Kibana 6.7.0 released

Each release of Kibana brings new features and product improvements. Here are the highlights of the new features and user experience changes we’ve introduced in 6.7.

Refer to the Kibana 6.7.0 Release Notes for a list of bug fixes and other changes.

Kibana localization and support for Simplified Chinese

Kibana now supports Simplified Chinese, in addition to English. With 6.7, we’ve introduced a new localization framework to support localized text. If you’d like to use Kibana with Simplified Chinese, set i18n.locale to zh-CN in the kibana.yml file. For more information on the supported languages and i18n tooling, check out the localization docs.

Maps for geospatial analysis (beta)

We are excited to introduce a brand new application built for geospatial analysis: Maps.  “Where” is a critical question for most data points, and Maps enables you to ask (and answer) meaningful questions for your location-based data. Our Maps beta doubles down on geo and  introduces all new features such as support for multiple layers and data sources, mapping individual geo points and shapes, dynamic client-side styling, and global search for ad-hoc analysis. To get started, check out our Maps beta release blog.

Follower indices in cross-cluster replication

Elasticsearch has the ability to follow an index in cross-cluster replication (CCR), and we’ve added the new Add Follower Index UI in Kibana Management.  With this UI, you can replicate data from existing indices, or set up local followers on a case-by-case basis. CCR is a Platinum feature and is ready for production use in 6.7.  CCR is available through a 30-day trial license,  which you can activate in Kibana License Management.

New actions in Index Lifecycle Management

Index Lifecycle Management (ILM) in Kibana has a number of improvements. Building on the support for frozen indices in Elasticsearch 6.7, we’ve added the ability to freeze and unfreeze indices in the cold phase. Freezing an index keeps it searchable for a longer period and reduces the hardware requirements. We’ve also added the ability to set a priority for recovering an index after node restart. Indices with higher priorities are recovered before indices with lower priorities. In 6.7, ILM has officially moved out of beta and into production use.

Frozen indices in Index Management

We’ve made several enhancements related to frozen indices in Kibana Index Management. You can now freeze and unfreeze indices from the Manage menu. Kibana also now marks frozen indices, follower indices, and rollup indices with badges, so you can distinguish them at-a-glance.

Canvas is now GA

Many performance and stability improvements went into Canvas, and we are excited to announce Canvas is production ready for 6.7.

Starting in 6.7, you can upload images in bulk to your workpad. Simply click Manage assets at the top of your workpad and select the file picker. You can load your workpad with all of the images (SVGs, GIFs, etc.) you want and then easily access them from the asset picker when you add image elements.

Also in 6.7, you can now download the workpad directly from the Edit view. Simply click the link in the workpad header to download a JSON file. To get started with Canvas, check out our Getting starting with Canvas blog or hop into our demo environment.

Infrastructure is now GA

We’re happy to announce that the Infrastructure app in Kibana is ready for production use in 6.7. This app is a turnkey solution for monitoring infrastructure metrics using the Elastic Stack. You can configure indices and fields associated with the Infrastructure app via the Source Configuration UI, specify neutral color gradient, group the Map view by any field, and switch to an alternative Table view. For more information about the Infrastructure app, check out our Infrastructure release blog.

Logs is now GA

The Logs app in Kibana is GA in 6.7. This app is a console-like experience for working with logs using the Elastic Stack. You can configure indices and fields associated with the Logs app via the Source Configuration UI and view metadata and structured fields associated with each log line via the Log event details flyout. For more information about the Logs GA release, see our Logs release blog.

Introducing Uptime

In 6.7, we’re introducing, Uptime, which enables you to easily navigate the status of your active application checks powered by Heartbeat. See our Uptime release blog for all the details.

Upgrade Assistant reintroduced

The Upgrade Assistant available in Kibana 5.6 has been reintroduced in 6.7 to assist your upgrade to Elasticsearch 7.0. We enhanced the reindex feature in several important ways. When you initiate a reindex through the Upgrade Assistant, the process is now managed in the background. You can navigate away from the page and get an updated status for the reindex when you return. When reindexing, Kibana now handles fixing commonly used settings that have been removed in 7.0. Finally, if reindexing fails, the tool will revert any changes back to the initial state.

Try it now

Deploy a cluster on our Elasticsearch Service or download the stack to take these latest features for a spin. As always, if you have any questions or want to share feedback, reach out on our Kibana forums.