In the last chapter, we looked at all the ways to put data into your index and then retrieve it. But we glossed over many technical details surrounding how the data is distributed and fetched from the cluster. This separation is done on purpose -- you don't really need to know how data is distributed to work with Elasticsearch. It just works.
In this chapter, we are going to dive into those internal, technical details to help you understand how your data is stored in a distributed system.
The information presented below is for your interest. You are not required to understand and remember all the detail in order to use Elasticsearch. The options that are discussed are for advanced users only.
Read the section to gain a taste for how things work, and to know where the information is in case you need to refer to it in the future, but don't be overwhelmed by the detail.