Why does Elastic Cloud provides a specialized port (9243) instead of only using the default one (443)?

Question

I've just set up an Elastic Cloud deployment and was wondering why my endpoint has a specific port (9243) while the default HTTPS one, 443, also works?

• Will this behaviour change in the future?
• Will one of the ports be phased out?
• Which one should I use to start with?

On the documentation, I can only find this:

Port 9200 is used for HTTP connections, ports 9243 and 443 are used for HTTPS. Using HTTPS is generally recommended, as it is more secure.

Mooned

Answer 1

I received this answer from the Elastic Cloud helpdesk:

Thank you for reaching out. You are correct that we allow both port 9243 and 443 for HTTPS in Elastic Cloud. There is no functional difference whether you use one port or the other for HTTPS, and we have no plans to phase one of the ports out. It is completely up to you which port you decide to start with.

Mooned

I was trying to establish connection using my server side PHP code to elastic server with 9243 port but it was giving connection refused error. I tried with 443 and it works without errors! Just adding in case someone else faces similar error due to port. – Bink

Answer 2

I don’t believe the behaviour will change in the future. However, I would recommend sending an email to [email protected] to understand why 2 ports for HTTPS access.

Hormonal