How to change default elasticsearch password in docker-compose? - docker

Question

Elasticsearch's official docker image documentation provides this docker-compose.yml example:
version: '2'
services:
elasticsearch1:
image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:5.6.3
container_name: elasticsearch1
environment:
- cluster.name=docker-cluster
- bootstrap.memory_lock=true
- "ES_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms512m -Xmx512m"
ulimits:
memlock:
soft: -1
hard: -1
mem_limit: 1g
volumes:
- esdata1:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data
ports:
- 9200:9200
networks:
- esnet
elasticsearch2:
image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:5.6.3
environment:
- cluster.name=docker-cluster
- bootstrap.memory_lock=true
- "ES_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms512m -Xmx512m"
- "discovery.zen.ping.unicast.hosts=elasticsearch1"
ulimits:
memlock:
soft: -1
hard: -1
mem_limit: 1g
volumes:
- esdata2:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data
networks:
- esnet
volumes:
esdata1:
driver: local
esdata2:
driver: local
networks:
esnet:
However, it doesn't explain how to customize the password. It does direct us to a X-Pack documentation page, but I refuse to believe I have to go through all that trouble just to change a password. Is there any simpler, canonical way of configuring a custom password for elasticsearch on a Docker Compose file?

Answer 1

Starting from 6.0 elasticsearch docker images has the ability to configure the password using the following environment variable - ELASTIC_PASSWORD.
For example:
docker run -e ELASTIC_PASSWORD=MagicWord docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-platinum:6.1.3
See:
https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.1/docker.html