OpenSearch is a highly scalable open-source search and analytics platform for a broad range of use cases. Data can be ingested from various sources and quickly searched, analyzed, and visualized. Prominent use cases include log analytics, application monitoring, anomaly detection, and website search.

OpenSearch and OpenSearch Dashboards were originally derived from Elasticsearch 7.10.2 and Kibana 7.10.2. AWS started the project at the beginning of this year. The goal is to make OpenSearch a genuine community-driven effort with several different maintainers. It consists of two main applications plus a set of plugins that further extend the capabilities of OpenSearch.

Also called the “engine,” OpenSearch is a distributed, highly scalable, and highly available search and analytics engine at its core. You can ingest any data in JSON format and use the advanced search, analytics, and aggregation capabilities to make use of your data.

Your data is stored in a cluster and distributed amongst the participating nodes in this cluster. Nodes can be added and removed dynamically, and OpenSearch automatically balances and distributes the data amongst the nodes. An OpenSearch cluster can scale up to petabytes of data while providing ultra-low latency when searching or aggregating data.

While the most prominent use case is probably logs analytics, the possibilities are limitless. For example:

• Storing and analyzing financial transactions and scanning them for anomalies to detect possible fraud.

• Monitoring application performance in real-time.

• Storing medical information like patient data or health-related data points from trackers, smartwatches, scales, and other devices.

• Implementing a highly accurate and super fast application search.

OpenSearch runs on all major platforms, including Docker and Kubernetes.

OpenSearch Dashboard is the data visualization and management tool for OpenSearch. Use it to create stunning visualizations and dashboards of your data stored in Elasticsearch. Dashboards and visualizations can be shared and also embedded in other websites.

Dashboards also come with management and administrative features that you can use to monitor and configure OpenSearch.