Get started using OpenSearch and OpenSearch Dashboards by deploying your containers with [Docker](https://www.docker.com/). Before proceeding, you need to [get Docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/) and [Docker Compose](https://github.com/docker/compose) installed on your local machine.
The Docker Compose commands used in this guide are written with a hyphen (for example, `docker-compose`). If you installed Docker Desktop on your machine, which automatically installs a bundled version of Docker Compose, then you should remove the hyphen. For example, change `docker-compose` to `docker compose`.
{: .note}
## Starting your cluster
You'll need a special file, called a Compose file, that Docker Compose uses to define and create the containers in your cluster. The OpenSearch Project provides a sample Compose file that you can use to get started. Learn more about working with Compose files by reviewing the official [Compose specification](https://docs.docker.com/compose/compose-file/).
1. Before running OpenSearch on your machine, you should disable memory paging and swapping performance on the host to improve performance and increase the number of memory maps available to OpenSearch. See [important system settings]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/opensearch/install/important-settings/) for more information.
```bash
# Disable memory paging and swapping.
sudo swapoff -a
# Edit the sysctl config file that defines the host's max map count.
1. Download the sample Compose file to your host. You can download the file with command line utilities like `curl` and `wget`, or you can manually copy [docker-compose.yml](https://github.com/opensearch-project/documentation-website/blob/{{site.opensearch_major_minor_version}}/assets/examples/docker-compose.yml) from the OpenSearch Project documentation-website repository using a web browser.
1. In your terminal application, navigate to the directory containing the `docker-compose.yml` file you just downloaded, and run the following command to create and start the cluster as a background process.
```bash
docker-compose up -d
```
1. Confirm that the containers are running with the command `docker-compose ps`. You should see an output like the following:
1. Query the OpenSearch REST API to verify that the service is running. You should use `-k` (also written as `--insecure`) to disable host name checking because the default security configuration uses demo certificates. Use `-u` to pass the default username and password (`admin:admin`).
1. Explore OpenSearch Dashboards by opening `http://localhost:5601/` in a web browser on the same host that is running your OpenSearch cluster. The default username is `admin` and the default password is `admin`.
## Create an index and field mappings using sample data
Create an index and define field mappings using a dataset provided by the OpenSearch Project. The same fictitious e-commerce data is also used for sample visualizations in OpenSearch Dashboards. To learn more, see [Getting started with OpenSearch Dashboards]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/dashboards/index/).
1. Download [ecommerce-field_mappings.json](https://github.com/opensearch-project/documentation-website/blob/{{site.opensearch_major_minor_version}}/assets/examples/ecommerce-field_mappings.json). This file defines a [mapping]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/opensearch/mappings/) for the sample data you will use.
1. Download [ecommerce.json](https://github.com/opensearch-project/documentation-website/blob/{{site.opensearch_major_minor_version}}/assets/examples/ecommerce.json). This file contains the index data formatted so that it can be ingested by the bulk API. To learn more, see [index data]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/opensearch/index-data/) and [Bulk]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/api-reference/document-apis/bulk/).
Queries submitted to the OpenSearch REST API will generally return a flat JSON by default. For a human readable response body, use the query parameter `pretty=true`. For more information about `pretty` and other useful query parameters, see [Common REST parameters]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/opensearch/common-parameters/).
1. Access OpenSearch Dashboards by opening `http://localhost:5601/` in a web browser on the same host that is running your OpenSearch cluster. The default username is `admin` and the default password is `admin`.
1. On the top menu bar, go to **Management > Dev Tools**.
1. In the left pane of the console, enter the following:
```json
GET ecommerce/_search
{
"query": {
"match": {
"customer_first_name": "Sonya"
}
}
}
```
1. Choose the triangle icon at the top right of the request to submit the query. You can also submit the request by pressing `Ctrl+Enter` (or `Cmd+Enter` for Mac users). To learn more about using the OpenSearch Dashboards console for submitting queries, see [Running queries in the console]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/dashboards/run-queries/).
## Next steps
You successfully deployed your own OpenSearch cluster with OpenSearch Dashboards and added some sample data. Now you're ready to learn about configuration and functionality in more detail. Here are a few recommendations on where to begin:
Review these common issues and suggested solutions if your containers fail to start or exit unexpectedly.
### Docker commands require elevated permissions
Eliminate the need for running your Docker commands with `sudo` by adding your user to the `docker` user group. See Docker's [Post-installation steps for Linux](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/linux-postinstall/) for more information.
```bash
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
```
### Error message: "-bash: docker-compose: command not found"
If you installed Docker Desktop, then Docker Compose is already installed on your machine. Try `docker compose` (without the hyphen) instead of `docker-compose`. See [Use Docker Compose](https://docs.docker.com/get-started/08_using_compose/).
### Error message: "docker: 'compose' is not a docker command."
If you installed Docker Engine, then you must install Docker Compose separately, and you will use the command `docker-compose` (with a hyphen). See [Docker Compose](https://github.com/docker/compose).
### Error message: "max virtual memory areas vm.max_map_count [65530] is too low"
OpenSearch will fail to start if your host's `vm.max_map_count` is too low. Review the [important system settings]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/opensearch/install/important-settings/) if you see the following errors in the service log, and set `vm.max_map_count` appropriately.
