Kibana¶

In this article

• Kibana. Basic Features
• Deployment Features
• Getting Started after Deploying Kibana
• Initial Settings of Kibana
• Kibana Start Screen
• Ordering a Kibana Server using API

Kibana. Basic Features¶

• Discover (Data Exploration): a tool for searching and filtering data with the ability to combine text search with structured data filtering. Allows quickly finding needed information and getting an overview of data structure.
• Data Visualization: supports various types of visualizations including line charts, histograms, pie charts, heat maps, and geospatial support. Users can create customized visualizations for most effective data representation.
• Interactive Dashboards: ability to combine multiple visualizations into interactive dashboards that can be configured, resized, and edited. Dashboards can be saved and shared with a team.
• Kibana Query Language (KQL): query language for searching specific fields and building complex queries, simplifying the process of data search and filtering.
• Canvas: tool for creating dynamic presentations and reports in real-time using data from Elasticsearch.
• Lens: intuitive editor for creating visualizations with drag-and-drop without needing to know a query language.
• Maps: geospatial analysis of data with support for various map types and layers.
• Machine Learning: built-in machine learning capabilities for anomaly detection and trend forecasting.
• Alerting: system for creating alerts based on specified conditions with support for various notification channels.
• Security: role-based access control (RBAC) for managing user rights to data and features.
• Monitoring: monitoring the status and performance of Elastic Stack in real-time.

Deployment Features¶

• Installation Time: 15–20 minutes together with OS;
• Minimum System Requirements: 8 GB RAM;
• Installation: Native installation of Kibana + Elasticsearch + SSL in hostkey.in zone;
• Installed Software:
  • Elasticsearch 8.18.3;
  • Kibana 8.18.3;
  • Nginx (for proxying);
  • Let's Encrypt SSL certificates.
• Important Paths:
  • Kibana Configuration: /etc/kibana/kibana.yml
  • Elasticsearch Configuration: /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
  • Logs: /var/log/kibana/kibana.log
  • Data: /var/lib/kibana
• Configuration Features:
  • Requires manual password change for users after installation;
  • Need to set passwords for elastic and kibana_system users;
  • SSL configuration is done automatically.

Web interface will be available at the link: https://kibana{Server_ID_from_Invapi}.hostkey.com

Getting Started after Deploying Kibana¶

After you purchase an order, you'll receive a notification email with the server ready for use. This will include the VPS IP address, login, and password. Our company clients manage their equipment through the server control panel and API — Invapi.

You can find the authorization data in either the Info >> Tags tab of the server control panel or in the sent email:

• Link: in the webpanel tag;
• Login: elastic;
• SSH connection password: comes in an email to your address when the server is ready for work after deploying the software.

Initial Settings of Kibana¶

Execute the following commands to reset passwords:

Connect to the server via SSH:

ssh root@<server_IP>

Reset the password for the elastic user (main user for authentication in the Kibana web interface):

/usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-reset-password -u elastic -i

Reset the password for the kibana_system service user (used for internal interaction between Kibana and Elasticsearch)

/usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-reset-password -u kibana_system -i

Setting the Kibana Configuration File¶

1. Open the Kibana configuration file:

   nano /etc/kibana/kibana.yml
   

2. Find the elasticsearch.password parameter and specify the password you set for the elastic user in the previous step:

   

Restarting the Kibana Service¶

After making changes to the configuration, restart Kibana:

sudo systemctl restart kibana

After completing the setup, log in to the web interface with the previously obtained credentials:

Kibana Start Screen¶

The Kibana start screen provides access to the main capabilities of Elastic Stack:

Main Products are represented by four cards:

• Elasticsearch — a search engine with API and tools for creating search solutions;
• Observability — monitoring logs, metrics, and application traces;
• Security — protection from threats and ensuring infrastructure security;
• Analytics — tools for data analysis and visualization.

Quick Start offers options to work with data:

• Adding ready integrations;
• Using demo data;
• Uploading your own files.

Management includes administrative functions:

• Configuring access rights and permissions;
• Monitoring cluster status;
• Backup and recovery;
• Managing index lifecycle policies.

The left navigation panel is organized by main sections: Analytics (with sub-sections for dashboards, Canvas, Maps), Elasticsearch (search, content) and Observability (overview, Alerts, SLO).

Ordering a Kibana Server using API¶

To install this software using the API, follow these instructions.

Some of the content on this page was created or translated using AI.