Setting Up Basic Authentication

Basic authentication uses usernames and passwords to control access to the Elasticsearch API.

Step 1: Create a User

You can create users using the Kibana UI or the Elasticsearch REST API.

Using Kibana

• Open Kibana and go to Management > Security > Users.
• Click Create user.
• Fill in the username, password, and assign roles (e.g., superuser).

Using the REST API

Alternatively, you can create a user using the REST API:

curl -X POST "localhost:9200/_security/user/my_user" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d'
{
  "password" : "mypassword",
  "roles" : [ "superuser" ],
  "full_name" : "John Doe",
  "email" : "john.doe@example.com"
}'

Step 2: Authenticate API Requests

To authenticate API requests, include the username and password in the request header.

Example: Indexing a Document

curl -u my_user:mypassword -X POST "localhost:9200/myindex/_doc/1" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d'
{
  "name": "John Doe",
  "age": 30,
  "city": "New York"
}'

Output

The response indicates that the document is indexed successfully:

{
  "_index": "myindex",
  "_id": "1",
  "_version": 1,
  "result": "created",
  "_shards": {
    "total": 2,
    "successful": 1,
    "failed": 0
  }
}

Elasticsearch is a powerful distributed search and analytics engine widely used for logging, monitoring, and data analysis. To protect your data and ensure secure access, setting up API authentication is essential.

This article will guide you through the process of configuring Elasticsearch API authentication with detailed examples and outputs. We will cover basic authentication, API keys, and role-based access control (RBAC).