Elasticsearch:Create an Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch cluster

Billing

For information about the product pricing and billable items of Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch, see Billing rules.

Before you start

Before you create an Elasticsearch cluster, prepare the following resources and information:

• VPC and vSwitch: Required. Create one first if none exists. See Create a VPC and a vSwitch.

• Region: Cannot be changed after creation. Choose a region close to your users to minimize latency.

• Instance type: Vector Enhanced Edition (AI/vector search), Kernel-enhanced Edition (enhanced features), or Standard Edition (open source compatible).

• Capacity planning: Estimate storage and computing needs. See Capacity assessment.

Procedure

1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch console.

2. In the left navigation menu, choose Elasticsearch Clusters.

3. On the Elasticsearch Clusters page, click Create.

   Parameter	Description
   Billing Method	Subscription: For long-term use. Pay an upfront fee for better cost-effectiveness. Pay-as-you-go: For short-term use, such as development or testing. Charged hourly. Release the instance anytime to stop billing. You can start with pay-as-you-go and switch to subscription after confirming the instance meets your needs.
   Region and Zone	Cannot be changed after creation. Take note of the following: Deploy closer to users to reduce latency. Deploy in the same region as other Alibaba Cloud services for internal network connectivity.
   Number of Zones	1-AZ (default): Standard deployment for non-business-critical workloads. 2-AZ: Cross-zone disaster recovery for production workloads. 3-AZ: High availability for production workloads requiring maximum uptime. Note For multi-zone deployments, Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch auto-configures zones. See Deploy and use a multi-zone instance.
   Network Type	Fixed to VPC.
   VPC	Select a VPC in the target region. Note Use the same VPC for internal network connectivity with other Alibaba Cloud services. No VPC? See Create a VPC and a vSwitch.
   vSwitch	Lists only vSwitches in the specified VPC and zone. Note No vSwitch? See Create a VPC and a vSwitch.
   Resource Group	Organize Elasticsearch clusters using resource groups. See Resource groups and authorization.
   Instance Type	Vector Enhanced Edition: Delivers 5x vector query performance and 75% memory cost savings through data quantization. Kernel-enhanced Edition: Features a deeply optimized AliES kernel with 10+ enhanced capabilities. Standard Edition: 100% compatible with open source Elasticsearch. Includes all X-Pack features at no extra cost. See Features and Features of the AliES Kernel-enhanced Edition.
   Elasticsearch Version	Choose a version. See Version features and Release Notes. Note Available regions and zones vary by version. See the actual options on the purchase page.
   Node Configuration	Configure the nodes as needed. Note For details about node specifications, see Instance type and capacity assessment. For node configurations, see Configure nodes for an Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch cluster.
   Username	The default account is elastic (unchangeable). This account is used to access the Elasticsearch cluster and Kibana console. Note Password changes may briefly affect service availability. For production, create custom roles and users in Kibana instead. See Use the RBAC mechanism provided by Elasticsearch X-Pack to implement access control.
   Password	The password for the elastic account.
   Duration	Visible and required for subscription billing. Optionally enable Auto-renewal, which prevents service disruptions. For monthly subscriptions, the auto-renewal cycle is one month. For yearly subscriptions, the auto-renewal cycle is one year.

4. Click Buy Now, confirm information on the Confirm Order page, and click Pay.

5. Return to the Elasticsearch Clusters page, select the region and find your cluster.

   Cluster initialization takes some time, depending on cluster specifications. When Status updates to Normal, your cluster is ready for use.

Next steps

• View cluster status and node information

• Connect to a cluster

• Elasticsearch migration

• Use the RBAC mechanism provided by Elasticsearch X-Pack to implement access control.

• Modify a scenario-specific configuration template

• Use index lifecycle management to separate hot and cold data

FAQ

• What do I do if I select an incorrect configuration when purchasing an ES instance?

• What do I do if no VPCs are available when I purchase an ES instance?

• What are the specific versions that correspond to the versions on the ES purchase page?

• When I purchase an ES instance, I have a VPC, but no virtual switches are available or the vSwitch list is empty, and the error "vSwitch: may not be empty" is reported. How do I fix this?

• If I unsubscribe from an instance and purchase a new one, does the endpoint of the new instance change?

• Can I purchase a single-node ES instance?

• What do I do if resources are sold out when I purchase an instance?

• What do I do if an ES instance is always in the Creating state after purchase?

• After an ES cluster is created, do I need to purchase a Kibana node separately?

• Why can't I find my created instance?