Doc: Clarify <stack_product> vs. <stack_product>-xpack modules #16463
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In short, while we have documentation showing that when using metricbeat for monitoring stack components, we will want to enable the <stack_product>-xpack module (e.g., logstash-xpack), it doesn't discuss the difference between the
logstash
vs.logstash-xpack
modules.This can be confusing to some users because they are effectively the same module if they look in the yml files (logstash.yml vs. logstash-xpack.yml)
There are some subtle differences. For example, the
logstash-xpack
module will create some additional metadata (e.g., the index field) where aslogstash
will not.More importantly,
logstash-xpack
must be used instead oflogstash
. Otherwise, the Stack Monitoring UI will not look at any of the collected monitoring data.While we do have
logstash-xpack
in the steps here, it can be helpful to also clarify this in the modules documentation itself:Within the actual yml files in the modules.d directory, in both
logstash-xpack.yml
andlogstash.yml
, we simply point users to the doc link:https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/metricbeat/<version>/metricbeat-modules.html
. However, this link (example: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/metricbeat/current/metricbeat-modules.html), simply mentions 1 module (the "logstash" module). Clicking into this module, there is no mention of the difference betweenlogstash
andlogstash-xpack
(in fact, no mention of the -xpack form at all)Btw, while we are on the page above (for 7.6), it also shows
The logstash module is tested with logstash 6.3.
- which looks like a bug?Then in the Elasticsearch module doc page:
It does have a mention of both modules. But they both mention that they are used for monitoring with the xpack one capturing more metricsets. I think it can be helpful to make this statement stronger to indicate that Stack Monitoring UI users must use the xpack module. It also has the strange statement on the modules only being tested for 6.3/6.x ....
Similar feedback for Kibana module:
To summarize, it will be helpful to explain better the difference between the <stack_product> v.s., <stack_product>-xpack modules on the Beats' "modules" documentation page and the importance of picking the right module (esp. when we used to only have a single <stack_product>.yml in the past). Also, fixing the compatibility statement on these module page will be great. Thx!
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