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Index context

This is an experimental feature and is not recommended for use in a production environment. For updates on the progress the feature or if you want to leave feedback, join the discussion on the OpenSearch forum.

Index context declares the use case for an index. Using the context information, OpenSearch applies a predetermined set of settings and mappings, which provides the following benefits:

• Optimized performance
• Settings tuned to your specific use case
• Accurate mappings and aliases based on OpenSearch Integrations

The settings and metadata configuration that are applied using component templates are automatically loaded when your cluster starts. Component templates that start with @abc_template@ or Application-Based Configuration (ABC) templates can only be used through a context object declaration, in order to prevent configuration issues.

Installation

To install the index context feature:

1. Install the opensearch-system-templates plugin on all nodes in your cluster using one of the installation methods.

2. Set the feature flag opensearch.experimental.feature.application_templates.enabled to true. For more information about enabling and disabling feature flags, see Enabling experimental features.

3. Set the cluster.application_templates.enabled setting to true. For instructions on how to configure OpenSearch, see configuring settings.

Using the context setting

Use the context setting with the Index API to add use-case-specific context.

Considerations

Consider the following when using the context parameter during index creation:

1. If you use the context parameter to create an index, you cannot include any settings declared in the index context during index creation or dynamic settings updates.
2. The index context becomes permanent when set on an index or index template.

When you adhere to these limitations, suggested configurations or mappings are uniformly applied on indexed data within the specified context.

Examples

The following examples show how to use index context.

Create an index

The following example request creates an index in which to store metric data by declaring a metrics mapping as the context:

PUT /my-metrics-index
{
  "context": {
    "name": "metrics"
  }
}

After creation, the context is added to the index and the corresponding settings are applied:

GET request

GET /my-metrics-index

Response

{
    "my-metrics-index": {
        "aliases": {},
        "mappings": {},
        "settings": {
            "index": {
                "codec": "zstd_no_dict",
                "refresh_interval": "60s",
                "number_of_shards": "1",
                "provided_name": "my-metrics-index",
                "merge": {
                    "policy": "log_byte_size"
                },
                "context": {
                    "created_version": "1",
                    "current_version": "1"
                },
                ...
            }
        },
        "context": {
            "name": "metrics",
            "version": "_latest"
        }
    }
}

Create an index template

You can also use the context parameter when creating an index template. The following example request creates an index template with the context information as logs:

PUT _index_template/my-logs
{
    "context": {
        "name": "logs",
        "version": "1"
    },
    "index_patterns": [
        "my-logs-*"
    ]
}

All indexes created using this index template will get the metadata provided by the associated component template. The following request and response show how context is added to the template:

Get index template

GET _index_template/my-logs

Response

{
    "index_templates": [
        {
            "name": "my-logs2",
            "index_template": {
                "index_patterns": [
                    "my-logs1-*"
                ],
                "context": {
                    "name": "logs",
                    "version": "1"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

If there is any conflict between any settings, mappings, or aliases directly declared by your template and the backing component template for the context, the latter gets higher priority during index creation.

Available context templates

The following templates are available to be used through the context parameter as of OpenSearch 2.17:

• logs
• metrics
• nginx-logs
• amazon-cloudtrail-logs
• amazon-elb-logs
• amazon-s3-logs
• apache-web-logs
• k8s-logs

For more information about these templates, see the OpenSearch system templates repository.

To view the current version of these templates on your cluster, use GET /_component_template.