This is your weekly summary of Compose news for those changes and updates which can make your life easier. In this edition, changes in Compose's Elasticsearch data browser, the final Write Stuff cycle bonus is awarded and we look at the past week's Compose Articles.

Elasticsearch changes

Compose's Elasticsearch comes complete with a data browser for Elasticsearch indices. It makes a number of useful functions quickly available to the user without having to configure a connection to the cluster. In the case of one function though, we've decided that it's a bit too convenient. We've removed the Force Merge option from the Admin menu because use of the function needs a fair bit of forethought.

A warning added to Elasticsearch 6.3 documentation notes that it should only ever be called against read-only indices. If there's going to be future write activity, then it can cause performance-impeding very large segments. With that in mind, we've pulled the button out of the admin interface, and we're leaving it to users to invoke the call purposefully using curl or other tools.

Another small change in the data browser is, when you create an index in it, we set the default number of replicas to 1. This brings it into line with advice given in a previous Noteworthy.

Write Stuff cycle ends

The last cycle of Write Stuff has closed and, with an overwhelming number of reads, Mariusz Bojkowski's Code-First Database Design with Entity Framework and PostgreSQL is the winner of the $500 bonus. Well done Mariusz!

Thanks to all who've participated in Write Stuff in this and all the previous cycles. A new Write Stuff is being planned for later in the year. If, in the meantime, you have an article you think would be just right for the Compose audience, drop us a line at the address at the end of this article.

Compose Articles

Last week in Compose Articles, we looked at MongoDB's curious DBRef, and, as always rounded up the database news from around the internet:

• In MongoDB and the Trouble with DBRefs, we take a look at the fragility of a MongoDB DBRef and show the alternatives are more robust and powerful.
• Redis 5.0 RC1 has arrived and in NewsBits we take a look at it's headline feature, Streams. There's also bits on MariaDB 10.3, PostGIS, etcd, Git, Groovy and Netbeans.

That's it for this week's Noteworthy at Compose. Onwards to next week!

Read more articles about Compose databases - use our Curated Collections Guide for articles on each database type. If you have any feedback about this or any other Compose article, drop the Compose Articles team a line at articles@compose.com. We're happy to hear from you.