Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch attempts to write a large number of documents at once (bulk write) and encounters issues. This could be due to various reasons such as insufficient disk space, incorrect document format, or network issues. To resolve this, you can check the server’s disk space and increase it if necessary, validate the format of the documents being written, or investigate potential network connectivity issues. Additionally, ensure that the Elasticsearch cluster is properly configured and has sufficient resources to handle the bulk write operation.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” Bulk write of behavioral analytics events encountered some failures: [{}] ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: plugin, bulk.
Overview
In Elasticsearch, when using the Bulk API it is possible to perform many write operations in a single API call, which increases the indexing speed. Using the Bulk API is more efficient than sending multiple separate requests. This can be done for the following four actions:
- Index
- Update
- Create
- Delete
Examples
The bulk request below will index a document, delete another document, and update an existing document.
POST _bulk
{ "index" : { "_index" : "myindex", "_id" : "1" } }
{ "field1" : "value" }
{ "delete" : { "_index" : "myindex", "_id" : "2" } }
{ "update" : {"_id" : "1", "_index" : "myindex"} }
{ "doc" : {"field2" : "value5"} }Notes
- Bulk API is useful when you need to index data streams that can be queued up and indexed in batches of hundreds or thousands, such as logs.
- There is no correct number of actions or limits to perform on a single bulk call, but you will need to figure out the optimum number by experimentation, given the cluster size, number of nodes, hardware specs etc.
Log Context
Log “Bulk write of behavioral analytics events encountered some failures: [{}]” classname is BulkProcessorFactory.java.
We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
if (response.hasFailures()) {
List failures = Arrays.stream(response.getItems())
.filter(BulkItemResponse::isFailed)
.map(r -> r.getId() + " " + r.getFailureMessage())
.collect(Collectors.toList());
logger.error("Bulk write of behavioral analytics events encountered some failures: [{}]"; failures);
}
}
@Override
public void afterBulk(long executionId; BulkRequest request; Exception failure) {
