Elasticsearch is presented as a practical tool introduced in a master's class on Information Retrieval and the Semantic Web, designed to help students understand and use it effectively through a hands-on lesson. The post aims to familiarize readers with Elasticsearch's basic features by guiding them through a tutorial involving the addition, retrieval, and deletion of documents, as well as searching with its REST API. The tutorial uses a Shakespeare dataset to demonstrate more advanced search and aggregation functions, emphasizing the Query DSL and the Bulk API for batch operations. Although it doesn't cover configuration or best practices for production deployments, it serves as an entry point for users to explore Elasticsearch’s capabilities. The document also highlights Elasticsearch's flexibility and extensive features, such as relevance scoring, security, monitoring, and integration with other tools like Kibana, Logstash, and Beats, encouraging users to explore its comprehensive documentation and existing capabilities before developing custom solutions.