elasticsearch - Is using Elastic Search as authoritative datastore for applications advisable?

Question

I'm new to using elastic search, and I'm trying to find a datastore for our application where we can also add a front end for analytics, in this case Kibana. I'm planning to use them as a datastore for dr/cr transactions on our billing system.

Most use case I read is towards data analytics and searching related. I don't see a use case wherein it is used as a regular datastore for an application. So I'm worried I might use it on a wrong use case.

I was hoping if anyone can add their insights on this. Like why or why not use Elastic Search as authoritative/primary datastore for applications.

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66064799/is-using-elastic-search-as-authoritative-datastore-for-applications-advisable

Answer 1

You should read a official blog of elasticsearch, where they clearly mentioned that databases must be robust and should not stop working unless you tell to do it.

From the robustness section of same blog

A database should be robust, especially if it is your authoritative system of record. Ideally, a costly query should be possible to cancel, and you certainly don't want the database to stop working unless you tell it to.

Unfortunately, Elasticsearch (and the components it's made of) does not currently handle OutOfMemory-errors very well. We cover this in more depth in Elasticsearch in Production, OutOfMemory-Caused Crashes. It is very important to provide Elasticsearch with enough memory and be careful before running searches with unknown memory requirements on a production cluster.

In short, you shouldn't use Elasticsearch as a primary data-store where you can't afford to loose the data.