Indexing a document (POST/PUT) in Elasticsearch - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What does indexing a document mean in Elasticsearch?

Indexing a document means storing or updating a document in an Elasticsearch index so it can be searched and retrieved later.

beginner

Which HTTP methods are commonly used to index a document in Elasticsearch?

POST and PUT are used to index documents. POST creates a new document with an auto-generated ID, while PUT creates or updates a document with a specified ID.

intermediate

What is the difference between POST and PUT when indexing a document?

POST adds a new document with a generated ID. PUT adds or replaces a document with a specific ID you provide.

beginner

Show a simple example of indexing a document using POST in Elasticsearch.

POST /my-index/_doc { "title": "My first document", "content": "This is the content of the document." } This adds a new document with an auto-generated ID to 'my-index'.

intermediate

What happens if you use PUT to index a document with an existing ID?

The existing document with that ID is replaced with the new document you send. If the ID does not exist, a new document is created.

Which HTTP method automatically generates a document ID when indexing in Elasticsearch?

A POST

B PUT

C GET

D DELETE

POST creates a new document with an auto-generated ID, while PUT requires you to specify the ID.

What is the correct URL format to index a document with a specified ID '123' in index 'books'?

A /books/_doc

B /books/123/_doc

C /_doc/books/123

D /books/_doc/123

PUT or POST to /books/_doc/123 indexes the document with ID '123' in the 'books' index.

If you want to update an existing document, which method should you use?

A POST with no ID

B PUT with the document ID

C GET with the document ID

D DELETE with the document ID

PUT with the document ID replaces or updates the document at that ID.

What happens if you POST a document to an index that does not exist?

A Elasticsearch automatically creates the index and adds the document

B The document is lost

C Elasticsearch returns an error

D The request is ignored

Elasticsearch automatically creates the index if it does not exist when you index a document.

Which part of the request contains the actual data of the document when indexing?

A URL path

B HTTP headers

C Request body

D Query parameters

The document data is sent in the request body as JSON.

Explain how to index a new document in Elasticsearch using POST and what happens behind the scenes.

Think about what POST does with the document and the ID.

Describe the difference between using POST and PUT for indexing documents in Elasticsearch.

Focus on how IDs are handled and document updates.