Elasticsearch

Elasticsearch is a Lucene/Java-based search engine that offers full-text search and analytics (Wikipedia). Once installed on the server, it is ready for integration with MediaWiki through the use of dedicated extensions. The CirrusSearch extension lets you enable it to replace the native search engine that comes with MediaWiki. Elasticsearch can also be used with other extensions to store structured data and to provide a richer search experience.

Installing and configuring Elasticsearch

See https://www.elastic.co.

For examples specific to installation methods and environments (Docker containers, Meza), see also:

MediaWiki-Docker/Configuration recipes/ElasticSearch - an example of using Docker
Meza/Setup Elasticsearch plugins (Meza is an administration program for installing and maintaining wikis)

Some companies specialised in hosting wikis offer Elasticsearch as part of their services.

MediaWiki extensions

Full-text search

Extension:CirrusSearch - implements full-text search using Elasticsearch, replacing MediaWiki’s RDBMS-based query engine.
- Help:CirrusSearch - help page
Extension:Elastica - extends CirrusSearch by providing a PHP library for communicating with Elasticsearch.

Structured data

Extension:Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) - supports Elasticsearch as an alternative to a RDMBS backend (SQL). See especially ElasticStore.
With Wikibase:
- Extension:WikibaseCirrusSearch
- Extension:WikibaseLexemeCirrusSearch

Search interfaces

Extension:WikiSearch and Extension:WikiSearchFront - builds on CirrusSearch and Semantic MediaWiki to let you create interfaces that combine full-text search and faceted search for structured data
Extension:SearchVue - uses Elasticsearch to extend Special:Search