Elasticsearch

The Elasticsearch connector lets you connect to a Elasticsearch search engine and perform the supported search engine operations.

Before you begin

Before using the Elasticsearch connector, do the following tasks:

  • In your Google Cloud project:
    • Grant the roles/connectors.admin IAM role to the user configuring the connector.
    • Grant the following IAM roles to the service account that you want to use for the connector:
      • roles/secretmanager.viewer
      • roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor

      A service account is a special type of Google account intended to represent a non-human user that needs to authenticate and be authorized to access data in Google APIs. If you don't have a service account, you must create a service account. For more information, see Creating a service account.

    • Enable the following services:
      • secretmanager.googleapis.com (Secret Manager API)
      • connectors.googleapis.com (Connectors API)

      To understand how to enable services, see Enabling services.

    If these services or permissions have not been enabled for your project previously, you are prompted to enable them when configuring the connector.

Configure the connector

Configuring the connector requires you to create a connection to your data source (backend system). A connection is specific to a data source. It means that if you have many data sources, you must create a separate connection for each data source. To create a connection, do the following steps:

  1. In the Cloud console, go to the Integration Connectors > Connections page and then select or create a Google Cloud project.

    Go to the Connections page

  2. Click + CREATE NEW to open the Create Connection page.
  3. In the Location section, choose the location for the connection.
    1. Region: Select a location from the drop-down list.

      For the list of all the supported regions, see Locations.

    2. Click NEXT.
  4. In the Connection Details section, complete the following:
    1. Connector: Select Elasticsearch from the drop down list of available Connectors.
    2. Connector version: Select the Connector version from the drop down list of available versions.
    3. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for the Connection instance.

      Connection names must meet the following criteria:

      • Connection names can use letters, numbers, or hyphens.
      • Letters must be lower-case.
      • Connection names must begin with a letter and end with a letter or number.
      • Connection names cannot exceed 63 characters.
    4. Optionally, enter a Description for the connection instance.
    5. Service Account: Select a service account that has the required roles.
    6. Optionally, configure the Connection node settings:

      • Minimum number of nodes: Enter the minimum number of connection nodes.
      • Maximum number of nodes: Enter the maximum number of connection nodes.

      A node is a unit (or replica) of a connection that processes transactions. More nodes are required to process more transactions for a connection and conversely, fewer nodes are required to process fewer transactions. To understand how the nodes affect your connector pricing, see Pricing for connection nodes. If you don't enter any values, by default the minimum nodes are set to 2 (for better availability) and the maximum nodes are set to 50.

    7. Client Side Evaluation: Set ClientSideEvaluation to true to perform Evaluation client side on nested objects.
    8. Data Model: Specifies the data model to use when parsing Elasticsearch documents and generating the database metadata.
    9. Max Results: The maximum number of total results to return from Elasticsearch when using the default Search API.
    10. Use proxy: Select this checkbox to configure a proxy server for the connection and configure the following values:
      • Proxy Auth Scheme: Select the authentication type to authenticate with the proxy server. The following authentication types are supported:
        • Basic: Basic HTTP authentication.
        • Digest: Digest HTTP authentication.
      • Proxy User: A user name to be used to authenticate with the proxy server.
      • Proxy Password: The Secret manager secret of the user's password.
      • Proxy SSL Type: The SSL type to use when connecting to the proxy server. The following authentication types are supported:
        • Auto: Default setting. If the URL is an HTTPS URL, then the Tunnel option is used. If the URL is an HTTP URL, then the NEVER option is used.
        • Always: The connection is always SSL enabled.
        • Never: The connection is not SSL enabled.
        • Tunnel: The connection is through a tunneling proxy. The proxy server opens a connection to the remote host and traffic flows back and forth through the proxy.
      • In the Proxy Server section, enter details of the proxy server.
        1. Click + Add destination.
        2. Select a Destination Type.
          • Host address: Specify the hostname or IP address of the destination.

            If you want to establish a private connection to your backend system, do the following:

    11. Optionally, click + ADD LABEL to add a label to the Connection in the form of a key/value pair.
    12. Click NEXT.
  5. In the Destinations section, enter details of the remote host (backend system) you want to connect to.
    1. Destination Type: Select a Destination Type.
      1. In the Host address field, specify the hostname or IP address of the destination.
        1. If you want to establish a private connection to your backend systems, follow these steps:
          1. Create a PSC service attachment.
          2. Create an endpoint attachment and then enter the details of the endpoint attachment in the Host address field.
        2. If you want to establish a public connection to your backend systems with additional security, you can consider configuring static outbound IP addresses for your connections, and then configure your firewall rules to allowlist only the specific static IP addresses.

      To enter additional destinations, click +ADD DESTINATION.

    2. Click NEXT.
  6. In the Authentication section, enter the authentication details.
    1. Select an Authentication type and enter the relevant details.

      The following authentication types are supported by the Elasticsearch connection:

      • Anonymous
      • Username and password

      2. To understand how to configure these authentication types, see Configure authentication.

    2. Click NEXT.
  7. Review: Review your connection and authentication details.
  8. Click Create.

Configure authentication

Enter the details based on the authentication you want to use.

  • Anonymous

    If you want to use anonymous login, select Not Available.

  • Username and password
    • Username: Username for connector
    • Password: Secret Manager Secret containing the password associated with the connector.

Entities, operations, and actions

All the Integration Connectors provide a layer of abstraction for the objects of the connected application. You can access an application's objects only through this abstraction. The abstraction is exposed to you as entities, operations, and actions.

  • Entity: An entity can be thought of as an object, or a collection of properties, in the connected application or service. The definition of an entity differs from a connector to a connector. For example, in a database connector, tables are the entities, in a file server connector, folders are the entities, and in a messaging system connector, queues are the entities.

    However, it is possible that a connector doesn't support or have any entities, in which case the Entities list will be empty.

  • Operation: An operation is the activity that you can perform on an entity. You can perform any of the following operations on an entity:

    Selecting an entity from the available list, generates a list of operations available for the entity. For a detailed description of the operations, see the Connectors task's entity operations. However, if a connector doesn't support any of the entity operations, such unsupported operations aren't listed in the Operations list.

  • Action: An action is a first class function that is made available to the integration through the connector interface. An action lets you make changes to an entity or entities, and vary from connector to connector. However, it is possible that a connector doesn't support any action, in which case the Actions list will be empty.

System limitations

The Elasticsearch connector can process 10 transactions per second, per node, and throttles any transactions beyond this limit. By default, Integration Connectors allocates 2 nodes (for better availability) for a connection.

For information on the limits applicable to Integration Connectors, see Limits.

Actions

This section lists the actions supported by the connector. To understand how to configure the actions, see Action examples.

CreateIndex action

This action creates an index.

Input parameters of the CreateIndex action

Parameter Name Data Type Required Description
AliasFilter String No Query DSL object used to limit documents that the alias can access.
NumberOfShards String No The number of primary shards that the created index should have.
AliasIsWriteIndex Boolean No Specifies if the alias index is writable.
Alias String No An alias for the index.
AliasIndexRouting String No Value used for the alias to route indexing operations to a specific shard. If specified, this overwrites the routing value for indexing operations.
Index String Yes The name of the index.
NumberOfRoutingShards String No Number used by Elasticsearch internally with the value from NumberOfShards to route documents to a primary shard.
OtherSettings String No A JSON object of settings. This setting can't be used in conjunction with NumberOfRoutingShards or NumberOfShards.
Mappings String No A JSON object specifying the mapping for the index.
AliasIsHidden Boolean No Specifies if the alias is hidden. All indices for the alias must have the same is_hidden value.
AliasRouting String No Value used for the alias to route indexing and search operations to a specific shard. May be overwritten by AliasIndexRouting or AliasSearchRouting for certain operations.

Output parameters of the CreateIndex action

This action returns the status 200 (OK) if the action is successful.

To understand how to configure the CreateIndex action, see Action examples.

ModifyIndexAliases action

This action modifies an index alias.

Input parameters of the ModifyIndexAliases action

Parameter Name Data Type Required Description
Alias String No The name of the alias. Multiple aliases are semi-colon separated.
Filter String No A filter to use when creating the alias. This takes the raw JSON filter using Query DSL. Multiple filters are semi-colon separated.
Routing String No The routing value to associate with the alias. Multiple routing values are semi-colon separated.
SearchRouting String No The routing value to associate with the alias for searching operations. Multiple search routing values are semi-colon separated.
IndexRouting String No The routing value to associate with the alias for indexing operations. Multiple index routing values are semi-colon separated.
Action String Yes The action to perform such as add, remove, or remove_index. Multiple actions are semi-colon separated.
Index String Yes The name of the index. Multiple indexes are semi-colon separated.

Output parameters of the ModifyIndexAliases action

This action returns the status 200 (OK) if the action is successful.

To understand how to configure the ModifyIndexAliases action, see Action examples.

ExecuteCustomQuery action

This action lets you execute a custom query.

To create a custom query, follow these steps:

  1. Follow the detailed instructions to add a connectors task.
  2. When you configure the connector task, in the type of action you want to perform, select Actions.
  3. In the Action list, select Execute custom query, and then click Done.
  4. Expand the Task input section, and then do the following:
    1. In the Timeout after field, enter the number of seconds to wait till the query executes.

      Default value: 180 seconds.

    2. In the Maximum number of rows field, enter the maximum number of rows to be returned from the database.

      Default value: 25.

    3. To update the custom query, click Edit Custom Query. The Script editor dialog opens.
    4. In the Script editor dialog, enter the SQL query and click Save.

      You can use a question mark (?) in a SQL statement to represent a single parameter that must be specified in the query parameters list. For example, the following SQL query selects all rows from the Employees table that matches the values specified for the LastName column: 

      SELECT * FROM Employees where LastName=?

    5. If you've used question marks in your SQL query, you must add the parameter by clicking + Add Parameter Name for each question mark. While executing the integration, these parameters replace the question marks (?) in the SQL query sequentially. For example, if you have added three question marks (?), then you must add three parameters in order of sequence. To add query parameters, do the following:
      1. From the Type list, select the data type of the parameter.
      2. In the Value field, enter the value of the parameter.
      3. To add multiple parameters, click + Add Query Parameter.

On successful execution, this action returns the status 200 (OK) with a response body that has the query results.

Action examples

This section describes how to perform some of the actions in this connector.

Example - Create an index

This example creates an index.

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Actions.
  2. Select the CreateIndex action, and then click Done.
  3. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field: 
    {
"Index": "new_index_1"
}

    4. If the action is successful, the CreateIndex task's connectorOutputPayload response parameter will have a value similar to the following:

    [{
"CompletedBeforeTimeout": "true",
"ShardsAcknowledged": "true",
"IndexName": "new_index_1"
}]

Example - Modify an index alias

This example shows how to modify an index alias.

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Actions.
  2. Select the ModifyIndexAliases action, and then click Done.
  3. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field: 
    {
"Action": "remove_index",
"Index": "postmanindex"
}

    4. If the action is successful, the ModifyIndexAliases task's connectorOutputPayload response parameter will have a value similar to the following:

    [{
}]

Entity operation examples

This section shows how to perform some of the entity operations in this connector.

Example - List all the records

This example lists all the records in the Demoindex entity.

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
  2. Select Demoindex from the Entity list.
  3. Select the List operation, and then click Done.
  4. Optionally, in Task Input section of the Connectors task, you can filter your result set by specifying a filter clause. Specify the filter clause value always within the single quotes (').

Example - Get a record from an entity

This example gets a record with the specified ID from the Demoindex entity.

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
  2. Select Demoindex from the Entity list.
  3. Select the Get operation, and then click Done.
  4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click EntityId and then enter 23 in the Default Value field.

    Here, 23 is a unique record ID in the Demoindex entity.

Example - Create a record in an entity

This example creates a record in the Demoindex entity.

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
  2. Select Demoindex from the Entity list.
  3. Select the Create operation, and then click Done.
  4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field: 
    {
"message": "GET /search HTTP/1.1 200 1070000",
"@timestamp": "2099-11-15 13:12:00.0"
}

    If the integration is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:

    [{
"_id": "23"
}]

Example - Update a record

This example updates the record with the specified ID in the Demoindex entity.

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
  2. Select Demoindex from the Entity list.
  3. Select the Update operation, and then click Done.
  4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field: 
    {
"message": "GET /search HTTP/1.1 200 1070000",
"@timestamp": "2099-11-15 13:12:00.0",
"name": "GoogleCloud_Update_docs",
"price": 10.0}
  5. Click entityId, and then enter 23 in the Default Value field.

    If the integration is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:

    [{
"_id": "23"
}]

Example - Delete a record from an entity

This example deletes the record with the specified ID in the Demoindex entity.

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
  2. Select Demoindex from the Entity list.
  3. Select the Delete operation, and then click Done.
  4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click entityId and then enter pcqT4wB4uQNUCuamh4N in the Default Value field.

Use terraform to create connections

You can use the Terraform resource to create a new connection.

To learn how to apply or remove a Terraform configuration, see Basic Terraform commands.

To view a sample terraform template for connection creation, see sample template.

When creating this connection by using Terraform, you must set the following variables in your Terraform configuration file:

Parameter name Data type Required Description
client_side_evaluation BOOLEAN False Set ClientSideEvaluation to true to perform Evaluation client side on nested objects.
data_model ENUM False Specifies the data model to use when parsing Elasticsearch documents and generating the database metadata. Supported values are: Document, FlattenedDocuments, Relational
max_results STRING False The maximum number of total results to return from Elasticsearch when using the default Search API.
verbosity STRING False Verbosity level for connection, varies from 1-5. Higher verbosity level will log all the communication details (request,response & ssl certificates).
proxy_enabled BOOLEAN False Select this checkbox to configure a proxy server for the connection.
proxy_auth_scheme ENUM False The authentication type to use to authenticate to the ProxyServer proxy. Supported values are: BASIC, DIGEST, NONE
proxy_user STRING False A user name to be used to authenticate to the ProxyServer proxy.
proxy_password SECRET False A password to be used to authenticate to the ProxyServer proxy.
proxy_ssltype ENUM False The SSL type to use when connecting to the ProxyServer proxy. Supported values are: AUTO, ALWAYS, NEVER, TUNNEL

Use the Elasticsearch connection in an integration

After you create the connection, it becomes available in both Apigee Integration and Application Integration. You can use the connection in an integration through the Connectors task.

  • To understand how to create and use the Connectors task in Apigee Integration, see Connectors task.
  • To understand how to create and use the Connectors task in Application Integration, see Connectors task.

Get help from the Google Cloud community

You can post your questions and discuss this connector in the Google Cloud community at Cloud Forums.

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