elasticsearch/docs/reference/setup/bootstrap-checks.asciidoc

[[bootstrap-checks]]
== Bootstrap Checks

Collectively, we have a lot of experience with users suffering
unexpected issues because they have not configured
<<important-settings,important settings>>. In previous versions of
Elasticsearch, misconfiguration of some of these settings were logged
as warnings. Understandably, users sometimes miss these log messages.
To ensure that these settings receive the attention that they deserve,
Elasticsearch has bootstrap checks upon startup.

These bootstrap checks inspect a variety of Elasticsearch and system
settings and compare them to values that are safe for the operation of
Elasticsearch. If Elasticsearch is in development mode, any bootstrap
checks that fail appear as warnings in the Elasticsearch log. If
Elasticsearch is in production mode, any bootstrap checks that fail will
cause Elasticsearch to refuse to start.

There are some bootstrap checks that are always enforced to prevent
Elasticsearch from running with incompatible settings. These checks are
documented individually.

[float]
=== Development vs. production mode

By default, Elasticsearch binds to `localhost` for <<modules-http,HTTP>>
and <<modules-transport,transport (internal)>> communication. This is
fine for downloading and playing with Elasticsearch, and everyday
development but it's useless for production systems. To form a cluster,
Elasticsearch instances must be reachable via transport communication so
they must bind transport to an external interface. Thus, we consider an
Elasticsearch instance to be in development mode if it does not bind
transport to an external interface (the default), and is otherwise in
production mode if it does bind transport to an external interface.

Note that HTTP can be configured independently of transport via
<<modules-http,`http.host`>> and <<modules-transport,`transport.host`>>;
this can be useful for configuring a single instance to be reachable via
HTTP for testing purposes without triggering production mode.

We recognize that some users need to bind transport to an external
interface for testing their usage of the transport client. For this
situation, we provide the discovery type `single-node` (configure it by
setting `discovery.type` to `single-node`); in this situation, a node
will elect itself master and will not form a cluster with any other
node.

If you are running a single node in production, it is possible to evade
the bootstrap checks (either by not binding transport to an external
interface, or by binding transport to an external interface and setting
the discovery type to `single-node`). For this situation, you can force
execution of the bootstrap checks by setting the system property
`es.enforce.bootstrap.checks` to `true` (set this in <<jvm-options>>, or
by adding `-Des.enforce.bootstrap.checks=true` to the environment
variable `ES_JAVA_OPTS`). We strongly encourage you to do this if you
are in this specific situation. This system property can be used to
force execution of the bootstrap checks independent of the node
configuration.

=== Heap size check

If a JVM is started with unequal initial and max heap size, it can be
prone to pauses as the JVM heap is resized during system usage. To avoid
these resize pauses, it's best to start the JVM with the initial heap
size equal to the maximum heap size. Additionally, if
<<bootstrap.memory_lock,`bootstrap.memory_lock`>> is enabled, the JVM
will lock the initial size of the heap on startup. If the initial heap
size is not equal to the maximum heap size, after a resize it will not
be the case that all of the JVM heap is locked in memory. To pass the
heap size check, you must configure the <<heap-size,heap size>>.


=== File descriptor check

File descriptors are a Unix construct for tracking open "files". In Unix
though, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_is_a_file[everything is
a file]. For example, "files" could be a physical file, a virtual file
(e.g., `/proc/loadavg`), or network sockets. Elasticsearch requires
lots of file descriptors (e.g., every shard is composed of multiple
segments and other files, plus connections to other nodes, etc.). This
bootstrap check is enforced on OS X and Linux. To pass the file
descriptor check, you might have to configure <<file-descriptors,file
descriptors>>.

=== Memory lock check

When the JVM does a major garbage collection it touches every page of
the heap. If any of those pages are swapped out to disk they will have
to be swapped back in to memory. That causes lots of disk thrashing that
Elasticsearch would much rather use to service requests. There are
several ways to configure a system to disallow swapping. One way is by
requesting the JVM to lock the heap in memory through `mlockall` (Unix)
or virtual lock (Windows). This is done via the Elasticsearch setting
<<bootstrap.memory_lock,`bootstrap.memory_lock`>>. However, there are
cases where this setting can be passed to Elasticsearch but
Elasticsearch is not able to lock the heap (e.g., if the `elasticsearch`
user does not have `memlock unlimited`). The memory lock check verifies
that *if* the `bootstrap.memory_lock` setting is enabled, that the JVM
was successfully able to lock the heap. To pass the memory lock check,
you might have to configure <<mlockall,`mlockall`>>.

[[max-number-threads-check]]
=== Maximum number of threads check

Elasticsearch executes requests by breaking the request down into stages
and handing those stages off to different thread pool executors. There
are different <<modules-threadpool,thread pool executors>> for a variety
of tasks within Elasticsearch. Thus, Elasticsearch needs the ability to
create a lot of threads. The maximum number of threads check ensures
that the Elasticsearch process has the rights to create enough threads
under normal use. This check is enforced only on Linux. If you are on
Linux, to pass the maximum number of threads check, you must configure
your system to allow the Elasticsearch process the ability to create at
least 2048 threads. This can be done via `/etc/security/limits.conf`
using the `nproc` setting (note that you might have to increase the
limits for the `root` user too).

[[max-size-virtual-memory-check]]
=== Maximum size virtual memory check

Elasticsearch and Lucene use `mmap` to great effect to map portions of
an index into the Elasticsearch address space. This keeps certain index
data off the JVM heap but in memory for blazing fast access. For this to
be effective, the Elasticsearch should have unlimited address space. The
maximum size virtual memory check enforces that the Elasticsearch
process has unlimited address space and is enforced only on Linux. To
pass the maximum size virtual memory check, you must configure your
system to allow the Elasticsearch process the ability to have unlimited
address space. This can be done via `/etc/security/limits.conf` using
the `as` setting to `unlimited` (note that you might have to increase
the limits for the `root` user too).

=== Max file size check

The segment files that are the components of individual shards and the translog
generations that are components of the translog can get large (exceeding
multiple gigabytes). On systems where the max size of files that can be created
by the Elasticsearch process is limited, this can lead to failed
writes. Therefore, the safest option here is that the max file size is unlimited
and that is what the max file size bootstrap check enforces. To pass the max
file check, you must configure your system to allow the Elasticsearch process
the ability to write files of unlimited size. This can be done via
`/etc/security/limits.conf` using the `fsize` setting to `unlimited` (note that
you might have to increase the limits for the `root` user too).

=== Maximum map count check

Continuing from the previous <<max-size-virtual-memory-check,point>>, to
use `mmap` effectively, Elasticsearch also requires the ability to
create many memory-mapped areas. The maximum map count check checks that
the kernel allows a process to have at least 262,144 memory-mapped areas
and is enforced on Linux only. To pass the maximum map count check, you
must configure `vm.max_map_count` via `sysctl` to be at least `262144`.

=== Client JVM check

There are two different JVMs provided by OpenJDK-derived JVMs: the
client JVM and the server JVM. These JVMs use different compilers for
producing executable machine code from Java bytecode. The client JVM is
tuned for startup time and memory footprint while the server JVM is
tuned for maximizing performance. The difference in performance between
the two VMs can be substantial. The client JVM check ensures that
Elasticsearch is not running inside the client JVM. To pass the client
JVM check, you must start Elasticsearch with the server VM. On modern
systems and operating systems, the server VM is the
default. Additionally, Elasticsearch is configured by default to force
the server VM.

=== Use serial collector check

There are various garbage collectors for the OpenJDK-derived JVMs
targeting different workloads. The serial collector in particular is
best suited for single logical CPU machines or extremely small heaps,
neither of which are suitable for running Elasticsearch. Using the
serial collector with Elasticsearch can be devastating for performance.
The serial collector check ensures that Elasticsearch is not configured
to run with the serial collector. To pass the serial collector check,
you must not start Elasticsearch with the serial collector (whether it's
from the defaults for the JVM that you're using, or you've explicitly
specified it with `-XX:+UseSerialGC`). Note that the default JVM
configuration that ships with Elasticsearch configures Elasticsearch to
use the CMS collector.

=== System call filter check
Elasticsearch installs system call filters of various flavors depending
on the operating system (e.g., seccomp on Linux). These system call
filters are installed to prevent the ability to execute system calls
related to forking as a defense mechanism against arbitrary code
execution attacks on Elasticsearch The system call filter check ensures
that if system call filters are enabled, then they were successfully
installed. To pass the system call filter check you must either fix any
configuration errors on your system that prevented system call filters
from installing (check your logs), or *at your own risk* disable system
call filters by setting `bootstrap.system_call_filter` to `false`.

=== OnError and OnOutOfMemoryError checks

The JVM options `OnError` and `OnOutOfMemoryError` enable executing
arbitrary commands if the JVM encounters a fatal error (`OnError`) or an
`OutOfMemoryError` (`OnOutOfMemoryError`). However, by default,
Elasticsearch system call filters (seccomp) are enabled and these
filters prevent forking. Thus, using `OnError` or `OnOutOfMemoryError`
and system call filters are incompatible. The `OnError` and
`OnOutOfMemoryError` checks prevent Elasticsearch from starting if
either of these JVM options are used and system call filters are
enabled. This check is always enforced. To pass this check do not enable
`OnError` nor `OnOutOfMemoryError`; instead, upgrade to Java 8u92 and
use the JVM flag `ExitOnOutOfMemoryError`. While this does not have the
full capabilities of `OnError` nor `OnOutOfMemoryError`, arbitrary
forking will not be supported with seccomp enabled.

=== Early-access check

The OpenJDK project provides early-access snapshots of upcoming releases. These
releases are not suitable for production. The early-access check detects these
early-access snapshots. To pass this check, you must start Elasticsearch on a
release build of the JVM.

=== G1GC check

Early versions of the HotSpot JVM that shipped with JDK 8 are known to
have issues that can lead to index corruption when the G1GC collector is
enabled.  The versions impacted are those earlier than the version of
HotSpot that shipped with JDK 8u40. The G1GC check detects these early
versions of the HotSpot JVM.