Parameters on the buy page - Elasticsearch Instances Management| Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

Billing methods

Elasticsearch provides two billing methods: subscription and pay-as-you-go. You can select a billing method as required.

Pay-as-you-go: We recommend that you purchase pay-as-you-go Elasticsearch clusters for program development or functional tests.
You can log on to the Elasticsearch console, click More in the Actions column that corresponds to an Elasticsearch cluster, and select Release to manually release the cluster.
Subscription: Discounts are offered for subscription Elasticsearch clusters based on subscription duration. However, refunds are not provided after the date of purchase.
Manual renewal and auto-renewal are supported. For more information, see Enable auto renewal and Manually renew an Elasticsearch cluster. Subscription Elasticsearch clusters cannot be manually released in the console.

Basic settings


Parameter	Description
Instance Type	The value of this parameter can only be X-Pack Version.
Elasticsearch Version	Valid values: 7.4, 6.8, 6.7, 6.3, 5.6, and 5.5. Note We recommend that you select the latest version to reduce version upgrades in the future. You may encounter differences in performance optimization and bug fixes between different versions. For more information about these differences, see the open-source Elasticsearch release notes of each version.
Region	For more information, see Regions and zones.
Zone	For more information, see Regions and zones.
Number of Zones	1-AZ: This is the default deployment method. It is used to handle non-critical workloads. 2-AZ: This deployment method implements cross-zone disaster recovery. It is used to handle production workloads. 3-AZ: This deployment method implements high availability. It is used to handle production workloads that require high service availability. Note You can deploy an Elasticsearch cluster across three zones only in the China (Hangzhou), China (Beijing), China (Shanghai), or China (Shenzhen) region. When you deploy an Elasticsearch cluster across zones, you do not need to specify each zone. The system automatically selects the zones. For more information about the precautions for deploying and using cross-zone Elasticsearch clusters, see Precautions.
Network Type	The value of this parameter can only be VPC.
VPC	Select a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) in the current region. Note If you want to use an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance to access your Elasticsearch cluster in a VPC, make sure that the ECS instance and Elasticsearch cluster reside in the same VPC.
VSwitch	After you specify a VPC, all the available VSwitches in the selected zone are displayed.

Regions and zones

The following table lists the regions and zones where Elasticsearch clusters are available.


Country/District	Region	Zone
China	China (Hangzhou)	Zone I, Zone H, Zone G, Zone F, Zone E, and Zone B
	China (Beijing)	Zone H, Zone G, Zone F, Zone E, Zone D, Zone C, and Zone A
	China (Shanghai)	Zone G, Zone F, Zone E, Zone D, and Zone B
	China (Shenzhen)	Zone E, Zone D, Zone C, Zone B, and Zone A
	China (Qingdao)	Zone B and Zone C
	China (Zhangjiakou-Beijing Winter Olympics)	Zone B and Zone A
	China (Hong Kong)	Zone C and Zone B
Asia Pacific	Singapore	Zone A and Zone B
	Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)	Zone A and Zone B
	Japan (Tokyo)	Zone A
	Australia (Sydney)	Zone A
	Indonesia (Jakarta)	Zone A
Europe & Americas	US (Silicon Valley)	Zone A and Zone B
Europe & Americas	Germany (Frankfurt)	Zone A and Zone B
Middle East & India	India (Mumbai)	Zone A

Node settings


Parameter	Description
Data Node Type	Data nodes store index data. You can use data nodes to add, delete, search for, modify, and aggregate data in documents. Data nodes have high CPU, memory, and I/O requirements. When you optimize the performance of an Elasticsearch cluster, you must monitor the status of the data nodes in the cluster. If the resources of the cluster are insufficient, we recommend that you add data nodes to the cluster. Data nodes support specifications such as 1C 2GB (for testing purposes), 2C 4GB, and 2C 8GB. Notice The 1C 2GB specifications are designed for testing purposes. Do not use clusters with such specifications for production purposes. The service-level agreement (SLA) does not apply to these clusters. Therefore, we recommend that you do not select the specifications. If you have any problem when using clusters with the 1C 2GB specifications, you can use one of the following methods to resolve the problem: Increase the specifications. For more information, see Upgrade the configuration of a cluster. We recommend that you increase the specifications based on the vCPU-to-memory ratio of 1:4. On the Monitoring page of the Kibana console, view the monitoring information or logs of your cluster to obtain the specific information about the problem. Then, resolve the problem based on the information. For example, if the information indicates that the indexes of your cluster occupy too much memory, you can delete some indexes. For more information about how to log on to the Kibana console of your cluster, see Log on to the Kibana console.
Data Nodes	The number of data nodes that you want to purchase. The default value of this parameter is 3. Valid values: 2 to 50. Notice You must purchase a minimum of two data nodes. However, a cluster that contains only two data nodes has a greater risk of split-brain. Therefore, exercise caution when you set this parameter.
Dedicated Master Node	You can use dedicated master nodes to perform operations on clusters. You can create or delete indexes, track nodes, and allocate shards. The stability of dedicated master nodes is important to the health of clusters. By default, every node in a cluster may be selected as a dedicated master node. Operations, such as data indexing, search, and queries, require a large number of CPU, memory, and I/O resources. To ensure the stability of a cluster, we recommend that you purchase dedicated master nodes to separate the dedicated master nodes from data nodes. The default value of this parameter is No for a cluster deployed in only one zone and is Yes for a cluster deployed across zones. On the buy page or configuration upgrade page, click Yes next to Dedicated Master Node to purchase dedicated master nodes. You can also upgrade purchased dedicated master nodes on the configuration upgrade page. Your cluster is then billed based on the new specifications. For more information about the prices of the specifications, see Pricing. Notice To improve the stability of your services, we recommend that you purchase dedicated master nodes. You cannot release the dedicated master nodes that you have purchased. If you have purchased 10 or more data nodes, the default value of this parameter is No. You must manually purchase dedicated master nodes. When you upgrade the configuration of an Elasticsearch cluster, if the dedicated master nodes of the cluster are free of charge, these nodes will start to incur fees after the upgrade. If dedicated master nodes are purchased and the value of the Dedicated Master Node parameter on the configuration upgrade page is Yes, the specifications of the dedicated master nodes are 1C 2GB. After you set this parameter to Yes, you can configure the following parameters: Dedicated Master Nodes The value of this parameter can only be 3. Dedicated Master Node Type The default value of this parameter is 2C 8GB, which is the minimum specifications for a dedicated master node. You can set the parameter as required. Notice You cannot downgrade dedicated master nodes. Dedicated Master Node Disk Type The value of this parameter can only be Cloud SSD. Dedicated Master Node Storage Space The value of this parameter can only be 20G.
Client Node	You can purchase client nodes to share the CPU overheads of data nodes. This further improves the computing performance and service stability of your Elasticsearch cluster. For CPU-intensive services, we recommend that you purchase client nodes. For example, if a number of aggregation or query operations are performed, you can use client nodes to share overheads. For more information, see Open-source Elasticsearch node types. The default value of this parameter is No. On the buy page or configuration upgrade page, click Yes next to Client Node to purchase client nodes. You can also upgrade purchased client nodes on the configuration upgrade page. Your cluster is then billed based on the new specifications. For more information about the prices of the specifications, see Pricing. Notice You cannot release the client nodes that you have purchased. After you set this parameter to Yes, you can configure the following parameters: Client Nodes The default value of this parameter is 2. Valid values: 2 to 25. Client Node Type The default value of this parameter is 2C 8GB. You can set the parameter as required. Notice You cannot downgrade client nodes. Client Node Disk Type The value of this parameter can only be Efficient cloud disk. Client Node Storage Space The value of this parameter can only be 20G.
Warm Node	If your business includes both of the following index types, we recommend that you purchase warm nodes to implement the hot-warm architecture. This architecture improves the computing performance and service stability of Elasticsearch. For more information, see "Hot-Warm" Architecture in Elasticsearch 5.x. Frequently queried or written indexes Infrequently queried or written indexes, typically indexes of records The default value of this parameter is No. On the buy page or configuration upgrade page, click Yes next to Warm Node to purchase warm nodes. You can also upgrade purchased warm nodes on the configuration upgrade page. Your cluster is then billed based on the new specifications. For more information about the prices of the specifications, see Pricing. Notice You cannot release the warm nodes that you have purchased. After you purchase nodes, the system adds `-Enode.attr.box_type` to their startup parameters as follows: Data nodes: `-Enode.attr.box_type=hot` Warm nodes: `-Enode.attr.box_type=warm` After you set this parameter to Yes, you can configure the following parameters: Warm Nodes The default value of this parameter is 2. Valid values: 2 to 25. Warm Node Type The default value of this parameter is 2C 8GB. You can set the parameter as required. Notice You cannot downgrade warm nodes. Warm Node Disk Type The value of this parameter can only be Efficient cloud disk. Warm Node Disk Encryption Disk encryption offers the maximum data security without the need to make additional changes to your business and applications. However, disk encryption may have a small impact on the performance of your Elasticsearch cluster. Disk encryption is free of charge. Reading data from or writing data to encrypted disks does not incur any additional fees. Warm Node Storage Space The minimum value of this parameter is 500. Unit: GiB. You can set the parameter as required.
Kibana Node	The value of this parameter can only be Yes.
Kibana Node Type	Alibaba Cloud offers you a free Kibana node with the specifications of 1C 2GB. You can choose to purchase a Kibana node with higher specifications.
Username	The username of the account that is used to access an Elasticsearch cluster and log on to the Kibana console. The default value of this parameter is elastic. Notice If you use the elastic account to access your Elasticsearch cluster and then reset the password of the account, it may require some time for the new password to take effect. During this period, you cannot use the elastic account to access the cluster. Therefore, we recommend that you do not use the elastic account to access an Elasticsearch cluster. You can log on to the Kibana console and create a user with the required role to access an Elasticsearch cluster.
Password	The password of the elastic account. You must specify this parameter.

Storage settings


Parameter	Description
Disk Type	The disk type of an Elasticsearch cluster. Valid values: Cloud SSD: This is the default value. A standard SSD provides a maximum of 2,048 GiB of storage space. Standard SSDs are ideal for online data analysis and search that require high IOPS and fast responses. Efficient cloud disk: Ultra disks are cost-effective and are ideal for logging and analyzing large amounts of data. Notice Ultra disks with the storage space larger than 2,560 GiB cannot be resized because these disks are designed to run in disk arrays or RAID 0.
Disk Encryption	Disk encryption offers the maximum data security without the need to make additional changes to your business and applications. However, disk encryption may have a small impact on the performance of your Elasticsearch cluster. Disk encryption is free of charge. Reading data from or writing data to encrypted disks does not incur any additional fees. Notice Only cloud disks can be encrypted. You cannot enable disk encryption for purchased disks. You cannot disable disk encryption for encrypted disks. During a cluster configuration upgrade, you cannot change the disk encryption attribute for the disks that you have purchased. However, you can enable disk encryption when you purchase warm nodes and cloud disks.
Node Storage	The storage space of each node. It depends on the disk type. Unit: GiB. If the disk type is Cloud SSD, the maximum value of this parameter is 2048. If the disk type is Efficient cloud disk, the maximum value of this parameter is 5120. If the volume of the data that you want to store exceeds 2,048 GiB, you can set the storage space to 2560, 3072, 3584, 4096, 4608, or 5120. If the storage space of the disk for a purchased Elasticsearch cluster is less than 2,048 GiB, you can resize the disk to a maximum of 2,048 GiB. If the storage space of the disk is greater than 2,048 GiB, you cannot resize the disk.

Purchase plan


Parameter	Description
Duration	This parameter is available only for subscription clusters. The default value of this parameter is 1 month. Valid values: 1 month, 2 month, 3 month, 4 month, 5 month, 6 month, 7 month, 8 month, 9 month, 1 yr, 2 yr, and 3 yr.
Auto Renew	Only subscription clusters support the auto-renewal feature. This feature is disabled by default. You can select Auto Renew to enable this feature. For purchased subscription Elasticsearch clusters, you can enable this feature in the Billing Management console. For more information, see Enable auto renewal. Notice Monthly subscription: The auto-renewal cycle is one month. Yearly subscription: The auto-renewal cycle is one year.

Node types

The following table lists the node types supported by Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch.


Node type	Description
Data node	If dedicated master nodes are purchased, data nodes are used only as data nodes. If no dedicated master nodes are purchased, data nodes are also used as dedicated master nodes.
Dedicated master node	Dedicated master nodes are used only as dedicated master nodes.
Client node	Client nodes are used only as client nodes.
Warm node	If no dedicated master nodes are purchased, warm nodes are used as both data nodes and dedicated master nodes. If dedicated master nodes are purchased, warm nodes are used only as data nodes.