Searching for help in the online ocean can sometimes leave you feeling at a loss. You may be ready to describe your question in detail, but if you don't know how to ask it effectively, you may find yourself frustrated waiting for an answer.
The goal of this post is to give you some tips to get help faster with your technical questions on the forums.
To be precise, the following content comes from the official Elastic community, and the link is as follows:
https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dec-10th-2022-en-asking-top-notch-technical-questions-to-get-you-help-quicker/320300
I have interpreted and expanded the linked article with only one purpose - when we encounter Elasticsearch technical problems, how can we ask high-quality questions to get high-quality answers?
1. How to ask high-quality Elasticsearch related questions?
When you're looking for technical help on the forums, the more information you provide, the more likely members of the official Elastic community will be able to help you.
Here are some important things you need to know:
1. Abide by the Code of Conduct
All behavior on the forum is subject to our Code of Conduct. We are committed to creating a welcoming environment and will take appropriate action against violations of the Code of Conduct.
2. Correct classification
Choose the most appropriate category based on the ElasticStack technology stack you are using (Elasticsearch, Kibana, Logstash, Beats, etc.).
For example, don't ask a question about Beats under the Elasticsearch category, and don't ask a question about TLS configuration under the Elastic Security category.
3. Provide context
Tell us what you're trying to achieve, and why. This will help us understand your needs better than just "I need to fix XXXXX".
4. Format your code or logs
Format your code, logs or configuration with markdown-style backticks. This will make the content easier to read and copy.
Examples are as follows:
5. Use external tools
If your post cannot fully display logs, configuration or code due to character or word limit, you can use tools such as gist/pastebin, or create a new post under the original topic.
6. Be patient. The Elastic community and Elastic technology enthusiasts work hard to help everyone with questions, but please don't expect someone to reply to you.
We do not offer a Service Level Agreement (SLA) here, so please be patient and wait for a reply.
2. When asking questions, avoid the following questions!
1. Do not post images of text, logs, or code
These images are often hard to read, not searchable, and not copyable to try to reproduce the problem.
2. Don’t just ask questions in the title
Don't ask questions in the subject title, then only put logs or configuration in the body. Doing so doesn't provide any context on what you're asking and just obscures the question.
3. Don’t mark people at will
Don't tag people who aren't engaging with your thread.
In layman's terms, don't @ people who are not involved in your problem.
4. Don’t Assume Others Will Understand Your Questions Immediately
If someone asks a lot of questions, it's because they're looking to figure out what's going on in order to help you, not delay you.
3. The following content can assist in asking questions in more detail and clearly
Not everything will be relevant, but keep in mind that the more information you provide, the easier it will be for us to see what the problem is, and what you are doing, and importantly, what you are doing with the ElasticStack stack.
1. Obtaining the output through the following command allows us to see the details of your cluster.
_cluster/stats?pretty&human API2. Publish your Elasticsearch logs, usually from the following command.
/var/log/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.logTry to post everything, because even if you don't spot a problem, there might be some hints.
3. Post your elasticsearch.yml, if you have made non-standard changes to it, post the jvm.options file if necessary.
4. Tips for Elasticsearch related issues
If you have trouble making requests/queries or coding against Elasticsearch's API, please share:
The full request you sent to Elasticsearch.
Full response from Elasticsearch.
The code or code snippet relevant to the question.
5. Tips for seeking help for Kibana-related issues
Publish your kibana.yml.
Post your /var/log/kibana/kibana.log, as much as possible will help us.
Screenshots can be helpful if you're having trouble with UI elements (specifically, with Kibana functionality).
6. Help tips for Beats related issues
Your Beat's yml configuration file, including any module-specific changes you may have made.
Logs, usually from /var/log//.log.
7. Logstash-related questions help tips
Your core /etc/logstash/logstash.conf file and any related files from the conf.d directory.
Your logs, usually from /var/logstash/logstash.conf.
As above, that's all!
The most important thing to remember is that there are no stupid questions, only unasked questions. We are all here to ask questions and help each other in any way we can.
Hopefully these tips will help you ask questions more effectively and get the answers you need faster.
Remember, we (Elastic Officials) are all trying to learn and help each other as much as we can, and your problems may help others solve theirs as well. So, whatever your problem is, don't be afraid to ask it.
8. Chatgpt 4 questions and precautions
Note: Use gpt4 instead of 3.5, because the correct rate of gpt4 answering questions has been greatly improved (it is not an exaggeration to say that it passed the Turing test).
If you want to use ChatGPT to better ask Elasticsearch related questions, here are some suggestions:
Be clear about your question.
Describe your problem or need as clearly as possible. For example, if you encounter a specific error, provide not only the error message, but also the specific steps and environment configuration when you encountered the problem.
provide enough background information
Describe the specific situation in which you are using Elasticsearch, such as which version of Elasticsearch you are using, the size of your data, your hardware environment, etc. All of this information can help AI better understand your problem.
clarify your needs
If you're looking for specific functionality or want to implement a certain operation, it helps to clearly describe your needs.
For example, you might want to learn how to optimize the performance of Elasticsearch, or how to configure shards and replicas, or how to use a certain query syntax, etc.
use the correct term
Use Elasticsearch-specific terminology wherever possible, such as "index", "map", "shard", "replica", "cluster", etc.
solve technical problems
If you encounter technical problems while using Elasticsearch, it is best to provide as detailed an error description as possible, error logs, or solutions you have tried. This information can help AI locate problems more accurately.
Try to use the gpt browser feature to answer new questions after September 2021.
It can be seen from the comparison of the following two figures.
Remember, ChatGPT is a powerful tool, but it is not a panacea .
For some very specific, complex, or up-to-date Elasticsearch problems, it may not provide an accurate answer.
In this case, you may need to seek help from Elasticsearch's official documentation or related technical communities .
9. Chatgpt4 Elasticsearch technical questions question template
Title : Elasticsearch 8.7 has performance issues with bulk indexing operations using the Java API
I'm developing with Elasticsearch 8.7 and Java 11, I'm using Spring Boot framework. I'm trying to bulk index a large number of documents (about 1 million documents), but I'm running into performance issues , the bulk indexing operation takes too long.
I am using BulkRequest for batch operations, as follows:
codeBulkRequest request = new BulkRequest();
documents.forEach(document -> {
request.add(new IndexRequest("my_index").source(convertDocumentToMap(document)));
});
BulkResponse bulkResponse = client.bulk(request, RequestOptions.DEFAULT);The error message is:
There is no specific error message, but the bulk indexing operation takes about 10 minutes to complete.
I tried tuning Elasticsearch's JVM heap size, but that didn't improve measurably. I also tried reducing the batch request size, but that didn't seem to have much effect either.
How should I improve the performance of my bulk indexing operations? Are there any best practices for Elasticsearch bulk indexing?
10. Summary
Good questions to ask are listed in the table below:
| title | describe |
|---|---|
| describe your environment | The version of Elasticsearch you are using, the operating system, the language or framework you are using (e.g. Java, Python, Spring Boot, etc.). |
| describe your problem | What are you trying to do? What goal or function do you hope to achieve? What problem are you having? |
| provide wrong information | If you encounter an error, provide the full error message (including the error stack). |
| offer your try | What have you already tried? At which step are you having trouble? What are you trying to solve the problem? |
| Provide code and configuration | Provide some relevant code snippets and configuration if possible. It is not necessary to provide the code of the entire project, only the problematic part. Also, don't forget to remove any sensitive information. |
| clear question | Questions should be clear and concise. Try to describe your problem using clear and concise language. |
A good question is equivalent to a great possibility of a good answer.
Many experts in the Elastic community are waiting for a good question every day.
Advanced Elasticsearch skills with 25,000 people!