Lab 7.4: Searchable snapshots

Objective:

In this lab, you will create a snapshot repository and add searchable snapshots to your index lifecycle policy.

  1. EXAM PREP: Navigate to the Snapshot and Restore page under Stack Management. Register a new repository that satisfies the following requirements, keeping in mind that cluster1 already has path.repo set to /var/tmp/snapshots, which is a shared file system on all nodes:

    • the name of the repository is snap-repo
    • it is a shared file system that maps to the /var/tmp/snapshots folder
    Solution
    • Click the Repositories tab
    • Click Register a repository button
    • Name your repository snap-repo
    • Select Shared file system as the type
    • Click Next
    • Set the File system location to /var/tmp/snapshots and click Register

  2. In Index Lifecycle Policies, edit my-metrics-policy so that its Cold phase enables Searchable snapshots using the snap-repo repository.

    Solution

    "Searchable snapshots in the cold phase"

  3. Navigate to the Index Management page under Stack Management. Open the Data Streams tab and click on the number of indices for the stream my_metrics-service.status-dev. "Data streams"

  4. You can visualize the different indices linked to the stream. Notice that the size is different depending on the phase they are in.

  5. EXAM PREP: Let's create a Snapshot Lifecycle Policy. In Snapshot and Restore, click Policies. Define a new snapshot policy that satisfies the following requirements:

    • the name of the policy is my-daily-snaps
    • the snapshot name is <my-daily-{now/d}>
    • uses the snap-repo repository
    • takes a snapshot at 1:30 AM every day (which is the default in the UI)
    • retains a maximum of 3 snapshots
    Solution
    • Click Create a policy.
    • Name should be my-daily-snaps
    • Snapshot name should be <my-daily-{now/d}>
    • Click Next.
    • Leave the defaults for Snapshot settings and click Next.
    • For Snapshot retention, set a value of 3 for the Maximum count of Snapshots to retain. Click Next.
    • Click Create policy.

    You can also create the policy using the following command in Console: 

    PUT _slm/policy/my-daily-snaps
{
  "name": "<my-daily-{now/d}>",
  "schedule": "0 30 1 * * ?",
  "repository": "snap-repo",
  "config": {},
  "retention": {
    "max_count": 3
  }
}

  6. Obviously, we do not want to wait for 1:00 AM to get our first snapshot, so let's run it now. Click the Run now arrow on the Policies tab. "Data streams"

  7. Once the snapshot has run, open the Snapshots tab and examine the results to see that all of your indices have been backed up.

Summary:

In this lab, you registered a shared file system repository. You used it to configure searchable snapshots, as well as to define a Snapshot Lifecycle Policy.