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OpenSearch

Score8.2 out of 10

9 Reviews and Ratings

What is OpenSearch?

OpenSearch is an open-source search and analytics suite designed for building enterprise-grade applications. According to the vendor, it offers a scalable and secure foundation for various use cases, including search, observability, and security analytics. OpenSearch can be utilized by organizations of all sizes, ranging from small startups to large enterprises. IT administrators, site reliability engineers, DevOps teams, data analysts, and security analysts from diverse industries can benefit from the robust capabilities of OpenSearch.

Key Features

Search Functionality: According to the vendor, OpenSearch provides comprehensive search capabilities to develop efficient search solutions. It supports full-text search, faceted search, and advanced search queries. OpenSearch incorporates relevance scoring and ranking algorithms to deliver accurate and relevant search results.

Scalability and Performance: OpenSearch's distributed architecture ensures horizontal scalability and high performance, as claimed by the vendor. It can efficiently handle large data volumes and high query loads. OpenSearch supports sharding and replication for data distribution and fault tolerance. The optimized indexing and query execution of OpenSearch enable fast response times.

Security and Access Control: OpenSearch offers built-in security features to protect data and ensure secure access, as claimed by the vendor. It provides role-based access control (RBAC) for fine-grained permissions management. Data at rest and in transit are encrypted to maintain data confidentiality. OpenSearch also integrates with external authentication providers for user authentication.

Monitoring and Observability: According to the vendor, OpenSearch provides comprehensive tools and features for monitoring and observing the performance and health of the OpenSearch cluster. Users can monitor real-time cluster metrics, including CPU usage, memory usage, and disk space. OpenSearch also offers log monitoring and analysis capabilities for issue detection and troubleshooting. Integration with observability platforms allows centralized monitoring and alerting.

Analytics and Aggregation: OpenSearch enables users to perform complex data aggregations and analytics on indexed data, as claimed by the vendor. It supports aggregations, filtering, grouping, and data transformations. OpenSearch integrates with visualization tools, enabling users to create interactive dashboards and reports. Advanced analytics capabilities, such as anomaly detection and machine learning integration, are also available.

Data Integration and ETL: OpenSearch seamlessly integrates with various data sources, including databases, file systems, and streaming platforms, according to the vendor. It provides Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) capabilities for efficient data ingestion and transformation. Users can leverage data pipelines and workflows for streamlined data processing and transformation. OpenSearch also offers integration with data integration and ETL tools.

Query Language and APIs: According to the vendor, OpenSearch offers a powerful query language for flexible and expressive data querying. It provides RESTful APIs for programmatic access to OpenSearch functionality. OpenSearch supports popular programming languages and frameworks, facilitating easy integration into custom applications. The vendor also provides client libraries and SDKs for simplified integration.

High Availability and Fault Tolerance: OpenSearch incorporates built-in mechanisms to ensure high availability and fault tolerance of the OpenSearch cluster, as claimed by the vendor. It supports automatic failover and recovery in case of node failures. Data replication and redundancy are implemented to ensure data durability. Cluster management features allow for scaling up or down and adding or removing nodes.

Geospatial: OpenSearch enhances dashboarding experiences by enabling users to build maps for spatial analysis, according to the vendor. Its geospatial features facilitate the visualization and analysis of data with a geographic component, helping users understand spatial relationships and patterns.

Alerting: OpenSearch provides built-in alerting capabilities, allowing users to set up and configure alerts based on specific conditions or thresholds, as claimed by the vendor. This ensures proactive monitoring of systems and prompt resolution of any issues.

Categories & Use Cases

OpenSearch is it worth it, compared to Elastic

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We needed a solution to how can we give fast responses to our APIs as we needed super fast response times on our websites even if an API is called from the public website we need to have millisecond response times we use db as our long term storage which takes too much times and we used Elastic search previously but after it was hidden behind a paywall we found OpenSearch and loved it cause first it was open source and second we already use AWS as our exclusive cloud provider so after AWS integrated it in their ecosystem it was a no-brainer.

Pros

  • Gives us millisecond response times
  • Mainly open-source
  • Integration Seamlessly with AWS
  • Has a very big community so problems are fixes sooner then later

Cons

  • Needs more descriptive documentation
  • The UI feels a bit old
  • Some functionality still doesn't work correctly

Return on Investment

  • Well we had 200 ms response times which decreased to 100ms while using OpenSearch
  • Easy to use security plugins we dont need external IAM
  • Super Easy Integration with many AWS Services such as kinsesi data stream and dynamoDB

Alternatives Considered

Elasticsearch

Other Software Used

AWS Identity & Access Management, AWS Step Functions, AWS Batch