[[getting-started]] == Getting Started with Shield This getting started guide walks you through installing Shield, setting up basic authentication, and getting started with role-based access control. You can install Shield on nodes running Elasticsearch 1.5 or later. IMPORTANT: The Shield plugin must be installed on every node in the cluster and every node must be restarted after installation. Plan for a complete cluster restart before beginning the installation process. To install and run Shield: . Run `bin/plugin install` from `ES_HOME` to install the license plugin. + [source,shell] ---------------------------------------------------------- bin/plugin install license ---------------------------------------------------------- . Run `bin/plugin install` to install the Shield plugin. + [source,shell] ---------------------------------------------------------- bin/plugin install shield ---------------------------------------------------------- + NOTE: If you are using a <> of Elasticsearch, you need to specify the configuration directory and run the installation with superuser permissions. To perform an offline installation, <>. . Start Elasticsearch. + [source,shell] ---------------------------------------------------------- bin/elasticsearch ---------------------------------------------------------- . To verify that Shield is up and running, check the startup log entries. When Shield is operating normally, the log indicates that the network transports are using Shield: + [source,shell] ---------------- [2014-10-09 13:47:38,841][INFO ][transport ] [Ezekiel Stane] Using [org.elasticsearch.shield.transport.ShieldServerTransportService] as transport service, overridden by [shield] [2014-10-09 13:47:38,841][INFO ][transport ] [Ezekiel Stane] Using [org.elasticsearch.shield.transport.netty.ShieldNettyTransport] as transport, overridden by [shield] [2014-10-09 13:47:38,842][INFO ][http ] [Ezekiel Stane] Using [org.elasticsearch.shield.transport.netty.ShieldNettyHttpServerTransport] as http transport, overridden by [shield] ---------------- Now you're ready to secure your cluster! Here are a few things you might want to do to start with: * <> * <> * <> include::getting-started/enable-basic-auth.asciidoc[] include::getting-started/enable-message-authentication.asciidoc[] include::getting-started/enable-auditing.asciidoc[] include::getting-started/moving-on.asciidoc[]