# Kibana 6.0.0-alpha2

Kibana is your window into the [Elastic Stack](https://www.elastic.co/products). Specifically, it's
an open source ([Apache Licensed](LICENSE.md)),
browser-based analytics and search dashboard for Elasticsearch.

- [Getting Started](#getting-started)
  - [Using a Kibana Release](#using-a-kibana-release)
  - [Building and Running Kibana, and/or Contributing Code](#building-and-running-kibana-andor-contributing-code)
  - [Snapshot Builds](#snapshot-builds)
- [Documentation](#documentation)
- [Version Compatibility with Elasticsearch](#version-compatibility-with-elasticsearch)
- [Questions? Problems? Suggestions?](#questions-problems-suggestions)

## Getting Started

If you just want to try Kibana out, check out the [Elastic Stack Getting Started Page](https://www.elastic.co/start) to give it a whirl.

If you're interested in diving a bit deeper and getting a taste of Kibana's capabilities, head over to the [Kibana Getting Started Page](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/kibana/current/getting-started.html).

### Using a Kibana Release

If you want to use a Kibana release in production, give it a test run, or just play around:

- Download the latest version on the [Kibana Download Page](https://www.elastic.co/downloads/kibana).
- Learn more about Kibana's features and capabilities on the
[Kibana Product Page](https://www.elastic.co/products/kibana).
- We also offer a hosted version of Kibana on our
[Cloud Service](https://www.elastic.co/cloud/as-a-service).

### Building and Running Kibana, and/or Contributing Code

You may want to build Kibana locally to contribute some code, test out the latest features, or try
out an open PR:

- [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) will help you get Kibana up and running.
- If you would like to contribute code, please follow our [STYLEGUIDE.md](STYLEGUIDE.md).
- For all other questions, check out the [FAQ.md](FAQ.md) and
[wiki](https://github.com/elastic/kibana/wiki).

### Snapshot Builds

For the daring, snapshot builds are available. These builds are created nightly and have undergone no formal QA, so they should never be run in production. All builds are 64 bit.

| platform |  |
| --- | --- |
| OSX | [tar](https://snapshots.elastic.co/downloads/kibana/kibana-6.0.0-alpha2-SNAPSHOT-darwin-x86_64.tar.gz) |
| Linux | [tar](https://snapshots.elastic.co/downloads/kibana/kibana-6.0.0-alpha2-SNAPSHOT-linux-x86_64.tar.gz) [deb](https://snapshots.elastic.co/downloads/kibana/kibana-6.0.0-alpha2-SNAPSHOT-amd64.deb) [rpm](https://snapshots.elastic.co/downloads/kibana/kibana-6.0.0-alpha2-SNAPSHOT-x86_64.rpm) |
| Windows | [zip](https://snapshots.elastic.co/downloads/kibana/kibana-6.0.0-alpha2-SNAPSHOT-windows-x86_64.zip) |

## Documentation

Visit [Elastic.co](http://www.elastic.co/guide/en/kibana/current/index.html) for the full Kibana documentation.

## Version Compatibility with Elasticsearch

Ideally, you should be running Elasticsearch and Kibana with matching version numbers. If your Elasticsearch has an older version number or a newer _major_ number than Kibana, then Kibana will fail to run. If Elasticsearch has a newer minor or patch number than Kibana, then the Kibana Server will log a warning.

_Note: The version numbers below are only examples, meant to illustrate the relationships between different types of version numbers._

| Situation                 | Example Kibana version     | Example ES version | Outcome |
| ------------------------- | -------------------------- |------------------- | ------- |
| Versions are the same.    | 5.1.2                      | 5.1.2              | 💚 OK      |
| ES patch number is newer. | 5.1.__2__                  | 5.1.__5__          | ⚠️ Logged warning      |
| ES minor number is newer. | 5.__1__.2                  | 5.__5__.0          | ⚠️ Logged warning      |
| ES major number is newer. | __5__.1.2                  | __6__.0.0          | 🚫 Fatal error      |
| ES patch number is older. | 5.1.__2__                  | 5.1.__0__          | ⚠️ Logged warning      |
| ES minor number is older. | 5.__1__.2                  | 5.__0__.0          | 🚫 Fatal error      |
| ES major number is older. | __5__.1.2                  | __4__.0.0          | 🚫 Fatal error      |

## Questions? Problems? Suggestions?

- If you've found a bug or want to request a feature, please create a [GitHub Issue](https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/new).
Please check to make sure someone else hasn't already created an issue for the same topic.
- Need help using Kibana? Ask away on our [Kibana Discuss Forum](https://discuss.elastic.co/c/kibana) and a fellow community member or
Elastic engineer will be glad to help you out.