The ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), now also known as the Elastic Stack, is a powerful solution for searching, analyzing, and visualizing log data in real-time. It is widely used for server monitoring, security analysis, and operational intelligence.
- Elastic Stack: 9.3.1 (February 2026)
- Elasticsearch: 9.3.1
- Kibana: 9.3.1
- Logstash: 9.3.1
- Beats: 9.3.1
Note: All Elastic Stack components are released with synchronized version numbers.
- Introduction
- Prerequisites
- Installation
- Installing Elasticsearch
- Installing Logstash
- Installing Kibana
- Configuration
- Configuring Elasticsearch
- Configuring Logstash
- Configuring Kibana
- Using the ELK Stack
- Troubleshooting
- Conclusion
The ELK stack is a set of tools for searching, analyzing, and visualizing log data in real-time. It is widely used for server monitoring, security analysis, and operational intelligence.
Before you begin, ensure you have the following:
- A Linux server with a minimum of 4GB RAM and 2 CPUs.
- Root or sudo access to the server.
- Java 17+ installed (required for recent Elastic Stack versions).
- Bind to internal interfaces: Avoid exposing services publicly unless required.
- Elasticsearch: set
network.host: 127.0.0.1 or a private IP in elasticsearch.yml.
- Kibana: set
server.host: "127.0.0.1" or a private IP in kibana.yml.
- Enable authentication and TLS:
- Use Elastic Stack built-in security features to enable TLS and user auth.
- Terminate TLS at a reverse proxy if needed (Nginx/HAProxy).
- Lock down ports:
- Only allow
9200 (Elasticsearch), 5601 (Kibana), and 5044 (Logstash Beats) from trusted subnets.
- Rotate credentials and API keys regularly.
- Disable unnecessary components and sample configs in production.
By following this guide, you have successfully installed and configured the ELK stack on your server. You can now monitor and analyze your log data in real-time, gaining valuable insights into your server’s performance and security.
- Elasticsearch: Java (99.4%)
- Logstash: Java, Ruby
- Kibana: TypeScript, Node.js
- Beats: Go
- Elastic License v2 / SSPL (dual license since 2021)
- Self-hosted deployment
- Managed service: Elastic Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure)
¶ Setup and References
¶ History and References