Elastic 8.17 has been released, featuring significant enhancements aimed at improving storage efficiency and search performance. The update introduces the general availability of the Elasticsearch logsdb index mode, which reduces log data storage by up to 65% through advanced compression methods, making it more cost-effective to store and access observability and security data. Additionally, the technical preview of the Elastic Rerank model provides semantic enhancements to search experiences without altering data schemas, and the new full-text search capabilities in Elasticsearch Query Language (ES|QL) significantly boost performance, enabling queries to run 50 to 1000 times faster. The release also includes improvements in query rules for hybrid search use cases, SAML single sign-on for streamlined access management in Elastic Cloud, and a shift towards a more centralized experience for log analytics within Discover. Elastic 8.17 is now available on Elastic Cloud, although the release and availability of specific features are subject to change at Elastic's discretion.