As for the staff, we have an infrastructure team dedicated to Search. I can't answer quickly how many people we use for that. For maintenance, we employ about three to five experts.

We are planning to increase our Elasticsearch usage. We have the plan because some Elasticsearch systems integrate with other products and we must grow.

How are customer service and technical support?

If we discuss technical support from the vendor, it's the first line of support and we don't need very quick response times in the first support line. 

If we discuss the second line of support, it must be conducted very quickly. About technical support from the vendor, it's not fast. It's normal.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I previously provided some activities with Splunk solutions. My colleague in another department also used Splunk.

How was the initial setup?

We did not have difficult trouble installing and configuring Elasticsearch. The setup is straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation depends on what part of the solution. In some areas and for some Elasticsearch installation tasks, we wanted third-party consultation support.

What was our ROI?

We don't integrate Elasticsearch on enough systems to complete the estimate of ROI.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

For the next project, we might buy the license, but we don't use it now. I don't know exactly what the license fee for Elasticsearch is currently.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

This is a difficult question because we had a specific reason for choosing Elasticsearch. Different solutions provide different benefits. We compare these and choose one solution over another. 

Overall, it depends on the manufacturers. We compared Elasticsearch with other products like Riverbed, for example.

What other advice do I have?

In general, we have many advantages from the features of Elasticsearch, but there are questions mostly about money, not about technical features, that are of concern.

I would rate Elasticsearch eight/nine out of ten. We have enough possibilities and features with Elasticsearch for our business requirements.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user779379 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Furnishes good end to end log monitoring, Logstash grok pattern capabilities

What is most valuable?

ELK provides 

  • good end to end log monitoring
  • Logstash grok pattern
  • elasticserach indexing
  • easily configurable Kibana dashboards
  • feature rich and appealing Kibana UI, as its USP.

How has it helped my organization?

The product offers a powerful, cost effective solution for proprietary log management and is easy to understand and start with. This saves cost as well as enhances usability.

What needs improvement?

The open source version should ship basic security versions with it. Alerting is an important feature which is not available in the open source stack.

For how long have I used the solution?

About two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability issues can be seen with Logstash and can be addressed using Kafka. Also, data collections may not be 100% optimal using Filebeat and could be further improved.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is highly scalable, especially on the database side (elasticserach).

How are customer service and technical support?

Have worked on the open source version and, hence, I don't have much information about tech support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have not worked with another solution.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is straightforward for PoC, but becomes complex while scaling it or deploying it for production.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, I evaluated GrayLog and Fluentd, but ELK was more feature rich.

What other advice do I have?

The ELK open source stack is rich in features but lacks the essential security features.

ELK is one of the best open source alternatives for log management. If alerting and security features can be built by the team internally, on top of the stack, then the product is for sure going to add a lot of value to business.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Sudeera Mudugamuwa - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5
An open-source solution for log management but improvement is needed in Kibana dashboard and authentication
Pros and Cons
  • "The products comes with REST APIs."
  • "Elastic Search needs to improve authentication. It also needs to work on the Kibana visualization dashboard."

What is our primary use case?

We use the product for log management. 

What is most valuable?

The products comes with REST APIs. 

What needs improvement?

Elastic Search needs to improve authentication. It also needs to work on the Kibana visualization dashboard. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product for six years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the product's stability a nine out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate Elastic Search's scalability a ten out of ten. 

How are customer service and support?

The technical team needs to improve their response time. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The tool's deployment is easy. It took us one day to deploy a seven-node Elastic Search cluster. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Elastic Search is open-source, but you need to pay for support, which is expensive. 

What other advice do I have?

The solution suits medium to large companies better. I rate it a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
it_user1415322 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at sectecs
Consultant
Stable with reasonable technical support, but it should be easier to use
Pros and Cons
  • "It's a stable solution and we have not had any issues."
  • "It should be easier to use. It has been getting better because many functions are pre-defined, but it still needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

I am using it to get some hands-on experience and learn the product by searching, building use cases, test cases, dashboards, and visualizations.

With hands-on experience, you learn more about the product and how it works.

What needs improvement?

It should be easier to use. It has been getting better because many functions are pre-defined, but it still needs improvement.

If you have a large enterprise environment, it is costing a lot of money and it's not a full-blown SIEM. It has SIEM features but a lot is missing. You need to involve other products to make a SIEM out of it.

Some of the other products needed were Apache, Kafka, and ticket tools. It was custom made and not what I had expected in the end.

I would like to see them get closer to a full-blown orchestrated SIEM, and create predefined modules to bring you to using it as a SIEM faster, and on the fly instead of having to tweak the Grok filter for weeks.

I would like to see more pre-defined modules.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Elasticsearch for two weeks.

We are not using the latest version, but not an old version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable solution and we have not had any issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is fine.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have contacted technical support, once or twice. The experience was okay.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was okay, not as easy as Splunk but it was manageable.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing model is questionable and needs to be addressed because when you would like to have the security they charge per machine. If you are building any cluster and you are paying €6,000 per machine, that is expensive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I think that Elasticsearch is a good product and cheaper than Splunk.

What other advice do I have?

I like this solution, but it has too much hands-on time required tweaking to get it up and running.

I have no plans to continue using this product. Currently, I am focused on SIEMonster because I signed a partnership and I would like to sell a total product. It doesn't make sense to spread across multiple products. 

I would like to earn money out of it, so I'm focusing currently on SIEMonster.

I think that Elasticsearch is a good product and cheaper than Splunk.

When I check Gartner, I don't see mention of Elasticsearch, it seems they need to make some improvements.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user844839 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Scientist at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Real User
Enables me to share dashboards with different people with different levels of access
Pros and Cons
  • "I value the feature that allows me to share the dashboards to different people with different levels of access."
  • "Ratio aggregation is not supported in this solution."

What is our primary use case?

I'm a data scientist and we're a customer of ELK. We use the solution for multiple projects, mainly based around customer analytics.

What is most valuable?

I value the feature that allows me to share dashboards with different people with different levels of access. They can perform their own queries, like adjusting the time filter or hitting some other filters. It's very useful.

What needs improvement?

In terms of product improvement, ratio aggregation is not supported in this solution. I can do aggregations, but taking a ratio of two metrics is not supported. That's a common use case that I have come across. And if I want to do bulk coding then that's something that is not very convenient. I would like those things to be included in the next version. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Occasionally when you're handling large data you get some out of memory exceptions from time to time. It happens when you're doing pairing. Sometimes a few shots will fail. These are all typically when you're doing things on cloud on a large scale they tend happen.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's a scalable solution. For now, we have about 10 users and we plan to increase that number. We use it regularly. 

How are customer service and technical support?

I haven't needed to contact technical support. The forums are pretty good and most of the things that I need to ask are already answered so no need for support. The documentation and forums were enough. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I haven't used other solutions. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward, it took about an hour. I did the setup myself. Some others also did it themselves and we had developers who put it up in the cloud for the others. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We are currently using the Open Source version, so we didn't need to offset any licensing. For now, it's just the cost of maintaining the server. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Our tech team did the research and I don't know if there were other options considered. 

What other advice do I have?

You can test the product for your use case on their user free trial, they offer a seven or 14-day free trial, You can put it up on cloud and just push your data to check if your use cases are being handled or not. It's a quick test of the waters. 

I would rate this product an eight out of 10. 

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Works at Sincrobox SAC
User
Simple solution that provides valuable analytics
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature for us is the analytics that we can configure and view using Kibana."
  • "This product could be improved with additional security, and the addition of support for machine learning devices."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case for this solution is to operate an integration platform for a warehouse management system.

How has it helped my organization?

This has improved our organization because we articulated Kubernetes, Docker, and GitHub with amazing simplicity in the scaling up of our service.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature for us is the analytics that we can configure and view using Kibana.

What needs improvement?

This product could be improved with additional security, and the addition of support for machine learning devices.

For how long have I used the solution?

Still implementing.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user