A Comprehensive Overview of ELK Stack Tools for Efficient Development and Operations

1. Introduction

Effective work requires the right tools; learning and applying the ELK Stack is no exception, so I share the "efficient" tools I use at work to boost development and operations productivity.

2. Tool Classification Overview

2.1 Basic Tools

1. Head Plugin

Functions: view ES cluster status, index data, perform CRUD operations via ES DSL; useful for JSON formatting.

URL: http://mobz.github.io/elasticsearch-head/

2. Kibana

Provides data visualization and a Dev Tools console for RESTful API CRUD operations—more convenient than Postman or curl.

URL: https://www.elastic.co/products/kibana

3. ElasticHD

Key feature: SQL‑to‑DSL conversion, useful as a reference.

URL: https://github.com/360EntSecGroup-Skylar/ElasticHD

2.2 Cluster Monitoring Tools

4. Cerebro

URL: https://github.com/lmenezes/cerebro

5. Elasticsearch‑HQ

Web UI for managing Elasticsearch clusters and performing queries.

URL: https://github.com/royrusso/elasticsearch-HQ

2.3 Cluster Migration Tools

6. elasticsearch‑migration

Supports data migration across versions using scroll + bulk.

URL: https://github.com/medcl/elasticsearch-migration

7. Elasticsearch‑Exporter

Simple scripts to export ES data to other destinations.

URL: https://github.com/mallocator/Elasticsearch-Exporter

8. elasticsearch‑dump

Tool for moving and backing up indices.

URL: https://github.com/taskrabbit/elasticsearch-dump

2.4 Cluster Data Processing Tools

9. elasticsearch‑curator

Official Elasticsearch utility for tasks such as retaining only the most recent seven days of data.

URL: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/elasticsearch-curator

2.5 Security Tools

10. X‑Pack

URL: https://www.elastic.co/downloads/x-pack

11. Search‑Guard

Security plugin offering authentication, authorization, audit logging, and field‑level security; integrates with LDAP/Kerberos, Kibana, and Logstash.

URL: https://github.com/floragunncom/search-guard

2.6 Visualization Tools

12. Grafana

Compared with Kibana: Kibana excels for single‑source, simple data; Grafana is better for multiple data sources and complex business lines.

URL: https://grafana.com/grafana

2.7 Automation Operations Tools

13. Ansible – https://github.com/elastic/ansible-elasticsearch

14. Puppet – https://github.com/elastic/puppet-elasticsearch

15. Cookbook – https://github.com/elastic/cookbook-elasticsearch

These tools were suggested by the community; I have not used them personally.

2.8 SQL‑like Query Tools

16. Elasticsearch‑SQL

SQL‑style query tool from the NLP‑China team; native SQL support appears in ES 6.3+.

URL: https://github.com/NLPchina/elasticsearch-sql

2.9 Enhancement Tools

17. Conveyor – Kibana plugin for graphical data import.

URL: http://t.cn/REOhwGT

18. kibana_markdown_doc_view – Displays Kibana documentation in markdown format.

URL: http://t.cn/REOhKgB

19. indices_view – Kibana app from Newegg to quickly view index information.

URL: https://gitee.com/newegg/indices_view

20. Dremio

Supports SQL‑to‑DSL, visualizes data from Elasticsearch, MySQL, Oracle, Mongo, CSV, and enables ES multi‑table joins.

URL: https://www.dremio.com/

2.10 Alerting Tools

21. ElastAlert

Python‑based alerting framework (originated at Yelp) similar to Elastic Watcher.

URL: http://elastalert.readthedocs.org/

22. Sentinl

Extends Siren Investigate and Kibana 6 with alerting and reporting capabilities, supporting PNG/PDF snapshots.

URL: https://github.com/sirensolutions/sentinl

3. Conclusion

Just as Lu Xun’s “Kong Yiji” wonders about the different ways to write the character for fennel seed, the right tool—chosen for your specific needs—is the best.

Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/s2ema4tIXKcqTNUUhjGt1w

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