Adds instructions for installing other 9.x versions

[yetanothertw]

In case someone needs to install an older version of the Elasticsearch 9.x series, I'm adding tabs to every installation-related command to add instructions for earlier versions.

I've added two tabs for each command (where applicable):

• Latest
• Specific version

The Specific version tab explains that users can replace the <specific.version> placeholder with the version that they want when they use the code samples.

I've also grouped the tabs on pages where more than one tab was added in order to keep them in sync. That includes the tabs that are added as snippets, such as .../deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/_snippets/wolfi.md, these get synced as well.

Fixes #2234

---

[github-actions]

🔍 Preview links for changed docs

• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/air-gapped-install.md
• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-docker-basic.md
• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-docker-compose.md
• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-docker-configure.md
• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-docker-prod.md
• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-from-archive-on-linux-macos.md
• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-with-debian-package.md
• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-with-rpm.md
• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-with-zip-on-windows.md
• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-kibana-from-archive-on-linux-macos.md

More links …

• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-kibana-on-windows.md
• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-kibana-with-debian-package.md
• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-kibana-with-docker.md
• deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-kibana-with-rpm.md

[shainaraskas]

I really like this approach. two things:

• make it a snippet for easier reuse

• we need this in a few more topics:

  https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-with-zip-on-windows
  https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-with-debian-package
  https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-with-rpm
  https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-docker-basic
  https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-docker-compose
  https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-docker-prod
  https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-docker-configure
  https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/air-gapped-install

  all of the kibana install pages

one strategy to find any additional gaps would be looking for current usage of the version.stack variable.

sorry if I jumped the gun and this wasn't ready for feedback :)

[shainaraskas]

accidentally approved so requesting changes for clarity

[eedugon]

thanks @yetanothertw for moving this forward! I think we need to align all admin-related documents and provide a common approach on this, as it's a very important topic that the older documents didn't consider (because we had 1 doc per version).

About this PR:

The Debian doc we need to include also the specific command to install a different version with apt-get install elasticsearch, not just when downloading the .deb file.

For the RPM doc we need to review if we also suggest 2 methods (download .rpm and using a package manager), and in such case ensure we offer instructions to install older versions also there.

[yetanothertw]

@shainaraskas and @eedugon -- I agree with all your comments/suggestions.

Just to give everyone an idea of what the tabs approach can look like, check out Start a single-node cluster in Docker.

Another option is to only add a tip admonition (as a snippet), like on the Install Elasticsearch from archive on Linux or MacOS page.

Which option do you think works better/is more clear (and potentially more future-proof)?

Should we choose only one of the two options: adding a tip or adding tabs, or should we use a hybrid approach, depending on the situation (if so, we should probably define the situation)?

For example, we can add the tip in instructions with only one step, and add the tabs when there's more than one step to install Elasticsearch. We can also revisit this in the future and add tabs everywhere, if we decide adding tips is a quicker win.

After we figure which way we want to go, I'll book some time for Edu and myself to look at the Debian and RPM topics Edu mentioned in this comment.

[shainaraskas]

@yetanothertw I like the tabs because there are sometimes many steps that need the notice, and in those cases it is cleaner. I'd just go with one approach because for cases where only one step is affected, either way looks fine, and using tabs everywhere is more consistent.

[eedugon]

++ to tabs: tabs are also better when the actual instructions to install specific version are significantly different than the "latest" instructions

when the instructions are almost exactly the tabs don't add much benefit but they feel clean and consistent.

[yetanothertw]

Hi @eedugon and @shainaraskas, I'm adding you both as reviewers, in case I missed something somewhere. This PR has grown a bit 😅

Edu, re your comment about the Debian doc and the RPM doc, I agree that the instructions around apt-get install elasticsearch and the RPM methods (downloading and RPM + using a package manager) need to be improved from the way they currently are -> to use the {{version.stack}} variable and then offer the older versions as well. My suggestion is to open a separate issue for that, as it requires a bit more investigation and information gathering before an improvement can be made -- the scope of the change is different as well.

Many thanks in advance!

[eedugon]

My suggestion is to open a separate issue for that

@yetanothertw : sounds perfect, feel free to ping me in the new issue, I could handle the YUM and APT pages when I'm back from PTO.

For the latest release installation it's a common practice to not specify the version in the command, just run apt-get install elasticsearch (the current instructions). I'd only add the version in the install specific version tab.

But as mentioned we can do it at a later stage, as we probably want to research a bit and offer to the user the command that shows all available versions from the package repository.

[shainaraskas]

es page comments. this looks really good, but I highlighted a couple of ways we could refine it and make each segment a little more suited to its context

[shainaraskas]

wonder if this step still makes sense

cc: @eedugon

[shainaraskas]

all done! thanks for doing the hard work of future proofing these docs.

general trends (stop me if I already typed this):

• kibana/elasticsearch version matching
• customizing downstream steps to reference choices already established higher up in the tutorial

those are more nice to have than critical but would really make this shiny. approving but happy to do another round

[shainaraskas]

not ideal timing, but looks like subs are supported inline as of today (pending a docs-builder release)
https://elastic.slack.com/archives/C07APH4RCDT/p1754646433490329

requires a syntax tweak

[shainaraskas]

nice improvements!

I see a little inconsistency on how you addressed elasticsearch/kib compatibility. I like the version where you state "the versions should be the same" really clearly.

provided a little additional feedback on "same version" decision points and some light copy stuff. :)

[shainaraskas]

🎉 !