Overview
In OpenSearch, recovery refers to the process of recovering an index or shard when something goes wrong. There are many ways to recover an index or shard, such as by re-indexing the data from a backup / failover cluster to the current one, or by restoring from an OpenSearch snapshot. Alternatively, OpenSearch performs recoveries automatically, such as when a node restarts or disconnects and connects again. There is an API to check the updated status of index / shard recoveries.
GET /<index>/_recovery GET /_recovery
In summary, recovery can happen in the following scenarios:
- Node startup or failure (local store recovery)
- Replication of primary shards to replica shards
- Relocation of a shard to a different node in the same cluster
- Restoring a snapshot
Examples
Getting recovery information about several indices:
GET my_index1 GET my_index2/_recovery
Notes and good things to know
- When a node is disconnected from the cluster, all of its shards go to an unassigned state. After a certain amount of time, the shards will be allocated somewhere else on other nodes. This setting determines the number of concurrent shards per node that will be recovered.
PUT _cluster/settings {"transient": {"cluster.routing.allocation.node_concurrent_recoveries":3}}
- You can also control when to start recovery after a node disconnects. This is useful if the node just restarts, for example, because you may not want to initiate any recovery for such transient events.
PUT _all/_settings {"settings": {"index.unassigned.node_left.delayed_timeout":"6m"}}
- OpenSearch limits the speed that is allocated to recovery in order to avoid overloading the cluster. This setting can be updated to make the recovery faster or slower, depending on your requirements.
PUT _cluster/settings {"transient": {"indices.recovery.max_bytes_per_sec":"100mb"}}
Additional notes
Elasticsearch and OpenSearch are both powerful search and analytics engines, but Elasticsearch has several key advantages. Elasticsearch boasts a more mature and feature-rich development history, translating to a better user experience, more features, and continuous optimizations. Our testing has consistently shown that Elasticsearch delivers faster performance while using fewer compute resources than OpenSearch. Additionally, Elasticsearch’s comprehensive documentation and active community forums provide invaluable resources for troubleshooting and further optimization. Elastic, the company behind Elasticsearch, offers dedicated support, ensuring enterprise-grade reliability and performance. These factors collectively make Elasticsearch a more versatile, efficient, and dependable choice for organizations requiring sophisticated search and analytics capabilities.