How to Install & Set Up OpenSearch

Run OpenSearch — the fully open source fork of Elasticsearch — plus OpenSearch Dashboards for search and log analytics.

Updated 20263-step setupDownload OpenSearch →

Prerequisites

✓A host with Docker, 4 GB+ RAM
✓vm.max_map_count set to at least 262144 (sudo sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144)

Run a single node with Docker

terminal

docker run -d --name opensearch \
  -p 9200:9200 -p 9600:9600 \
  -e "discovery.type=single-node" \
  -e "OPENSEARCH_INITIAL_ADMIN_PASSWORD=Str0ng!Passw0rd" \
  opensearchproject/opensearch:latest

Alternative — native .deb / .rpm packages

OpenSearch also publishes proper Debian and RPM packages if you'd rather it be managed as a systemd service by apt or dnf than run in Docker.

Debian / Ubuntu

curl -o- https://artifacts.opensearch.org/publicKeys/opensearch.pgp | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/opensearch-keyring
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/opensearch-keyring] https://artifacts.opensearch.org/releases/bundle/opensearch/2.x/apt stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opensearch-2.x.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y opensearch

RHEL / CentOS Stream / Fedora

sudo curl -SL https://artifacts.opensearch.org/publicKeys/opensearch.pgp -o /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/GPG-KEY-opensearch
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/opensearch-2.x.repo
[opensearch-2.x]
name=OpenSearch 2.x
baseurl=https://artifacts.opensearch.org/releases/bundle/opensearch/2.x/yum
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/GPG-KEY-opensearch
gpgcheck=1
EOF
sudo dnf install -y opensearch

Verify

terminal

curl -k -u admin:Str0ng!Passw0rd https://localhost:9200

For the Kibana-style UI, run the opensearchproject/opensearch-dashboards image and point it at your OpenSearch node — or install the matching opensearch-dashboards package from the same repos above.

Documentation & Knowledge Base

Official DocumentationOpenSearch Documentation →Knowledge Base & CommunityOpenSearch Community Forum →

Download OpenSearch— all versions & official links→

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