[[connect-to-elasticsearch]]
== Connect Kibana with Elasticsearch

Before you can start using Kibana, you need to tell it which Elasticsearch indices you want to explore.
The first time you access Kibana, you are prompted to define an _index pattern_ that matches the name of
one or more of your indices. That's it. That's all you need to configure to start using Kibana. You can
add index patterns at any time from the <<settings-create-pattern,Management tab>>.

TIP: By default, Kibana connects to the Elasticsearch instance running on `localhost`. To connect to a
different Elasticsearch instance, modify the Elasticsearch URL in the `kibana.yml` configuration file and
restart Kibana. For information about using Kibana with your production nodes, see <<production>>.

To configure the Elasticsearch indices you want to access with Kibana:

. Point your browser at port 5601 to access the Kibana UI. For example, `localhost:5601` or
`http://YOURDOMAIN.com:5601`.
+
image:images/Start-Page.png[Kibana start page]
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. Specify an index pattern that matches the name of one or more of your Elasticsearch indices. The pattern
can include an asterisk (*) to matches zero or more characters in an index's name. When filling out your
index pattern, any matched indices will be displayed.
. Click *Next Step* to select the index field that contains the timestamp you want to use to perform time-based
comparisons. Kibana reads the index mapping to list all of the fields that contain a timestamp. If your
index doesn't have time-based data, choose *I don't want to use the Time Filter* option.
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. Click *Create index pattern* to add the index pattern. This first pattern is automatically configured as the default.
When you have more than one index pattern, you can designate which one to use as the default by clicking
on the star icon above the index pattern title from *Management > Index Patterns*.

All done! Kibana is now connected to your Elasticsearch data. Kibana displays a read-only list of fields
configured for the matching index.

[float]
[[explore]]
=== Start Exploring your Data!
You're ready to dive in to your data:

* Search and browse your data interactively from the <<discover, Discover>> page.
* Chart and map your data from the <<visualize, Visualize>> page.
* Create and view custom dashboards from the <<dashboard, Dashboard>> page.

For a step-by-step introduction to these core Kibana concepts, see the <<getting-started,
Getting Started>> tutorial.
