Search Settings¶

Elasticsearch Configuration¶

Elasticsearch requires the following:

1. A running Elasticsearch server compatible with Review Board:

   • Elasticsearch 1.x

   • Elasticsearch 2.x

   • Elasticsearch 5.x

   • Elasticsearch 7.x

2. A version of the elasticsearch module that matches the major version of your Elasticsearch server.

   Only one can be installed at a time. You will need to have the right version for the server you want to connect to.

   As a convenience, Review Board provides the following wrapper packages:

   • ReviewBoard[elasticsearch1]

   • ReviewBoard[elasticsearch2]

   • ReviewBoard[elasticsearch5]

   • ReviewBoard[elasticsearch7]

   For example, to install support for Elasticsearch 7.x, run:

   Python Virtual EnvironmentsSystem Installs

   $ /opt/reviewboard/bin/pip install "ReviewBoard[elasticsearch7]"
   

Once you have everything set up, you can configure Elasticsearch in Review Board by providing the following fields:

Elasticsearch URL:

The URL to your compatible Elasticsearch server.

Elasticsearch index name:

The name of the Elasticsearch index that Review Board will use.

Review Board will attempt to perform a test search once you’ve saved your settings, in order to ensure that the server is reachable.

Whoosh Configuration¶

When using Whoosh, the Search index directory field must be filled out to specify the desired directory where the search index will be stored. This must be writable by the web server. We recommend creating this within your site’s data/ directory.

Scheduled Indexing vs. On-The-Fly Indexing¶

Whichever configuration you use, you will need to set up indexing. This can be done either with a scheduled crontab or on-the-fly.

Enabling on-the-fly indexing will cause Review Board to update the search index whenever a relevant change is made. Because of performance concerns, we recommend only using this with the Elasticsearch backend.

If you want to use scheduled indexes, you will need to set up a scheduled command to run periodically to update the search index. See 6. Configure Task Scheduling for details.

The default crontab will perform an index update every 10 minutes.

Whether you are using scheduled indexing or on-the-fly, you will need to perform one full index when you first enable search. To do this, type the following (as the web server user, if using Whoosh):

$ /opt/reviewboard/bin/rb-site manage /path/to/site rebuild_index

$ rb-site manage /path/to/site rebuild_index

For more information on generating search indexes, see the section on the rebuild_index and update_index management commands.

Users should now be able to use the search box located on any page. See the documentation on Full-Text Search to see what types of things you can search for.