The Elasticsearch transport layer is a network communication layer that provides a binary interface for communicating with Elasticsearch nodes. The transport layer is responsible for handling low-level communication between Elasticsearch nodes and clients, and it provides a fast and efficient way to transfer data between nodes.
The transport layer uses the Elasticsearch Transport Protocol, which is a binary protocol based on Google’s Protocol Buffers serialization format. The protocol provides a lightweight and efficient way to serialize and deserialize data, and it includes features like compression and connection pooling to optimize network performance.
The transport layer is used by Elasticsearch nodes to communicate with each other and to handle requests from clients. When a client sends a request to Elasticsearch, the request is sent to a node on the cluster, which then forwards the request to the appropriate node or nodes. The response is then sent back to the client through the same transport layer.
The transport layer is designed to be resilient and fault-tolerant, with features like connection pooling and automatic node discovery to ensure that requests are handled quickly and reliably. The layer also provides security features like encryption and authentication to protect data in transit.
In summary, the Elasticsearch transport layer is a key component of the Elasticsearch architecture, providing a fast and efficient way to transfer data between nodes and handle requests from clients.