How to install Kibana on Linux

Introduction

Kibana is an open source platform for data analytics and visualization that plays an integral role in the Elastic stack. Once data is stored in Elastic, Kibana’s intuitive browser-based interface can be used to view, search, and interact with it. In addition to its advanced data-analysis capabilities, Kibana also allows users to visualize their data in a variety of maps, tables, and charts. With these tools, making sense of large volumes of data is a breeze.

Not only is Kibana easy to use, but it’s also simple to set up. Within minutes, users can install Kibana on Linux and begin interacting with their Elastic indices.

Prerequisites

• Before attempting to install Kibana on Linux, it’s important to understand the system requirements. Users will need to have Elastic installed first, as well as JDK 8. (Please note that Logstash, another component of the Elastic stack, does not officially support JDK 9). Installing Kibana on a Linux server will require SSH access to that server with a private key as well as install privileges using SSH.
• Elastic is built on Java, so it’s important to make sure that Java is installed on your machine before moving forward. To check for an installation of Java on your machine and to find out what version is running, run the following command:

• If both JDK 8 and Java are installed correctly, the terminal output from the javac -version command will look similar to the following:

• In older versions of the Elastic stack, JDK 7 may be needed. Currently, only version 6.2 of Elastic officially supports JDK 9. Any needed Java dependencies may be downloaded directly from Oracle’s website.
• Users who are running Ubuntu or other Debian-based Linux distributions can install JDK 8 using the following commands:

• Once these setup tasks are complete, it’s time to install Elasticsearch if it’s not currently on the server.

Download Kibana

• The first step in the process of installing Kibana is to visit Elastic’s Kibana downloads page. From this page, download the correct version of Kibana for your version of Elastic and for your system’s operating system. Check the Kibana support matrix page to make sure you download a compatible version of Kibana.
• Users who are upgrading from an older version of Kibana may not be sure which newer version to choose. In these cases, it’s best to check Elastic’s upgrade page for Kibana for any recent changes.

Install Kibana on Debian Linux

• For Ubuntu servers and other Debian-based Linux servers, the first step in the installation process is to update the API repository. Then, install Kibana by running the apt-get command in the terminal:

Occasionally, users may find that no Kibana repository is available for their Debian distribution of Linux. In these cases, the Debian Kibana package can be downloaded from their website or their APT repository. After downloading, the dpkg command can be used to manually install it:

• Users can also verify the file integrity of the downloaded Kibana package by using the shasum command-line utility, which compares the SHA checksum of the file. This can be done using the following commands:

Install Kibana on RPM (Red Hat Linux distributions)

• To install Kibana on Red Hat Linux servers, first change to the directory /etc/yum.repos.d/ (for OpenSuSE-based distributions, the correct directory would be /etc/zypp/repos.d/). From this directory, enter the following command to create a new file called kibana.repo:

• Once the file has been created, it can be edited using nano or your preferred text editor:

• Paste the following code directly into the text editor, and modify it to refer to the version of Kibana being installed:

• Be sure to press CTRL + O to save any changes made to the file before closing it.
• After setting up the Kibana repository for the server, Kibana can be installed using the following commands:
• For older Red Hat distributions and CentOS, the command is:

• For newer Red Hat distributions and Fedora, use:

• For OpenSUSE-based distributions, use zypper:

• Users who prefer to install Kibana manually while also verifying file integrity with shasum should use the following commands:

Start the Kibana Service

• Execute the following command as root to start the Elastic service if it isn’t running:

• The Kibana service can be started in the same manner:

Conclusion

It’s clear that Kibana plays an integral role in the Elastic stack. Installing Kibana is a simple process, but the key to a successful install lies in understanding the system requirements and following the instruction. If the Elasticsearch and Kibana services are have been installed properly and are running, point a browser to http://localhost:5601/app/kibana or localhost:5601 — the Kibana console should be up and running.