How To Install Kibana For Elasticsearch On Windows

Introduction

Kibana is a powerful visualization tool made to enhance the usability of the Elasticsearch service. They both run harmoniously together because the same people created them to work in-line with the other to provide a friendlier interface. When a user decides to install Kibana Windows, it opens up the functionality of the partnered program. This allows for a wider range of users to understand the data being displayed. The guide below will walk the user through each step to a full installation.

Prerequisites

• Elasticsearch only has 64-bit architecture support. Many, if not all, of the Elastic products will have trouble working properly on a 32-bit environment.

• The Windows machine should have JDK 8 installed and running. To verify JVM installation, just open the command-line prompt window(Type cmd into the search bar on the main menu of the start button) and type C:\< jview into the command prompt terminal.

• If there is an error, or if the Window’s command prompt does not understand the command, then that means JVM is not installed on the machine. Otherwise, if JVM is running, the terminal output will show some text like this: Microsoft (R) Command-line Loader for Java Version ...

• It is necessary to have Java 1.8 release, or later, installed when running Elasticsearch. Check the version installation by opening the Java panel tab that is shown in the Start menu programs list.

• • Inside the Java program tab, the About tab can be selected to get more information:

• In order to select the version of JRE to run as the default, it can be configured by changing the JAVA_HOME environment variable. Just right click My Computer and select Properties. Once there, click on the Advanced tab, and select the Environment Variables to edit the JAVA_HOME variable to point the system to the JDK software location, for example: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.X.X (make sure to replace X with the proper version number for the installed JDK).

• • For more information consult the manufacturer specs supplied by Oracle’s Java SE Support Map.

• • View supported Windows architecture and supported products in Elastic’s website – Support Matrix

• • Older versions of the Elastic Stack may require JDK 7, and only version 6.2 of ES has official support for JDK 9. The necessary Java environments can be downloaded from Oracle’s website. More information on this topic can be read in the Oracle Installation Guide.

Download Kibana’s Windows Package

• • Download the Kibana zip package for Windows on the downloads page for Kibana.

• • It is recommended that the user install the same “major” version of Kibana that matches the major version number of the Elasticsearch installation currently being run (e.g. Only Kibana v5.x should be installed alongside Elasticsearch v5.x). Consult Elastic’s support compatibility matrix for more information.

• Extract the zip contents using the system’s unzip tool, and then simply use the command prompt window.

• (Click Start and then Run (or press ⊞ + R), and type cmd and press Return). In the command prompt window use the CD command to go into the extracted folder with the Kibana contents.

• Depending on what version of Kibana is being installed, the completed command will look like this (replacing X with the correct version number): `bash CD c:kibana-6.X.X-windows-x86_64 ` ## Running Kibana in Command Prompt:

• Once inside the main Kibana directory the user can use CD to get into the bin and run the .bat executable file to start the Kibana service: `bash cd bin kibana.bat .. or the service can also be run from outside the directory by typing what follows:bash .binkibana.bat `

• By default, Kibana will be running in the background, but if wanting to shut down the service, it is an easy matter of just going back to that command prompt window and pressing CTRL + C

• Kibana will run on port 5601, by default, so a can check can be done to see if Kibana is running by navigating to http://localhost:5601 in a browser (the default port Kibana runs on can be changed by modifying the server.port variable in the kibana.yml configuration file).

Configuring Kibana

• Configuring Kibana (kibana.yml) can be done through the config file where it reads the properties from, which can be updated to suit requirements.

• It is considered to be a prudent decision to backup data before beginning any alterations of the original configuration file:

Conclusion

Each step of the installation process contains valuable information for taking the necessary actions to install this program. When successful, Kibana will make it possible for the user to take the information being monitored by Elasticsearch and convert it into helpful charts, tables, and graphics. This will make the raw data more easily shared and readily understood by all who encounter it. The added efficiency of graphic layouts for the collected metrics will make addressing issues a much quicker process with far less effort. Following the simple instructions found above, Kibana can be running in just a few minutes.