Quick setup ELK Stack

I needed an ELK stack to test out a method for importing logs. What appeared to be a quick and easy task became somewhat long and tiresome.

The documentation for Elasticsearch can be found here. The instructions kind of suck in my opinion… We don’t want to manually type all this nonsense to deploy ELK stack with ‘docker run’ commands.

We just want a docker-compose file with most of the configurations we need.

This guide is written with the assumption of general AWS and Linux knowledge.

Getting started

Pick your EC2 Instance type!

Ultimately you should know what your requirements are, but for our use case, we just need a test environment. I’d recommend t3a.xlarge for our use case because it’s cheap, x86 CPU architecture, and it has 4 vCPUs & 16 GiB RAM.

Side note

I would take a peak at what the EC2 On-demand rates and understand the differences between them Link provided.

In this example we can see the hourly rates differ slightly and performance as well. Many new people default to t2.micro because it’s cheap (often free-tier) but forget that new generations not only perform better but often cost less. There’s other nuances to consider as well. Notice how t3a is cheaper than t3, and that t4g is the cheapest. After reviewing benchmarks, t3 beats t3a, but both of those usually beat t4g. Keep in mind that AWS GovCloud rates are also found here, you just need to select the proper region.

Launch an EC2 Instance

• Select Amazon Machine Image (Amazon Linux 2, newest kernel)
• Select Instance type (t3a.xlarge)
• Configure the instance with the appropriate network options and make sure you add ‘SSM_ROLE’ to the IAM role.
• To save time, you may throw the script in User data so that the machine installs the necessary software
• Add storage (20GiB should be enough)
• Configure the Security group to allow traffic for TCP:9200 and TCP:5601
• Launch Instance

Depending on how you connect to the ec2 instance, you may need to switch users. The script adjust permissions for ec2-user, so operate as that user or make changes as needed.

User-data script

#!/bin/bash
yum update
yum -y install docker
service docker start
usermod -a -G docker ec2-user
chkconfig docker on
sudo curl -L https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/latest/download/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m) -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
ln -s /usr/local/bin/docker-compose /usr/bin/docker-compose
echo "vm.max_map_count=262144" >> /etc/sysctl.d/10-vm-map-count.conf
reboot

User-data only runs upon the FIRST launch of an ec2 instance! Starting a stopped instance will not re-initiate this script.

Amazon linux does not include docker-compose in its packages, thus we reach out to the official repo for it.

Docker installation

At this point we assume the User-data script has fulfilled this section.

• docker installed
• docker set as a service
• ec2-user is in the docker group
• docker-compose is installed

Deploying the ELK stack

Make a folder in the ec2-user’s home directory.
Create two files ‘.env’ and ‘docker-compose.yaml’.
Either copy the two code snippets below or grab directly from the source

The first thing you’ll want to do is increase the vm.max_map_count. Otherwise, this deployment will NOT work.

Our User-data script should have already done this for us.

You can verify if the configuration is working with the following command.

sysctl vm.max_map_count

If there’s an issue

This will set the live system ‘vm.max_map_count’ however upon reboot this will revert back to default.

sudo sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144

You’ll need to modify ‘/etc/sysctl.conf’ to ensure the changes will keep during reboot.
Note: The exact file may differ between distributions, for Amazon Linux 2 it was applied from a file in ‘/etc/sysctl.d/’

Append the following to the sysctl.conf file

vm.max_map_count=262144

There’s a few things to consider with this environment file.

• The password field should not contain any spaces!
• Increase the MEM_LIMIT

.env file

# Password for the 'elastic' user (at least 6 characters)
ELASTIC_PASSWORD=

# Password for the 'kibana_system' user (at least 6 characters)
KIBANA_PASSWORD=

# Version of Elastic products
STACK_VERSION=8.6.0

# Set the cluster name
CLUSTER_NAME=docker-cluster

# Set to 'basic' or 'trial' to automatically start the 30-day trial
LICENSE=basic
#LICENSE=trial

# Port to expose Elasticsearch HTTP API to the host
ES_PORT=9200
#ES_PORT=127.0.0.1:9200

# Port to expose Kibana to the host
KIBANA_PORT=5601
#KIBANA_PORT=80

# Increase or decrease based on the available host memory (in bytes)
MEM_LIMIT=1073741824

# Project namespace (defaults to the current folder name if not set)
#COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=myproject

There shouldn’t be a reason to modify this file unless you know what you’re doing.

docker-compose.yaml

version: "2.2"

services:
  setup:
    image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:${STACK_VERSION}
    volumes:
      - certs:/usr/share/elasticsearch/config/certs
    user: "0"
    command: >
      bash -c '
        if [ x${ELASTIC_PASSWORD} == x ]; then
          echo "Set the ELASTIC_PASSWORD environment variable in the .env file";
          exit 1;
        elif [ x${KIBANA_PASSWORD} == x ]; then
          echo "Set the KIBANA_PASSWORD environment variable in the .env file";
          exit 1;
        fi;
        if [ ! -f config/certs/ca.zip ]; then
          echo "Creating CA";
          bin/elasticsearch-certutil ca --silent --pem -out config/certs/ca.zip;
          unzip config/certs/ca.zip -d config/certs;
        fi;
        if [ ! -f config/certs/certs.zip ]; then
          echo "Creating certs";
          echo -ne \
          "instances:\n"\
          "  - name: es01\n"\
          "    dns:\n"\
          "      - es01\n"\
          "      - localhost\n"\
          "    ip:\n"\
          "      - 127.0.0.1\n"\
          "  - name: es02\n"\
          "    dns:\n"\
          "      - es02\n"\
          "      - localhost\n"\
          "    ip:\n"\
          "      - 127.0.0.1\n"\
          "  - name: es03\n"\
          "    dns:\n"\
          "      - es03\n"\
          "      - localhost\n"\
          "    ip:\n"\
          "      - 127.0.0.1\n"\
          > config/certs/instances.yml;
          bin/elasticsearch-certutil cert --silent --pem -out config/certs/certs.zip --in config/certs/instances.yml --ca-cert config/certs/ca/ca.crt --ca-key config/certs/ca/ca.key;
          unzip config/certs/certs.zip -d config/certs;
        fi;
        echo "Setting file permissions"
        chown -R root:root config/certs;
        find . -type d -exec chmod 750 \{\} \;;
        find . -type f -exec chmod 640 \{\} \;;
        echo "Waiting for Elasticsearch availability";
        until curl -s --cacert config/certs/ca/ca.crt https://es01:9200 | grep -q "missing authentication credentials"; do sleep 30; done;
        echo "Setting kibana_system password";
        until curl -s -X POST --cacert config/certs/ca/ca.crt -u "elastic:${ELASTIC_PASSWORD}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://es01:9200/_security/user/kibana_system/_password -d "{\"password\":\"${KIBANA_PASSWORD}\"}" | grep -q "^{}"; do sleep 10; done;
        echo "All done!";
      '
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "[ -f config/certs/es01/es01.crt ]"]
      interval: 1s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 120

  es01:
    depends_on:
      setup:
        condition: service_healthy
    image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:${STACK_VERSION}
    volumes:
      - certs:/usr/share/elasticsearch/config/certs
      - esdata01:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data
    ports:
      - ${ES_PORT}:9200
    environment:
      - node.name=es01
      - cluster.name=${CLUSTER_NAME}
      - cluster.initial_master_nodes=es01,es02,es03
      - discovery.seed_hosts=es02,es03
      - ELASTIC_PASSWORD=${ELASTIC_PASSWORD}
      - bootstrap.memory_lock=true
      - xpack.security.enabled=true
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled=true
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.key=certs/es01/es01.key
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate=certs/es01/es01.crt
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate_authorities=certs/ca/ca.crt
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.verification_mode=certificate
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled=true
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.key=certs/es01/es01.key
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate=certs/es01/es01.crt
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate_authorities=certs/ca/ca.crt
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.verification_mode=certificate
      - xpack.license.self_generated.type=${LICENSE}
    mem_limit: ${MEM_LIMIT}
    ulimits:
      memlock:
        soft: -1
        hard: -1
    healthcheck:
      test:
        [
          "CMD-SHELL",
          "curl -s --cacert config/certs/ca/ca.crt https://localhost:9200 | grep -q 'missing authentication credentials'",
        ]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 120

  es02:
    depends_on:
      - es01
    image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:${STACK_VERSION}
    volumes:
      - certs:/usr/share/elasticsearch/config/certs
      - esdata02:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data
    environment:
      - node.name=es02
      - cluster.name=${CLUSTER_NAME}
      - cluster.initial_master_nodes=es01,es02,es03
      - discovery.seed_hosts=es01,es03
      - bootstrap.memory_lock=true
      - xpack.security.enabled=true
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled=true
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.key=certs/es02/es02.key
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate=certs/es02/es02.crt
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate_authorities=certs/ca/ca.crt
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.verification_mode=certificate
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled=true
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.key=certs/es02/es02.key
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate=certs/es02/es02.crt
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate_authorities=certs/ca/ca.crt
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.verification_mode=certificate
      - xpack.license.self_generated.type=${LICENSE}
    mem_limit: ${MEM_LIMIT}
    ulimits:
      memlock:
        soft: -1
        hard: -1
    healthcheck:
      test:
        [
          "CMD-SHELL",
          "curl -s --cacert config/certs/ca/ca.crt https://localhost:9200 | grep -q 'missing authentication credentials'",
        ]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 120

  es03:
    depends_on:
      - es02
    image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:${STACK_VERSION}
    volumes:
      - certs:/usr/share/elasticsearch/config/certs
      - esdata03:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data
    environment:
      - node.name=es03
      - cluster.name=${CLUSTER_NAME}
      - cluster.initial_master_nodes=es01,es02,es03
      - discovery.seed_hosts=es01,es02
      - bootstrap.memory_lock=true
      - xpack.security.enabled=true
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled=true
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.key=certs/es03/es03.key
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate=certs/es03/es03.crt
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate_authorities=certs/ca/ca.crt
      - xpack.security.http.ssl.verification_mode=certificate
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled=true
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.key=certs/es03/es03.key
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate=certs/es03/es03.crt
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate_authorities=certs/ca/ca.crt
      - xpack.security.transport.ssl.verification_mode=certificate
      - xpack.license.self_generated.type=${LICENSE}
    mem_limit: ${MEM_LIMIT}
    ulimits:
      memlock:
        soft: -1
        hard: -1
    healthcheck:
      test:
        [
          "CMD-SHELL",
          "curl -s --cacert config/certs/ca/ca.crt https://localhost:9200 | grep -q 'missing authentication credentials'",
        ]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 120

  kibana:
    depends_on:
      es01:
        condition: service_healthy
      es02:
        condition: service_healthy
      es03:
        condition: service_healthy
    image: docker.elastic.co/kibana/kibana:${STACK_VERSION}
    volumes:
      - certs:/usr/share/kibana/config/certs
      - kibanadata:/usr/share/kibana/data
    ports:
      - ${KIBANA_PORT}:5601
    environment:
      - SERVERNAME=kibana
      - ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS=https://es01:9200
      - ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME=kibana_system
      - ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD=${KIBANA_PASSWORD}
      - ELASTICSEARCH_SSL_CERTIFICATEAUTHORITIES=config/certs/ca/ca.crt
    mem_limit: ${MEM_LIMIT}
    healthcheck:
      test:
        [
          "CMD-SHELL",
          "curl -s -I http://localhost:5601 | grep -q 'HTTP/1.1 302 Found'",
        ]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 120

volumes:
  certs:
    driver: local
  esdata01:
    driver: local
  esdata02:
    driver: local
  esdata03:
    driver: local
  kibanadata:
    driver: local

Final step

The final step of this process is running the following command

docker-compose up -d

Kibana: http://{ec2_public_ip}:5601 user: elastic
pass: defined in the .env file

Terminating the ELK Stack

If you have any issues and want to redeploy this, you can bring down the stack and delete the volumes with the following.

docker-compose down -v