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Searchable snapshot

As explained in Elasticsearch in Action, Second Edition

A searchable snapshot is a snapshot that can be mounted and queried as indexed data without first being fully restored.

A searchable snapshot lets Elasticsearch mount a snapshot as an index and run queries against it, rather than restoring the data before searching. This turns low-cost archival backups into queryable data sources. section 14.4.6

The operational trade-offs are straightforward:

  • Mount snapshots with the _mount API so they can serve searches and potentially replace replica capacity. section 14.4.6
  • Use archival stores to reduce storage costs while retaining query access to selected backups. section 14.4.6
  • Treat licensing as a deployment constraint: searchable snapshots require an Enterprise license and are unavailable with the basic license. section 14.4.6

Production backup search

A production cluster can keep snapshots in a low-cost archival repository, then mount a selected snapshot when queries need historical movie or review data. The snapshot becomes searchable without first restoring the complete dataset. section 14.4.6

How Elasticsearch in Action, Second Edition covers it

How deep it goes
Defines the capability and benefits but defers implementation details to external documentation.
Examples
Uses production backups, low-cost archival repositories, historical movie or review data, and mounted snapshot indexes as examples.
What it assumes
Assumes familiarity with snapshots, backups, indexes, replicas, and search queries; does not teach mounting implementation.
What you can do after
Operate searchable snapshots through the _mount API after evaluating licensing and archival-storage trade-offs.
How it connects
Connects snapshots with backups, indexes, search queries, archival stores, replicas, and the _mount API.
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Related concepts

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Elasticsearch in Action, Second Edition. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.