Monitoring settings in Elasticsearch

By default, Elasticsearch monitoring features are enabled but data collection is disabled. To enable data collection, use the xpack.monitoring.collection.enabled setting.

Except where noted otherwise, these settings can be dynamically updated on a live cluster with the cluster-update-settings API.

To adjust how monitoring data is displayed in the monitoring UI, configure xpack.monitoring settings in kibana.yml. To control how monitoring data is collected from Logstash, configure monitoring settings in logstash.yml.

For more information, see Monitor a cluster.

General monitoring settings

xpack.monitoring.enabled

[7.8.0] Deprecated in 7.8.0. Basic License features should always be enabled (Static) This deprecated setting has no effect.

Monitoring collection settings

The xpack.monitoring.collection settings control how data is collected from your Elasticsearch nodes.

xpack.monitoring.collection.enabled

(Dynamic) Set to true to enable the collection of monitoring data. When this setting is false (default), Elasticsearch monitoring data is not collected and all monitoring data from other sources such as Kibana, Beats, and Logstash is ignored.

xpack.monitoring.collection.interval

[6.3.0] Deprecated in 6.3.0. Use xpack.monitoring.collection.enabled set to false instead. (Dynamic) Setting to -1 to disable data collection is no longer supported beginning with 7.0.0.

Controls how often data samples are collected. Defaults to 10s. If you modify the collection interval, set the xpack.monitoring.min_interval_seconds option in kibana.yml to the same value.

xpack.monitoring.elasticsearch.collection.enabled

(Dynamic) Controls whether statistics about your Elasticsearch cluster should be collected. Defaults to true. This is different from xpack.monitoring.collection.enabled, which allows you to enable or disable all monitoring collection. However, this setting simply disables the collection of Elasticsearch data while still allowing other data (e.g., Kibana, Logstash, Beats, or APM Server monitoring data) to pass through this cluster.

xpack.monitoring.collection.cluster.stats.timeout

(Dynamic) Timeout for collecting the cluster statistics, in time units. Defaults to 10s.

xpack.monitoring.collection.node.stats.timeout

(Dynamic) Timeout for collecting the node statistics, in time units. Defaults to 10s.

xpack.monitoring.collection.indices

(Dynamic) Controls which indices the monitoring features collect data from. Defaults to all indices. Specify the index names as a comma-separated list, for example test1,test2,test3. Names can include wildcards, for example test*. You can explicitly exclude indices by prepending -. For example test*,-test3 will monitor all indexes that start with test except for test3. System indices like .security* or .kibana* always start with a . and generally should be monitored. Consider adding .* to the list of indices ensure monitoring of system indices. For example: .*,test*,-test3

xpack.monitoring.collection.index.stats.timeout

(Dynamic) Timeout for collecting index statistics, in time units. Defaults to 10s.

xpack.monitoring.collection.index.recovery.active_only

(Dynamic) Controls whether or not all recoveries are collected. Set to true to collect only active recoveries. Defaults to false.

xpack.monitoring.collection.index.recovery.timeout

(Dynamic) Timeout for collecting the recovery information, in time units. Defaults to 10s.

xpack.monitoring.history.duration

(Dynamic) Retention duration beyond which the indices created by a monitoring exporter are automatically deleted, in time units. Defaults to 7d (7 days).

This setting has a minimum value of 1d (1 day) to ensure that something is being monitored and it cannot be disabled.

This setting currently impacts only local-type exporters. Indices created using the http exporter are not deleted automatically.

xpack.monitoring.exporters

(Static) Configures where the agent stores monitoring data. By default, the agent uses a local exporter that indexes monitoring data on the cluster where it is installed. Use an HTTP exporter to send data to a separate monitoring cluster. For more information, see Local exporter settings, HTTP exporter settings, and How it works.

Local exporter settings

The local exporter is the default exporter used by monitoring features. As the name is meant to imply, it exports data to the local cluster, which means that there is not much needed to be configured.

If you do not supply any exporters, then the monitoring features automatically create one for you. If any exporter is provided, then no default is added.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.my_local:
  type: local

type

The value for a Local exporter must always be local and it is required.

use_ingest

Whether to supply a placeholder pipeline to the cluster and a pipeline processor with every bulk request. The default value is true. If disabled, then it means that it will not use pipelines, which means that a future release cannot automatically upgrade bulk requests to future-proof them.

cluster_alerts.management.enabled

Whether to create cluster alerts for this cluster. The default value is true. To use this feature, Watcher must be enabled. If you have a basic license, cluster alerts are not displayed.

wait_master.timeout

Time to wait for the master node to setup local exporter for monitoring, in time units. After that wait period, the non-master nodes warn the user for possible missing configuration. Defaults to 30s.

HTTP exporter settings

The following lists settings that can be supplied with the http exporter. All settings are shown as what follows the name you select for your exporter:

xpack.monitoring.exporters.my_remote:
  type: http
  host: ["host:port", ...]

type

The value for an HTTP exporter must always be http and it is required.

host

Host supports multiple formats, both as an array or as a single value. Supported formats include hostname, hostname:port, http://hostname http://hostname:port, https://hostname, and https://hostname:port. Hosts cannot be assumed. The default scheme is always http and the default port is always 9200 if not supplied as part of the host string.

xpack.monitoring.exporters:
  example1:
    type: http
    host: "10.1.2.3"
  example2:
    type: http
    host: ["http://10.1.2.4"]
  example3:
    type: http
    host: ["10.1.2.5", "10.1.2.6"]
  example4:
    type: http
    host: ["https://10.1.2.3:9200"]

auth.username

The username is required if auth.secure_password or auth.password is supplied.

auth.secure_password

(Secure, reloadable) The password for the auth.username. Takes precedence over auth.password if it is also specified.

auth.password

[7.7.0] Deprecated in 7.7.0. Use auth.secure_password instead. The password for the auth.username. If auth.secure_password is also specified, this setting is ignored.

connection.timeout

Amount of time that the HTTP connection is supposed to wait for a socket to open for the request, in time units. The default value is 6s.

connection.read_timeout

Amount of time that the HTTP connection is supposed to wait for a socket to send back a response, in time units. The default value is 10 * connection.timeout (60s if neither are set).

ssl

Each HTTP exporter can define its own TLS / SSL settings or inherit them. See X-Pack monitoring TLS/SSL settings.

proxy.base_path

The base path to prefix any outgoing request, such as /base/path (e.g., bulk requests would then be sent as /base/path/_bulk). There is no default value.

headers

Optional headers that are added to every request, which can assist with routing requests through proxies.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.my_remote:
  headers:
    X-My-Array: [abc, def, xyz]
    X-My-Header: abc123

Array-based headers are sent n times where n is the size of the array. Content-Type and Content-Length cannot be set. Any headers created by the monitoring agent will override anything defined here.

index.name.time_format

A mechanism for changing the default date suffix for the, by default, daily monitoring indices. The default value is yyyy.MM.dd, which is why the indices are created daily.

use_ingest

Whether to supply a placeholder pipeline to the monitoring cluster and a pipeline processor with every bulk request. The default value is true. If disabled, then it means that it will not use pipelines, which means that a future release cannot automatically upgrade bulk requests to future-proof them.

cluster_alerts.management.enabled

Whether to create cluster alerts for this cluster. The default value is true. To use this feature, Watcher must be enabled. If you have a basic license, cluster alerts are not displayed.

cluster_alerts.management.blacklist

Prevents the creation of specific cluster alerts. It also removes any applicable watches that already exist in the current cluster.

You can add any of the following watch identifiers to the list of blocked alerts:

• elasticsearch_cluster_status
• elasticsearch_version_mismatch
• elasticsearch_nodes
• kibana_version_mismatch
• logstash_version_mismatch
• xpack_license_expiration

For example: ["elasticsearch_version_mismatch","xpack_license_expiration"].

X-Pack monitoring TLS/SSL settings

You can configure the following TLS/SSL settings.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.supported_protocols

(Static) Supported protocols with versions. Valid protocols: SSLv2Hello, SSLv3, TLSv1, TLSv1.1, TLSv1.2, TLSv1.3. If the JVM’s SSL provider supports TLSv1.3, the default is TLSv1.3,TLSv1.2,TLSv1.1. Otherwise, the default is TLSv1.2,TLSv1.1.

If xpack.security.fips_mode.enabled is true, you cannot use SSLv2Hello or SSLv3. See FIPS 140-2.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.verification_mode

(Static) Controls the verification of certificates. Controls the verification of certificates.

Valid values are:

• full, which verifies that the provided certificate is signed by a trusted authority (CA) and also verifies that the server’s hostname (or IP address) matches the names identified within the certificate.
• certificate, which verifies that the provided certificate is signed by a trusted authority (CA), but does not perform any hostname verification.

• none, which performs no verification of the server’s certificate. This mode disables many of the security benefits of SSL/TLS and should only be used after very careful consideration. It is primarily intended as a temporary diagnostic mechanism when attempting to resolve TLS errors; its use on production clusters is strongly discouraged.

  The default value is full.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.cipher_suites

(Static) Supported cipher suites vary depending on which version of Java you use. For example, for version 12 the default value is TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384, TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256, TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA.

For more information, see Oracle’s Java Cryptography Architecture documentation.

X-Pack monitoring TLS/SSL key and trusted certificate settings

The following settings are used to specify a private key, certificate, and the trusted certificates that should be used when communicating over an SSL/TLS connection. A private key and certificate are optional and would be used if the server requires client authentication for PKI authentication.

PEM encoded files

When using PEM encoded files, use the following settings:

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.key

(Static) Path to a PEM encoded file containing the private key.

If HTTP client authentication is required, it uses this file. You cannot use this setting and ssl.keystore.path at the same time.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.key_passphrase

(Static) The passphrase that is used to decrypt the private key. Since the key might not be encrypted, this value is optional.

You cannot use this setting and ssl.secure_key_passphrase at the same time.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.secure_key_passphrase (Secure)

(Static) The passphrase that is used to decrypt the private key. Since the key might not be encrypted, this value is optional.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.certificate

(Static) Specifies the path for the PEM encoded certificate (or certificate chain) that is associated with the key.

This setting can be used only if ssl.key is set.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.certificate_authorities

(Static) List of paths to PEM encoded certificate files that should be trusted.

This setting and ssl.truststore.path cannot be used at the same time.

Java keystore files

When using Java keystore files (JKS), which contain the private key, certificate and certificates that should be trusted, use the following settings:

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.keystore.path

(Static) The path for the keystore file that contains a private key and certificate.

It must be either a Java keystore (jks) or a PKCS#12 file. You cannot use this setting and ssl.key at the same time.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.keystore.password

(Static) The password for the keystore.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.keystore.secure_password

(Secure) The password for the keystore.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.keystore.key_password

(Static) The password for the key in the keystore. The default is the keystore password.

You cannot use this setting and ssl.keystore.secure_password at the same time.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.keystore.secure_key_password

(Secure) The password for the key in the keystore. The default is the keystore password.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.truststore.path

(Static) The path for the keystore that contains the certificates to trust. It must be either a Java keystore (jks) or a PKCS#12 file.

You cannot use this setting and ssl.certificate_authorities at the same time.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.truststore.password

(Static) The password for the truststore.

You cannot use this setting and ssl.truststore.secure_password at the same time.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.truststore.secure_password

(Secure) Password for the truststore.

PKCS#12 files

Elasticsearch can be configured to use PKCS#12 container files (.p12 or .pfx files) that contain the private key, certificate and certificates that should be trusted.

PKCS#12 files are configured in the same way as Java keystore files:

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.keystore.path

(Static) The path for the keystore file that contains a private key and certificate.

It must be either a Java keystore (jks) or a PKCS#12 file. You cannot use this setting and ssl.key at the same time.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.keystore.type

(Static) The format of the keystore file. It must be either jks or PKCS12. If the keystore path ends in “.p12”, “.pfx”, or “.pkcs12”, this setting defaults to PKCS12. Otherwise, it defaults to jks.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.keystore.password

(Static) The password for the keystore.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.keystore.secure_password

(Secure) The password for the keystore.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.keystore.key_password

(Static) The password for the key in the keystore. The default is the keystore password.

You cannot use this setting and ssl.keystore.secure_password at the same time.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.keystore.secure_key_password

(Secure) The password for the key in the keystore. The default is the keystore password.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.truststore.path

(Static) The path for the keystore that contains the certificates to trust. It must be either a Java keystore (jks) or a PKCS#12 file.

You cannot use this setting and ssl.certificate_authorities at the same time.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.truststore.type

(Static) Set this to PKCS12 to indicate that the truststore is a PKCS#12 file.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.truststore.password

(Static) The password for the truststore.

You cannot use this setting and ssl.truststore.secure_password at the same time.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.ssl.truststore.secure_password

(Secure) Password for the truststore.

PKCS#11 tokens

Elasticsearch can be configured to use a PKCS#11 token that contains the private key, certificate and certificates that should be trusted.

PKCS#11 token require additional configuration on the JVM level and can be enabled via the following settings:

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.keystore.type

(Static) Set this to PKCS11 to indicate that the PKCS#11 token should be used as a keystore.

xpack.monitoring.exporters.$NAME.truststore.type

(Static) The format of the truststore file. For the Java keystore format, use jks. For PKCS#12 files, use PKCS12. For a PKCS#11 token, use PKCS11. The default is jks.

When configuring the PKCS#11 token that your JVM is configured to use as a keystore or a truststore for Elasticsearch, the PIN for the token can be configured by setting the appropriate value to ssl.truststore.password or ssl.truststore.secure_password in the context that you are configuring. Since there can only be one PKCS#11 token configured, only one keystore and truststore will be usable for configuration in Elasticsearch. This in turn means that only one certificate can be used for TLS both in the transport and the http layer.