Setup WPSOLR and Amazon AWS OpenSearch

From WPSOLR 22.2.

This video suppose you already signed up to create an AWS account (Amazon OpenSearch Service).

We will show you how to configure your first OpenSearch index creation with a few clicks.

What is Amazon AWS OpenSearch?

It is a service to host open source OpenSearch indexes, managed by Amazon AWS. Rather than installing OpenSearch on your own servers, you get a subscription and let the service manage your indexes on your behalf. No need of manpower, or servers, anymore.

WPSOLR (the plugin) communicates with the OpenSearch  service through the OpenSearch rest api. With a zest of AWS SDK for authentication.

Here is the video tutorial to create and secure (authentication by user/secret) your first OpenSearch cluster:

1 – Signup for a free test subscription at AWS OpenSearch

2 – Create a Key/Secret to secure your OpenSearch indexes

2.1 – Navigate to your security credentials

2.2 – Navigate to your policies

2.3 – Click on Create policy button

2.4 – Add the OpenSearch service to the new policy

2.5 – Add all OpenSearch service actions (es:*) to the new policy

2.6 – Add all domains resources to the new policy

2.7 – Review the the new policy

2.8 – New policy has been created

2.9 – Navigate to your users menu. Click on Add user button

2.10 – Give new user a programmatic access: he will carry the access keys used by WPSOLR to access the index

2.11 – Attach new policy to new user

2.12 – Download user access keys before saving

2.13 – New user has been created

3 – Create a new OpenSearch domain (aka “cluster”)

3.1 – Navigate to the OpenSearch service page

3.2 – Click on Create a new domain button

3.3 – Select the latest OpenSearch version

3.4 – Configure your domain instances

1. Set a number of instance types deployed in your domain
   An instance type is a VM (virtual machine). Each index in your domain will be split in primary shards and replicas (copy of shards). Each shard and each replica will be stored on exactly one instance. How many instance you need depends on: how many and how big indexes are, and how many shards and replicas are there per index.
2. Select a VM type for each instance in your domain
   The VM type defines how many resources (and of which quality) are given to each instance: RAM, disk, vCPUs.

3.5 – Configure your domain instances SSD storage

AWS recommend that you allocate three dedicated master nodes for each production Amazon ES domain.
Fast disks are extremely important for OpenSearch performance. Always choose SSD storage, not magnetic.

3.6 – Configure your domain network access: VPC or internet

Choose a VPC access if your WordPress is also hosted on Amazon AWS:

Or choose an internet access if your WordPress is not hosted on Amazon AWS:

3.7 – Copy your new user ARN (aka “user ID”)

3.8 – Select the domain template policy

3.9 – Paste your new user ARN in the domain policy

1. Enable fine grain control
2. Add a master user (it will be used to access the OpenSearch Dashboard too)

1. Enable access policy on the domain

3.10 – Copy the new domain endpoint to copy in WPSOLR later

Wait a few minutes, until the cluster is deployed. Then copy the endpoint that will later be pasted in WPSOLR.

3.11 – Summary. We now have: a new domain, with its endpoint, access key/secret, and region

4 – Create a new index in WPSOLR

Here is the video tutorial to create your first Amazon AWS OpenSearch index in WPSOLR:

4.1 – Activate your WPSOLR license

After buying or trying WPSOLR, check your email for your license code. Enter the code in the activation popup window as show above. Wait a few seconds for WPSOLR servers to return a response, which will unlock the WPSOLR admin screens.

4.2 – Select “OpenSearch”, then “Amazon AWS” hosting

4.3 – Paste the Amazon domain Endpoint url

4.4 – Paste the AWS user access keys. The user is attached to the domain policy.

Do not forget to enter your AWS access control key and secret, as shown in the above screen.

4.5 – Paste the domain region

Copy the domain’s region from your Amazon AWS console:

Then copy the region to WPSOLR’s index form:

4.6 – Index is created !

Click on the button “Check the index status”, which calls the OpenSearch create index api. Wait for active shards acknowledged true (a few seconds at most). The newly created index is now ready to accept your documents.

4.7 – Send your data to the index

Select your index (you can have more than one), click on the “Index” button. Wait while your documents are sent in batch to the AWS index in real time.

4.8 – Perform a few searches