When developing Magento 2.4 on a localhost environment with XAMPP, Elasticsearch can consume a significant amount of memory because it runs on Java. This often leads to slower system performance. In this guide, I'll show you how to optimize Elasticsearch and run it in the background as a Windows Service.
1. Reduce Memory Usage
Open the following file:
d:\xampp\htdocs\elasticsearch-7.10.1\config\jvm.options
Find these lines:
-Xms1g -Xmx1g
Replace them with:
-Xms512m -Xmx512m
A 512MB heap size is usually sufficient for Magento development environments with a moderate product catalog.
2. Install and Run Elasticsearch as a Windows Service
This allows Elasticsearch to run in the background without keeping a Command Prompt window open
Step 2.1: Open Command Prompt as Administrator
Start Menu -> Type "cmd" -> Right-Click -> Run as Admin
Step 2.2: Navigate to the Elasticsearch Bin Directory
Assuming Elasticsearch is installed in:
d:\xampp\htdocs\elasticsearch-7.10.1\bin
Run the following command:
cd d:\xampp\htdocs\elasticsearch-7.10.1\bin
Example:
Linh@LINH-PC d:\> cd d:\xampp\htdocs\elasticsearch-7.10.1\bin Linh@LINH-PC bin>
Step 2.3: Install Elasticsearch as a Windows Service
elasticsearch-service.bat install
This command installs Elasticsearch as a Windows Service, allowing it to run in the background without requiring an open Command Prompt window.
Step 2.4: Start / Stop the Service
Start the service:
elasticsearch-service.bat start
Stop the service:
elasticsearch-service.bat stop
Example
Linh@LINH-PC d:\> cd d:\xampp\htdocs\elasticsearch-7.10.1\bin
Linh@LINH-PC bin> elasticsearch-service.bat start
Start Elasticsearch (Windows .bat file)
Create a file named: Start ElasticSearch.bat
@echo off
title Start Elasticsearch
echo Starting Elasticsearch...
cd /d "d:\xampp\htdocs\elasticsearch-7.10.1\bin"
elasticsearch-service.bat start
echo.
echo ==========================================
echo Elasticsearch started successfully!
echo ==========================================
pause
Stop Elasticsearch (Windows .bat file)
Create a file named: Stop ElasticSearch.bat
@echo off
title Stop Elasticsearchecho Stopping Elasticsearch...
cd /d "d:\xampp\htdocs\elasticsearch-7.10.1\bin"
elasticsearch-service.bat stop
echo.
echo ==========================================
echo Elasticsearch stopped successfully!
echo ==========================================
pause
NOTE
Run the .bat file as Administrator
Make sure Elasticsearch is installed as a Windows service first
3. Verify Elasticsearch Is Running
Open your browser and visit:
http://localhost:9200
If you see a JSON response containing Elasticsearch information, the service is running correctly.
{
"name" : "win-node-1",
"cluster_name" : "magento2-windows-local",
"cluster_uuid" : "YPvQwevbR3Sp77OUO6cwag",
"version" : {
"number" : "7.10.1",
"build_flavor" : "default",
"build_type" : "zip",
"build_hash" : "1c34507e66d7db1211f66f3513706fdf548736aa",
"build_date" : "2020-12-05T01:00:33.671820Z",
"build_snapshot" : false,
"lucene_version" : "8.7.0",
"minimum_wire_compatibility_version" : "6.8.0",
"minimum_index_compatibility_version" : "6.0.0-beta1"
},
"tagline" : "You Know, for Search"
}
